Honda Element power steering bubbling over

[Dave]

After my Chevy S10 had a Crank, No Start condition yesterday, the alternator failed on my Honda Element. I have the worst luck.

I used that opportunity to replace the serpentine belt as you see below. Now, the Power Steering fluid is rapidly bubbling out of the top of the reservoir. Muscling the tensioner (double wrenched) to install the new belt put some pressure on the PS inlet hose. All I can figure is I damaged something not readily apparent. The service manual says to check for an air leak on the inlet side of pump, but I’m not detecting anything out of the ordinary.

Any suggestions appreciated as I am without transportation at the moment with two dead vehicles.

Attachments:

• psleak_element.jpg

Topic

[Dave]

FWIW, I’m aware of the O-ring going bad on the inlet side (where said hose attaches to pump) on other Honda/Acura models. I couldn’t find anybody reporting this problem with an Element or CR-V, hence my question here.

[Andrew Harris]

Its basically the same pump used on all those models. Is the power steering whining like it has air in it. If so you could try to replace that oring. Get it from Honda for a couple bucks. I will tell you that I have had to replace pumps before on Hondas because we never could get the pump to stop whining no matter what I did. Another option is to pull a vacuum on the system to pull the air out however most DIY don’t have the tools necessary to do this.

[Author]

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