micah_m

My 96 Prelude has been parked all winter, so with the nice weather I finally took it back out of storage. Right when starting it up, it had a horrible whine coming from the PS pump. Of course, it was low on fluid, so I filled it up and drove it a bit the next day to see how fast its leaking and where from.

It leaked a lot of fluid fairly quick. The underside of the PS pump was wet and oily, but the puddle on the ground was further back, looked to be near the rack more towards the driver's side. For now, I have removed the PS belt, although I will not be driving it much at all til its fixed.

Any ideas on the most likely cause of the leak or what will need done to fix it? Will I need a whole new rack? Before I parked my car last fall, the CV boot on the driver's side tore and made a greasy mess, so I already have that to replace in the near future. If the rack needs replaced, would it be easier to do the rack and axle at the same time? I'm hoping it's something easier/cheaper to fix than replacing the whole steering rack...

Tight-R

You gotta find out where it's coming from. A leak in the front of the car can easily look like the rear of the car because you're driving it, so the moving air will push the leaking fluid towards the back of the car. I would clean EVERYTHING with brake clean, get all of the fluid out of there. Fill it up, start the car, and without moving turn the wheel and find out where it's leaking from. Report back with results.

snobordboy

First thing to do is locate it, and try easy stuff first. You might just have a loose fitting at the rack where the lines come in. As Tight-R said, if you get it clean first, will make tracking it down much easier. At least spray it down with an engine cleaner or simple green, and hose it off. I would only use brake clean on small more specific spots, as it can damage paint and rubber easily.

Tight-R

That's a good *** point. I know where to spray it and where not, but can't ASSume everyone does. Good catch

motoxxxman

you said it was in storage. by storage, do you mean a garage bay? or was it stored outdoors? and if outdoors, was it on pavement, or dirt/grass?

outdoor storage causes rust. outdoor storage on dirt/grass causes rust really really fast, and the metal lines may have rotted out

Back2Back

I don't mean to jack your thread Micah, but I have a little question along the lines of the PS pump.. would turning your wheel all the way to lock and keep it their while turning but enough strain to cause PS fluid to.. leak? I'm not having any leaks but I do tend to have to fill up the reservoir every two to three months..

motoxxxman

it shouldnt leak even at wheel lock. if you have to add fluid though, you definitely have a leak somewhere

micah_m

Hey guys, I finally got a chance to jack it up and check out where the leak is coming from after I found that it is coming from underneath by the rack. In the attached picture, when I turn the wheel I can see it bubbling out of the hose that goes to the boot, by the blue part on the end of the hose. Is this a fix as simple as putting a new clamp on this hose, or is there a bigger problem? The way this hose is secured by the boot doesn't look right, it looks like a small wire twisted around the hose to hold it on.




Here is a short video of what it does when I turn the wheel to the left. When it is almost fully turned to the left, is when it leaks when the boot compresses. The rack boot on the passenger side is torn, but the boot on the driver's side (the side it is leaking from) is fine. Does this torn boot have anything to do with the leak?

holmesnmanny

Your rack is bad. You need a new rack, but its possible other things are leaking too.

trm4life

Id start with a new hose and clamp. Maybe flush the system. Very cheap start.

trm4life

Do the tune up yourself. Also a new (rebuilt) rack rack probably runs around 200$ on ebay. Just tape your tie rods so u don't screw the alignment too much and un thread them, rather than hitting them with a hammer to get them out of the steering knuckle/spindle assembly. It'll just ruin them. Other than that you only have to un screw the hoses and unbolt the rack. It's a pain but you'll save 500$

micah_m

Is it even worth trying to replace the hose and clamp, or would you say the rack almost for sure needs replaced? Because it looks like it's just an air pressure hose where I can see it bubbling from, if the rack itself wasn't bad would it leak that bad when the wheel is turned to the left that a stream of fluid comes out?

I've never replaced a steering rack, but for the cost a shop would charge I'd rather try figuring it out myself. I'll probably do the axle at the same time.

Northernlightz

Ebay is the last place you would want to buy a steering rack from.

Think you'd have to be pretty mechanically inclined to change a PS rack.

holmesnmanny

It's better not to give out advice than to give out bad advice.

The purpose of that hose that goes from inner tie rod to inner tie rod is to stabilize the pressure between them as you turn the steering wheel. That's the only purpose. If there is fluid leaking inside then it's likely power steering steering fluid leaking from the rack seals. You either need to rebuild it, or get one from rockauto with a coupon code before purchasing. When buying from rockauto, they have a way to purchase a return label to return the core(old rack) at a cheap price. Just keep the old packaging in good shape, put the old rack in, pack it, ship it.

It's actually not that hard to replace a rack. There are howto-s on youtube, one from ericthecarguy that show how to replace it. It's not entirely hard, but it takes some time.

A reman rack will already have new inner tie rods. You will just need to purchase new outer tie rods, unless your existing is still good, and I doubt it they are.

You can count the amount of times you turn off the old tie rod ends from the old rack to determine a best guess on the way to put the new tie rod ends onto the new rack to help atleast get a good estimate of how many spins to put them back to help you to get to an alignment shop after replacing the rack, because you will need an alignment after replacing the rack. It would be wise to replace the rack mounting bushings while you're at it. Over time they get old and squishy.

This is the best tool to remove ball joints, such as the ones at the outer tie rod end. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html

micah_m

I appreciate the help and info holmesnmanny. Would it be better to get one from rockauto or would one from autozone work? I checked their prices and they have one for $233 after core, and one for $262 after core. They'd be able to have it by Monday, and Monday and Tuesday are my 2 days I have off work.

micah_m

After looking at prices, rockauto has them for $100 less than autozone does. At that price it'd be worth the wait.

They have several options though, I'm not really seeing the difference between the ones they have available. Would the 3rd one down (#261762) be the one I'd want? All 4 options say they'll fit my car (96 Si with h22a swap).
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,1996,prelude,2.3l+l4,1170166,steering,rack+a nd+pinion+complete+unit,7388

holmesnmanny

I'd probably get the A1 Cardone since it's a more known brand than that other one. AC Delco would be the top quality if you want to pay the price.