Daughter wrecked 97 Accord 4cyl & after rebuilding front of vehicle, the fluid started foaming. I flushed the fluid per service procedures, lock-to-lock at fast idle to bleed, but foams really bad after a while. Then replaced pump (& new high pressure hose o-ring) with a used one from vehicle that was crunched in the rear, still foaming. After the wreck, the rack & pinion had a couple little "clunks" while turning the wheels from lock to lock. Decided to replace it, with a used one & checked all the hoses & lines, even replaced the ones going to the cooler coil & the suction hose that goes from the bottle to the pump. It's still foaming !!! Even used a length of PS hose to bypass the steel line that goes to cooling loop from the rubber hose that connects to the gear.
Thinking maybe a piece of old gear broke causing that came from where the "clunk" was & got lodged in one of the hoses I didn't replace ? ? ?
Any clues?

Rick

 

Does it leak PS fluid at all?

 

No leaks at all on this car.
My undserstanding of fluid pumps, especially the honda's, this is called cavetation (spelling?), which it is a leak in the "suction" side of the system. Suction is usually just the reservoir & hose to the pump. The books also mention a possible obstruction in the return, which is from the gear to the reservoir. I've already checked/replaced these 2 parts of the system. wut-nex ?
Rick

 

It's called sucking air. Technically cavitation is a little bit different.

There's a fine mesh screen built into the reservoir, down low, usually submerged. If that is obstructed with crud, your pump can develop a bit of vacuum in the hose from the reservoir. Check that out & clean it real good. Then check for any way for air to suck into that line from the reservoir.

 

Back-flushed then forward, then back again, reservoir bottle with garden hose, then used air to dry, finished with alcohol to make sure the bottle was dry. Inspected for leaks/cracks, etc.... All good. New bottle-to-pump suction hose. A Honda brand service manual called it cavitation, that's why I used the term. I know it's sucking air, why else would it be foaming? Starts out as a few bubbles, quickly turning to foam.

Rick-the-fix
01 Odyssey
97 Accord
93 Accord
90 Accord
87 F150
96 Vulcan EN500
90 Ninja EX500
79 XS650-SF
77 XS650-D
77 TS185


Modified by rickthefix at 5:48 AM 9/14/2007

 

OK, so I didn't know you already cleaned the reservoir with screen - sorry.

I was just being a geek with the comment about cavitation. In my field, cavitation is where the trailing edges of the impeller blades (say in the waterpump) create pressure below the vapor pressure of the fluid. It's not entrainment of air, but it's actual microscopic boiling of the fluid. When the bubbles collapse it can do substantial damage to the impeller.

 

Jim,
Yeah, it's all good, thanks for the replies !
Rick