1998 Honda Accord Foamy PS fluid

RYANRANDOLPH

MEMBER
1998 HONDA ACCORD
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
115,000 MILES

I recently replaced my timing belt at home. This job required removal of the ps pump to get to the belt. When I put everything back together and tried to bleed the ps fluid, it foamed up and spilled out of the reservoir. Whenever I run the engine, the fluid immeidately turns to foam so that the air never escapes the fluid. I have seen lots of tech sites say that I need to find where the air is leaking into the vacuum side of the system. I've inspected all the hoses and lines, thay look fine, but I doubt I would be able to detect a pinhole with the naked eye. Any tecnique for this would be good. Or do I need to flush the fluid, or replace the ps pump? I'm hesitant to spend $250 on a pump unless I'm fairly certain it will fix it.

3 Replies

BLACKOP555

MECHANIC
10,371 POSTS

Drain out every part of the power steering lines and pump, then hook it back up and put new fluid back in and try to bleed it, if it starts foaming again replace the pump.

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Saturday, January 12th, 2008 AT 9:18 AM

RYANRANDOLPH

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Thanks for steering me right (pun intended)! The ps fluid flush did not fix it, but since you said to install a new ps pump, I decided to take the back cover off the body just to see how it looks on the inside. I noticed some scoring on the metal surface that mates with the gasket. I flipped the gasket over and reinstalled the pump - problem fixed! I'm going to order a set of new seals for the pump ($10), much better than buying a whole new pump!