Replacing power steering high pressure hose
psud3ity
New Wagonist
Hey guys,
Searched and couldn't find any description of the routing of this line, is there a good place to find a service manual that describes how to replace this line and what all is involved?
I'm assuming it's fairly straightforward, and I was told by the previous owner that line being cracked from "off roading"... which is probably an understatement considering the condition of the car, is the cause of the lack of power steering in my wagon.
Some pictures would be nice to look at while I wait for the line to get here so I can figure out how involved it's going to be. Looking at the engine bay, I can't believe I thought my prelude's engine bay was "cramped".
I can also see a line that appears to be cracked running from the resivour to the cooler, I'm assuming thats on the low pressure side of the system, so I should just be able to replace that with a piece of power steering hose and clip it to the framerail.
How much honda PS fluid does this little war wagon take to fill?
Searched and couldn't find any description of the routing of this line, is there a good place to find a service manual that describes how to replace this line and what all is involved?
I'm assuming it's fairly straightforward, and I was told by the previous owner that line being cracked from "off roading"... which is probably an understatement considering the condition of the car, is the cause of the lack of power steering in my wagon.
Some pictures would be nice to look at while I wait for the line to get here so I can figure out how involved it's going to be. Looking at the engine bay, I can't believe I thought my prelude's engine bay was "cramped".
I can also see a line that appears to be cracked running from the resivour to the cooler, I'm assuming thats on the low pressure side of the system, so I should just be able to replace that with a piece of power steering hose and clip it to the framerail.
How much honda PS fluid does this little war wagon take to fill?
Comments
Going to drop the front bumper after work tonight, and attempt to change that hose out, and dump the two bottles of honda power steering fluid I have in. I don't think I have enough to fill the resivour though, and the budget at the moment doesn't hold much more. May have the $ to pick up another two bottles tomorrow and see how it goes. I'm not 100% sure the high pressure line is cracked, but I'm assuming a puddle tomorrow morning would tell me what I need to do there. I'm not looking forward to crawling under this thing and changing that line out, so hopefully it's just the low pressure line.
That white milky stuff in the picture is watered down power steering fluid from moisture entering the line, and you can see the hose it's dripping from, which I'm assuming is the leak.
I need some help from you guys that have seen one of these cars up in the air before, can you tell me which line it is, and whether it's a high pressure or low pressure line that needs replacing? There's a local hydraulics shop that I can have make the line, I just need to know what to tell them to make as far as fittings and whatnot, having an OEM part number or at the very least a description is going to be helpful, as I'd rather have them make the line before I go about crawling under the car, that way I can replace it right away.
Can anyone point me at which steering line I'm dealing with? I'm assuming the line towards the back of the rack is the high pressure line coming off the pump, can someone verify that? If that's the case, the larger of the two return lines is 10mm, which gives me at least something to go on when I take it to the hydraulics shop and say "make me this"
It was pretty nice to feel the wagon with power steering though.
1) The fluid is milky because it's aerated, not because of moisture
2) the only high-pressure line in the system is the one from the pump to the rack. 2-bolt flange at the pump end.. the other 2 down there are a return (larger) and a vent (smaller)
3) That doesn't mean the high=side one is the culprit. There's still the same flow volume in the return side.
The steering system is just a simple hydraulic circuit. There are 3 basic components: A fluid reservoir, a pump, and a load (the rack).
These three parts are connected by three types of hoses: suction, pressure, and return.
Reservoir to suction hose to pump to pressure hose to load to return hose to reservoir. You could build a log splitter with the same circuit!
Your steering system adds a fluid cooler inline in the return side, but functionally it's just some piping wiith fins added to diffuse heat.
I thought of aeration from the pump causing the milky stuff as well, but given that there's a leak, water in the line seemed the most likely cause. I've always been told a leaking power steering system will turn fluid a milky man-juice white from moisture entering the system.
I'm more wondering if in the photo I have, is the power steering hose that's leaking and mounted to that part of the rack the high pressure line (#6), or one of the two other lines (#7 or #8) in the diagram from honda. More interested in properly identifying the hose that's leaking, and where it's routed to. If i could identify where the high pressure line #6 attaches to the steering rack, and identify it in the picture I have, I'd be able to narrow it down significantly.
Thanks for the reply bam bam!
What I would do: Clean the area and the lines thoroughly, get it good and dry. If youu can't degrease and pressure wash it, use brake cleaner and rags.
Once you have it dry, raise the car and support it on a jackstand. Remove the wheel if it helps with visibility.
Put some oil in it and have a friend crank it up while you observe from underneath. You're looking for where the oil first starts to appear- usually at the highest and forwardmost point of the mess.
I can verify that the leak is in fact coming from the larger of those hard lines, it's more obvious in real life looking at it then in the photo.
I just want to identify the part, so that I can look for more information on the hydraulic fittings needed to replace it.
standby one...
Either way, I appreciate you taking the time to look for me.
there are 3 steel lines, 3 different diameters. the largest of the three is return, the middle size is the high pressure one.
So, in looking at your photo the larger one in the foreground with the most oil on it is the return tube . It only goes around the top of the rack before transitioning to rubber hose.
Where are you located? Shoot me an address and I'll mail you what you need.
Ok, so, I'm dealing with the return line, which would be part 53720-SH3-A51 according to the diagram, or #7.
That line seems to head directly for the power steering cooler, and since it's a low pressure line, it could potentially be replaced with a hose barb fitting, hose clamp, and a piece of 3/8" power steering hose, bypassing the hardline all together, and going straight to the stock power steering cooler.
Or I could spend $60 on the new hardline - Discontinued
I could spend ~$60 on a custom made line from the local hydraulics shop. Choices... Guess I'll fight that battle when I get paid, but thank you again for helping me identify the problem part. I sent you a PM bam bam.
I greatly appreciate it. I've got alot of hacking to undo on this car, and it's been more than abused. Just want to get it into a bit better running shape so it makes it through the winter.