Lost power steering / dash lights on 99 accord

Good afternoon all. I did a search of the archives, and read through
Teggers FAQ, but wasn't able to find any details for this specific issue.
Thanks for your time.

My wife has a '99 Honda Accord sedan, 4-cylinder 5 speed with 115K miles.
About once every few months for a year or more, she has complained that it
"loses power." This has now escalated to three times in a week, and is a
pretty significant issue for us - if we can't figure it out we're going to
have to sell the car for safety reasons. Unfortunately I haven't
experienced this yet as it's not my daily driver, so some of the details
that she offers aren't exactly complete and I recognize that. Nonetheless,
here are the symptoms, and I'm hoping these ring a bell with someone.

Yesterday when making a left turn into a parking lot at about 20MPH, she
states the steering wheel "locked up" while making the turn, and she nearly
ran into a telephone pole. Sounds to me based on her explanation that she
lost power steering as she said it was incredibly difficult to turn. She
said that when it happened, all the lights on the dash came on, but the
radio was still on and the engine was still running. She stopped/restarted
the car, problem resolved. I'm not 100% sure why the power steering would
be affected if the engine was still running, but my job is in IT not fixing
Hondas unfortunately.

When this has happened in the past it was just the dash-lights turning on
and a loss of power briefly so this wasn't an urgent of a problem. It's
only happened before while sitting at an intersection stopped (dash lights
turn on/car may or may not stop running) or driving straight (loss of power,
dash lights on), so in the past she just restarted the car and off she went.
I didn't know about the loss of power steering until recently. Besides this
little hiccup, the car is flawless (and paid for), so we'd love to resolve
it if possible. If it's relevant, we live in NC and the weather has been
VERY hot as of late, but previous problems have been throughout the year.

I had the alternator checked this morning at an Advance Auto for grins, it
tested out fine. Any other ideas regarding things to check/repairs/tests?

Much appreciated.

- Mike

Thanks for the reply.

No, I haven't had it inspected yet, but my garage floor is clean as a
whistle in regards to any obvious/heavy leaks. I will check the lines
tonight as best I can and the fluid level. Power steering fluid has
probably been changed once in the life of the car - I know that sucks - and
we are the original owners. To be honest (please educate me), I'm not sure
why low fluid would cause all the dash lights to come on, though I
understand why it's a problem overall with the system and might cause issues
while turning.

No noises from the pump that I'm aware of, but I just started driving the
car regularly today. I'll be paying close attention over the weekend.

I also had the timing belt / drive belts / waterpump / etc. changed at 90 or
95K, but I will take a better look today. They definitely don't squeal, and
during my uneducated cursory review of the belts while the hood was up this
morning - well, they looked OK to me. No cracks/bad seams/etc.

I have an appointment next week with my independent mechanic (lots of folks
here at my office use them for Hondas, generally very reliable), but
verbally he indicated the difficulty of diagnosing the problem without a
repro which is quite understandable. That's part of the reason for my post
is to hit a large audience - that and the fact that I'd rather do it myself
if it's not too much of a PITA.

Thanks again!

- Mike



"loewent via CarKB.com" wrote in message

> Thats a weird one, have not run across this before.
>
> First things first, have you had the steering system inspected? Leaks,
> components worn out, damage, etc?
>
> Also, is the P/S fluid at the right level? Have you ever had it changed?
>
> Does the P/S pump make any funny noises?
>
> What kind of shape is the drive belt in? Is there a squeal or noise that
> occurs when the problem happens?
>
> Start there. Let us know what you find.
>
> Terry in Winnipeg
>
> Mike wrote:
>>Good afternoon all. I did a search of the archives, and read through
>>Teggers FAQ, but wasn't able to find any details for this specific issue.
>>Thanks for your time.
>>
>>My wife has a '99 Honda Accord sedan, 4-cylinder 5 speed with 115K miles.
>>About once every few months for a year or more, she has complained that it
>>"loses power." This has now escalated to three times in a week, and is a
>>pretty significant issue for us - if we can't figure it out we're going to
>>have to sell the car for safety reasons. Unfortunately I haven't
>>experienced this yet as it's not my daily driver, so some of the details
>>that she offers aren't exactly complete and I recognize that.
>>Nonetheless,
>>here are the symptoms, and I'm hoping these ring a bell with someone.
>>
>>Yesterday when making a left turn into a parking lot at about 20MPH, she
>>states the steering wheel "locked up" while making the turn, and she
>>nearly
>>ran into a telephone pole. Sounds to me based on her explanation that she
>>lost power steering as she said it was incredibly difficult to turn. She
>>said that when it happened, all the lights on the dash came on, but the
>>radio was still on and the engine was still running. She
>>stopped/restarted
>>the car, problem resolved. I'm not 100% sure why the power steering would
>>be affected if the engine was still running, but my job is in IT not
>>fixing
>>Hondas unfortunately.
>>
>>When this has happened in the past it was just the dash-lights turning on
>>and a loss of power briefly so this wasn't an urgent of a problem. It's
>>only happened before while sitting at an intersection stopped (dash lights
>>turn on/car may or may not stop running) or driving straight (loss of
>>power,
>>dash lights on), so in the past she just restarted the car and off she
>>went.
>>I didn't know about the loss of power steering until recently. Besides
>>this
>>little hiccup, the car is flawless (and paid for), so we'd love to resolve
>>it if possible. If it's relevant, we live in NC and the weather has been
>>VERY hot as of late, but previous problems have been throughout the year.
>>
>>I had the alternator checked this morning at an Advance Auto for grins, it
>>tested out fine. Any other ideas regarding things to check/repairs/tests?
>>
>>Much appreciated.
>>
>>- Mike
>
> --
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>