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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