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2004 Civic Sedan, 140k miles, brand new front tires. When I am at low speed, 5 mph= usually in a parking lot, my power steering seems to just go out. Once I speed up no problems. PS fluid full, I have not flushed and replaced it for long time. I don't want to replace it if I have to replace the PS pump and replace the fluid again. Any opinions on this problem?

 
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Elaborate on this. What do you feel?

 
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The steering seems to just go manual, takes effort to turn the wheel, it is smooth no jerking. Just feels like the ps goes out and you have to manually turn the steering wheel at parking lot speeds.

 
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Parking lot speed should still steer much easier than sitting completely still....... Try this:

Engine running at idle. Sit still, don't roll the car.

Turn the wheel. Does it have good power assist, or not?

Now Rev up the engine. Did that give it more power assist, or not?

 
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Of course when I try to get this to happen it doesn't. The next time it does happen I will do it. Thanks....

 
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Are you now saying this is an intermittent and random thing that happens?



Is the PS belt too loose?

 
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Belt is not loose and yes this happens intermittently. Before I put new tires on the front it was worse. It was taken to a Honda dealer and they could not find the problem.

 
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Everything will probably test as good as long as it all works correctly, if someone cared to test anything at all.
Pump has sufficient pressure, flow to the rack is ok at that time, etc.

If it doesn't act up at all (while at the shop), then how will anyone decide which tests to do?

Yeah, if you can't make it act up on demand, it's gonna be damn tough to come up with an answer without guessing.

And it's not a common problem that I"m aware of, so it's going to be guessing at best.


Fluid is dirt cheap compared to tossing parts at it, so a flush might be a good idea.
And while the reservoir is empty you can look in the reservoir screen and see if there is a bunch of debris that has been caught in it..


No kinked or bent hoses?

 
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I need to replace all the belts and hoses including timing belt. (which has never been done- 139k!). I'll do a brake fluid flush to. Thanks for all your help and I will let you know if I find anything.