every weeks or so I have to add Power steering fluid and then again the next week, it will start to make a whiny noise and the steering wheel gets hard to manouver. There is no leak as far as i'm concerned, but today it was suggested that my fluid could be contaminated because it looks like strawberry juice, its not clear at all, I was wondering what you all have to say about it and also how this can explain me having to add more and more fluid, is it evaporating?

Also, how do i flush it? what do i need? and where is the drain, I'd appreciate any instructions. If this post is in the wrong place, my apologies. Thanks.

 

Pretty much all of your posts should start in General Tech. Any of them that turn into detailed PROCEDURES, we can move them over to DIY at that time.

If you lose fluid but it doesn't drip on the ground, it might be collecting in the rack boots. Those rack boots should only have air in them, but they'll hold a pint or so of fluid before they start leaking OUT.

Red fluid really sounds strange. I've never seen that, but it doesn't sound good.

There is no drain. You disconnect a hose to drain, then steer the wheels back & forth to drain more out. While it's drained, clean out the reservoir bottle 'cause there's a fine mesh screen down in there (normally submerged).

Then fill it back up. Use HONDA fluid, the universal stuff isn't. At least it has to say "FOR HONDA" on the bottle.

 

My original Honda fluid looked dark and reddish too after I drained it (with 105K miles on it). I think air leaks and constant foaming whips it up like a smoothie in a blender! Drain it like Jim says. If the new fluid foams or there are lots bubbles in the reservoir, you have an air leak somewhere. I think the whining is the PS pump operating with air in it. Once I plugged my leak, the whining stopped.

--Jeff

 

If you run the engine while draining it, you get more complete draining. But you get foam and it'll still foam after you refill it. It'll take quite a while for all that foam to settle & work out. So don't worry too much about foam immediately after you change fluid.

 

just an idea on the red color of your fluid.....depending on how long you've owned the car, it is more than possible that the previous owner,when adding fluid at some point to the reservoir, may have used automatic tranny fluid as this is commonly used as a substitute for power steering fluid. actual p.s. fluid id=s clear, but tranny fluid is red in color which mat be your culprit. hope this helped

 

ATF is the proper steering-system fluid (not a substitute) for many cars so that could be a previous mechanic who was too smart to read the specs from the manual.

Genuine Honda PS fluid is kinda amber (like engine oil). I've seen other brands of PS fluid "FOR HONDA" that are different colors, even purple. (I should have thought of ATF for the red color...)