Power steering fluid leak
 

I have a 2004 Accord 4 cylinder. Other night came home and discovered a fairly significant power steering leak. Probably 3-5 oz per 24 hours. We just dropped it at a mechanic and will find out tomorrow. My question is this, if the leak is from the power steering rack I may choose to simply ignore it and continue to top off with fluid. The problem is fluid is expensive and 4 oz per day add up to thirty dollars a week. So I was planning to put an oil pan underneath and simply reuse the power steering fluid since it's clean. I've read a couple places online I shouldn't do this can someone confirm? If that's the case I'll likely try a power steering repair liquid at home, find a after market rack and hope to find a mechanic to put it in. Obviously if it's a hose or connection I'll replace it. I'm 100% certain it isn't the reservoir or the pump since it leaks on the other side of the car. Car has 198000+ miles but I just replaced ball joints, CV axles, bushings and front brakes so I'm really trying to get another 20-25k miles out of it.

So the question is can I reuse the power steering fluid that leaks out and I catch in an oil pan or is that really a no no. Which liquid repair product would you recommend if that's the case? Also the rack I would order is a refurbished Cardone on Amazon. Would that be the way to go? Fingers crossed is just a hose or connection. Any advice would be fantastic and appreciated.

Make sure you filter the PS fluid.

No liquid repair product will fix a leak like you have. I don't think they are good a fixing any leaks in my opinions. Also, the risk of more damage to the PS pump isn't worth the risk.

Hopefully this is a simple fix. Were the tie-rods replaced when you had the ball and CV joints replaced?

A rebuilt PS rack isn't very expensive, but the labor time to replace it is biggest contributor to the cost.

Still waiting on the call.

No the tie rods were not replaced recently. I have two mechanics I can take my car too. Where I just dropped it is the best mechanic in the area, but he will not use parts provided by the customer. The other shop does good work and will use customer provided parts but aren't as thorough at checking problems which aren't as obvious. Since I bought the suspension parts from 1a, I had the other shop do them. The power steering leak started three weeks after that. I did find a decent rack on Amazon so worst case I'll have the other shop do the install if the rack is the issue. I also found an in reservoir filter online, hoping it's available at AutoZone so I don't have to wait. I'm absolutely terrible at working on cars so me doing anything on them would likely make the issue worse. I'll post again when I get an update.

They called and said it's just the hose. There has been an issue with the battery draining too quickly so they are keeping in one more night to test that and they'll run a dye through just to make sure the rack isn't leaking as well. Still keeping my fingers crossed but it's sounding hopeful.

Was able to get the car picked up. Was under $200. They did state the rack was slightly damp but fine for now and mentioned an AC leak was possible in the future. More bills lol. No one can solve the electrical issue unfortunately but I'll start another thread for that one..thanks so much for help.