Power steering rack leaking, need info.

[Dibbs]

I located the leak in my power steering system this weekend. The seal and the boot on the passenger side of the power steering rack are busted. The question I have is:

Can i buy and install the seal and boot separatly wihout removing the entire rack. If i have to remove the whole rack, Will I have to buy $100 worth of special tools to remove it.

Any help is appreciated.

[AZmike]

I had a similar problem on both sides of my rack. Instead of trying to fix my old rack, I just bought a remanufactured one for $150 with a lifetime warranty. Removing the rack is such a big hassle I didn't want to screw up resealing the rack myself and have to pull it back out to try again. Now if anything goes wrong with it someone else can fix it and I'll put in another one that was pressure-tested at the factory for free.

To answer your question, the Honda service manual shows several specialty tools are used to change seals, but since I didn't do the job I'm not sure how necessary they are.

You may also want to take a look at the steering-related TSBs I posted here:
http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8126&highlight=steering

[Dibbs]

Thanx for the info.

[DBMaster]

How bad is the leak? I replaced both rack boots on my car for $30 with the rack still on the car. I rented a tie rod end puller and had to get an alignment when I was done (another $60).

I siphoned out some of the P/S fluid and put in 6 oz of K&W Trans-X and that seems to have stopped the leak. A guy on the CarTalk board used to swear by that stuff and he was a very experienced and knowledgeable mechanic. I have had not had to add P/S fluid for a month!