my son's 96 civic is spraying power steering fluid everywhere. i would normally look and fix things myself, but he's 780 miles away, so i'm trying to help him out long distance.

he took it to a shop and they said the rack and pinion needs replacing. part $400, labor $400.

with such a small car, is it possible to just drive it w/out the power steering, i.e., just let the fluid leak out till gone and keep driving, or will it hose the assembly?

i don't know enough about how things look on that car w/out being there....

any ideas?

thanks.

tom j.

 

People everyday take the power seering belts off to gain so called power. If you take the belt off you will also loose the A/C. But i think it will be fine to run it with out power steering. It will just be hard to turn at a dead stop.

 

^ You are "freeing up" hp off the crank. Driving without the belt on will cause the fluid to leak out. Now if the rack and pinion is out, that's different from running without fluid. If the whole rack is shot it's worse than driving without ps. Ps is not necessary and is deleted often.

 

I understand that you are freeing up power by taking off the belt. But how much hp gain to you think you really get?

 

i'm not sure (nor can i take the word of the remote mechanic) if the rack and pinion is shot or not. i do know it was leaking fluid from one of the seals.

 

If it's merely leaking it's OK to take off the belt and drive for an indefinite time. Continuing to drive with the belt on and no fluid will burn up the pump. On a '96, the power steering belt is only for the pump, removing it will not affect any other car systems.

If the steering is loose, or binding, making the car hard to control-- the rack must be replaced.

 

thanks for all the replies. i'll have him get the belt taken off and pay careful attention to what the steering is doing.

does $400 labor to replace a rack and pinion sound about right?

 

Yup, my power steering low pressure return hose is leaking ($35.00 part). I was told by the dealer that these are hard to remove and sometimes require that they remove the power steering assembly off the vehicle. Based on worst case scenario, I was quoted roughly $400.00 Cnd. for the labour which translates to approx.. 2hrs to remove and 2hrs. to re-install.