I had a similar issue a very long time ago... rack seals. Check the tie rod boots. That's where mine was leaking and it would then eventually leak out. It was a hard to track down intermittent leak. Sometimes fine for months, and then it would leak.
Weird intermittent PS leak?
So, 2002 ZX5 has plenty of other issues, but this one is weird.
Power steering fluid will be fine for months, then over 1-2 days it'll just pee it all out. Fill it back up and it's fine for months again. There's no drip or loss in between, and I can't figure out where it's coming from since I can't catch it in progress.
I guess on the plus side, it's not in there more than a year, so it doesn't really get to the point of needing to be changed.
Power steering fluid will be fine for months, then over 1-2 days it'll just pee it all out. Fill it back up and it's fine for months again. There's no drip or loss in between, and I can't figure out where it's coming from since I can't catch it in progress.
I guess on the plus side, it's not in there more than a year, so it doesn't really get to the point of needing to be changed.
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Makes sense. I guess if I find another cheap beater and put this one out of service for an overhaul (definitely needs a new head and the oil pan gasket has a really slow leak, and if I'm taking the top and bottom off a 20 year old engine, it's getting rod bearings, rings, etc. while I'm in there) I'll go over the steering and suspension too. In the meantime, it's cheaper and way less effort to just keep a bottle of fluid under the seat and dump some in when it starts mooing on turns.I had a similar issue a very long time ago... rack seals. Check the tie rod boots. That's where mine was leaking and it would then eventually leak out. It was a hard to track down intermittent leak. Sometimes fine for months, and then it would leak.
Wear on rack internal bushing can do it. You drive and never extend the rack beyond a certain point then one day you go all the way to the limit and then it leaks that one time when the shaft suddenly gets out to lean sideways and the seal lip then loses contact to squirt it out then. Or a ding in the shaft way out on one end to hardly ever run it across the seal.
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