ps fluid egress

after i removed the ps belt, i figured my leaking ps system would slow up the leaking. but, to my surprise, this morning a nice big puddle of ps fluid was below the car, under the pump/res area. but i don’t hink it cam from the res or the pump, it came from the lines or the valve body i think. my most important question is: Will this fluid loss fuck up my sterring rack/pinion if it gets super low in the lines? Does the ps fluid lubricate the rack/pinion too? I don’t want to shoot that too. I plann on doing the loopback as soon as i can, but until then, this is my only car and i am a working man…40 miles a day to / from work.

answered my own question

i looked at the power-manual steer thread on honda-tech. the power rack is full of fluid. this probably means i am fucked. how likely am i to loose steering in a catastrophic failure? not what i want. i will look into the loop-back carefully. seems that i have some heavy work to do. need some time off from work to do it. gad damn.

i know quite a few people who have pretty much drained their racks completely and jbwelded over the threaded fittings and have been driving like that for a couple years now with no problems. :shrug:

the steering rack is a pinion gear driven system. there’s a shaft that connects to the steering column via a universal joint which goes into the rack itself. that pinion shaft has teeth on it. the steering rack has teeth on it. the two mesh together, and as the steering wheel turns the column, it turns that pinion shaft which causes the rack to move side to side. not having fluid isn’t going to stop that motion…just wear a skoshe* more quickly. the true amount of extra wear isn’t really known, but i would personally guess it’s negligible–see my example above for proof. :up:

*skoshe = smidgen, tad, hair, bit. :slight_smile:

i had the same problem…with a puddle under ps pump/res…and use to never tell where it was coming from…every once awhile (mostly after i started it) the ps pump would make like an old wood door creek…but i found a good deal for a ps pump w/aem pulley for $20 and installed that put new fluid in and it solved that…i also replaced all those squeeze clamp with screw type ones…how often do you have to refill the res? cause i was at about 1 bottle a week and that shit gets expensive after awhile

yea, but

armed ferret…i read your your writeup, and yes i know what a rack and pinion setup is…it is just you said you change and add fluid religously, at least as much as you change oil. that is why i asked. you seemed to make it very important in your writeup…that is all. i took off the cover over the rack / valve body, and it is clean as new there. i guess my leak is at the pump and the upper fittings. i have a bunch of gunky shit on my left lower suspension arm (lack of jargon). i don’t have it on the other side. anyway, i am doing alright without ps. i still think i’ll do the loopback until i can get a new pump…thanks.

ps-tie rod bushing

i know, this is not exactly the right forum, but what kind of tie rod end bushings should i get? i just though since we are sorta on the topic…mine look like shit, cracked in half and all…when i got under there today. i need new ones. energy suspension? or stock? where to buy?

pps

sorry…this thread is bizarre but

why the fuck don’t i just get some pipe threaded caps and cap off all the ports to the valve body, and remove all else? wouldn’t this do the same shit but better than jbweld? and maybe better than a loopbakc, if i don’t care about a little weight?

just make sure to keep enough ps fluid…then change all hose clamps then ps pump…it worked for me

oh and i used the ES tie rod bushings and just getting new tie rods worked out better…but there not bad