In my last service the dealer mentioned that the rack and pinion is leaking fluid. Got 88K on my base 2007RDX. I checked and there is some oil on the right bellow boot. Nothing on the floor. There has been no drop in the PS fluid ever.
I went thru the forum and tried all suggestions. I replaced the PS fluid with the turkey baster 5 times, so it's 50% new by now. I also added some PS conditioner fluid to stop any leaks.
I presume I can monitor it and see how things go. But it was mentioned that it can fail suddenly? With no warning?

 

If the PS fluid is leaking at the shaft seal, it is mostly inside the boot. The boot seal mostly prevents it from escaping onto the floor. See if you can squeeze the boot and feel "squishy" liquid inside.

PS stop-leak is very good at stopping static leaks at the banjo bolt connections. It is less likely to stop leaks at moving parts such as the shaft seal, but certainly worth a try.

PS fluid is under high pressure, so a burst seal could cause a sudden failure, but it's not very likely. More often, the fluid simply leaks lower and lower until the problem is obvious. If you check your PS fluid regularly and try some high quality stop-leak, you may be able to control the problem for quite a while.

 

But the dealer did not say where? I have never had a PS leak so I have no direct knowledge ... but it is my understanding that unless the tank level is dropping, the leak is not very fast, even if the leak is into the boots. Just keep a careful eye on the tank level.

Probably a bit more than 50% new, so perhaps the fresh fluid will help prevent future wear.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=890842

The PS system does run at 1300psi, which is how the internal damage shown in the pic below happens, and why it is possible to have an internal leak, a leak past the internal seals, where the fluid does not leak out of the rack (not even into the boots), but the rack does begin to loose efficiency, causing harder steering.

Sudden failure is more likely when there is an obvious *external* leak (or into a boot), and only if all (or most) of the fluid actually leaks out. It might be a good idea to try to verify just where the rack is leaking. I have had friends run a leaking PS system for a long time, so long as the tank was kept topped-up.

I will offer one observation: just to find out what happens, in a parking lot I turned off the engine at 20mph, and literally could not steer the car at all - the wheel was locked solid - and not because the column was actually locked. After killing the engine, I made certain to unlock the column by turning the key back to ON. Just be aware that without PS it will not be practical to steer the car.

 

Thanks folks. That gives me some peace of mind. The leak must be very small because as I said the PS fluid level does not drop at all, over a couple of months now. Especially after I used some of the stop-leak fluid. I have time to monitor and see how it goes.

 

 

I also squeezed the boot and could not feel any liquid inside. It feels empty inside. So I guess it was a small leak, perhaps one time, and after adding the stop-leak it hasn't leaked anything. I think I'm ok for a while.