Power Steering Repair Cost?

[James Matteu]

I'm well. Glad to see your still around.

 

I'm never getting rid of my Accord V6! Plenty of nay sayers have sang the mantra: "you're doing what? Time for a new car?" I say nope, and remind them I haven't had a car payment in ten years.

 

I actually couldn't find this thread using the search on this site. I had to Google it and restrict the search to this site only.

[kuhnman]

I had a very leaky ps rack, fluid constantly dripping out of the boots, so my focus was on replacing all the seals. I'd already replaced the inner/outer tie rods and boots a year earlier, but the leaking had really gotten bad.

 

This was a very helpful discussion, except that on the day I went to do my power steering, something was wrong with the HondaForums website, and it was shut down. Arrggghhh!!!

 

I almost panicked and gave up on trying to rebuild my power steering rack, because I couldn't figure out the safest way to remove the big end nut (41mm, I believe). My biggest concern was how to secure the rack in a vise without damaging it. The factory service manual has some slick rig, which I don't have, naturally - they've got all the cool tools.

 

It then occurred to me to take a piece of 2 x 4, and a pair of long bolts (with fender washers and nuts) that fit through the holes of the rack (I think they were 5/8 bolts), and just drill a couple holes in the 2 x 4 and bolt the rack to it. Then I put the 2 x 4 into my vice, cranked it down nice and securely. I carefully drilled out the staked end of the rack, using a 1/8" bit, only drilled about 1/8" deep. I grabbed my 15" Crescent wrench, since I don't own a 41mm deep socket. It didn't take much effort at all to spin that end nut right off. There was no galling of the threads on the rack or on the nut. I was careful to suck all the metal shards out with my Shopvac and I thoroughly checked the inside of the rack for any other shards.

 

I kept the rack mounted to the 2 x 4 when I put it in my Harbor Freight hydraulic press to press out/in the seals. This made it easy to keep the rack level in the press. When I finished replacing all the seals throughout the rack and the gearbox, it was easy to just tighten the end nut back using the Crescent wrench and some guesswork for the torque. I staked the rack end on the opposite side of the original stake.

 

It all went back together quite smoothly and is now working beautifully with no leaks!! The seal kit was only $25 from RockAuto.com, which is much cheaper that a rebuilt rack and had every seal. I skipped a couple of the fiber seals that are inside the pinion gear, because they seemed like they were getting overstretched when I tried sliding them on - lacking, once again, Honda's special tool.

 

It took several hours to get the dang thing out of the car and a couple hours to meticulously follow the service manual while replacing all the seals. The hardest thing in the whole job (both removing and reinstalling the rack), was disconnecting (and then reconnecting) the 2 power steering fluid nuts (14mm and 17mm) which are almost completely inaccessible from any angle (above, below or from the sides). I ended up just cramming my hand behind the intake manifold (losing quite a bit of skin to the various hose clamps back there) and just working my box wrench endlessly and tediously to remove and then later reinstall the nuts. Upon reinstallation, I found there was a small bracket holding the 17mm nut's fluid line, which could be removed (I think a 10mm bolt) from underneath (facing the front of the car and lying on my back). That made maneuvering the line for the 17mm nut back into place and tightening the nut much easier. I tried using flare wrenches every which way, but just couldn't get a good angle, only the box wrenches worked for me.

 

Since the leaks have stopped and my skin is growing back and the parts only cost $25, I would say that it was worth the 5-6 hours it took me to do this job. I was glad to have the hydraulic press to get the old seals out and the new ones in. I would have been quite nervous to do it without a press, though it sounds like others may have done it successfully.

[James Matteu]

Yeah, I didn't use a press. I got nervous cause the seal didn't want to come out with me leaning on it and I didn't know how much pressure to use. I eventually pushed really hard and the seal popped out, literally, it made a pop as it came out.

 

Those fiber seals are really Teflon and they can be pushed into place by hand and tapped with a rubber mallet to remove any deformation. I did it that way and still had some of the seal come off cause the edges of that groove are sharp compared to the seal material.

 

Good work!