Quick question (I hope) here - my daughter is driving our old 2001 Accord. It has about 210,000 miles. Recently, she was told that she had a leak in her brake lines and needed to have it fixed. Did that. In the last week, she noticed that her power steering wasn't working any more. I checked, and she was completely out of power steering fluid. It looked like there was probably a lead, but I added fluid, and within a day or two it was gone. The shop said that it was one of the hoses that was leaking and it's an expensive part and takes over an hour to repair. So the bill is going to be close to $600.
Here's my question - are these two completely unrelated events, or is it possible that repairing the brake lines could have damaged the power steering hose?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Mark in Minnesota

 

I guess it all depends on where the PS is leaking.

The break lines under the car pass under the bottom of the firewall, near the steering rack, as they enter the engine compartment. I guess it's possible to damage the PS lines that are nearby, but depends on how the brake job went.

It also might be that the steel-tube parts of the PS "hose" and the steel break lines both suffer from the same corrosion as each other. If that's it, check the 3 steel fuel lines running under the car for the same problem.

 

Odds are pretty good they are unrelated events.

 

Thanks, Jim. The car is old, and we live in Minnesota where there's a lot of salt on the roads all winter. I'll have the fuel lines checked out now, as well!

 

Thanks, Shipo. It's reassuring to be confident that they're unrelated.

 

Another thing to be prepared for is a rusted out gas tank. My 2001 Accord has had the brake lines and gas tank replaced; the power steering and fuel lines are most likely ticking time bombs.

 

My 99 Accord is the opposite of yours, in that the tank and the steering hoses have been replaced but not the under car lines. Now that I've said that, they'll be next soon.
On my steering lines, the return line had a rust hole about 4 inches from where the fitting screwed into the rack. When the pressure line split, it was right after the pressure switch (rubbed on the frame rail clamp) going to the rack.
Just make sure you use Honda fluid when you top it up.