Anyone ever have to replace their PS res. cap with a brand new one from Honda? I replaced it because it was only .77 cents and I was ordering stuff anyway and my current cap actually looks bent, like someone shoved it in at an angle and bent up the little discs.

Well the new cap came, it looks good. I try to put it in and boy is it a tight fit! The discs actually have to be squeezed in to the hole. If you twist it while you push it in it goes in all the way but it's EXTREMELY tight. So at this point I'm thinking several things:

1. Wrong part? Part number matches and it claims it's the one so probably not this.
2. It's supposed to be this tight? Those slits cut into the discs are probably so they can bend. I'm worried about those discs breaking and falling into the reservoir but that doesn't seem likely. I'm also worried about air building up and popping the cap off while I'm driving but the slits should provide enough ventilation.
3. Maybe that's why the previous cap was bent. It was always a tight fit and someone just jammed it in there at a slight angle bending it all up.

In any case the tightness makes me worry but at the same time it makes me feel like the PS fluid is more secure from contamination, so I guess that's a good thing.

 

As long as you have a cap that's tight enough to stay in, you're fine. None of the PS caps are that tight. A new one may need to "set" a bit to loosen.

good luck

 

I had bought a new power steering fluid reservoir, thinking it would come with a cap. Not so, and the old cap was too loose (imagine that). I had to wrap electrical tape around the cap to make it thicker, so it wouldn't just bounce out. You don't happen to live close to Thibodaux LA? I bet my cap would fit perfect on yours and your cap would fit right on mine. Maybe they switched parts supplier, who knows? You could probably trim your cap or file it down a little, to make it fit better.