Dropped my 1995 Ex V6 at the dealership to do a emissions warranty repair...clean egr ports...and picked up the car with major power steering noises. Dealer of course had an estimate to rebuild the pump waiting for me when I picked the car up. My power steering was perfectly fine when I dropped it off.

I went ahead and bought the seals and o'rings for the pump and rebuilt it and still have a major amount of air entering the system somewhere but no leaking anywhere. Last week I replaced my inner tie-rods so I know the boots aren't full of fluid and the reservoir isn't going down.

I also cut and reclamped the low pressure hoses to the reservoir...no help. Getting lots of bubbles and foam and the pleasant growl from the pump.

On the plastic cover for my V6, there is a good sized gouge in the plastic under the power steering pressure hose. I removed the cover to see how it comes off and you have to bend and put good pressure on the pressurized power steering hose to get the cover off....a cover the service guy admits to taking off while doing the warranty work. He said he did not remove the hose from the pump but pushed it out of the way.

Could this pressure hose be whats introducing air into my system? I have had these go bad before but they usually leak fluid...no fluid is leaking anywhere but air is getting in somehow...tried all the bleeding procedures many times with no help...even used two pints of honda fluid.

Help....any ideas? Is it realistic that air can get in at the pressure hose?

 

If you have no leaks, you're not pulling air. It sounds like the pump's cavitating.
There's a small screen in the bottom of the pump reservoir. Make sure there's no debris blocking it.

P

 

What do you mean by cavitating? I had the reservoir out and empty and did not see any gunk or debris. Any other ideas?

bump

 

Cavitation is a process by which there isn't enough fluid available to pump (it's being starved.
IE:
a) PWC (personal water craft) during extreme maneuvering looses pumping efficiency because the water flow thru the tunnel is insufficient.
b) A Nuclear Submarine can sometimes put so much power into it's propeller that the water literally forms bubbles around the prop blades without air being present. Not only does it loose efficiency, but it becomes noisy as well.

IF the system were to be drawing air into itself, there is just one area that it could do so. Somewhere between the Steering Rack and the Pump reservoir.

P

 

If it were me I would have raised hell fire and brimstone untill the dealer fixed what they helped to break. (I see this day to day with other techs at my dealer and it boils me) If the so called tech had propperly done the service there would be no problem.

 

I learned what cavitation is. I obviously know the reservoir is full enough and unblocked to not allow air back into the system.