Q: Steering wheel is hard to turn at random intervals

asked by on August 13, 2016

I just purchased this 2007 Honda CR-V about 4 months ago. A month after I purchased it I noticed that the steering wheel would get really stiff when trying to turn. At first it seldom happened, but it is happening more frequently now. I took it to the Honda dealership and they told me that they could not replicate the issue, so they did nothing. Here is what I have noticed so far: 1) It seems to happen more often in the mornings or a few minutes after starting to drive the car. 2) There are constant bubbles in the power steering reservoir when the car is running. 3) I do not see any leaks in the power steering system. 4) When the problem happens, the power steering fluid gets all white and foamy, and after a few minutes it goes back to having just a few bubbles. Could this be a power steering pump problem? It appears as if the power steering pump was replaced recently, but I have no way of knowing. Could it be that the reservoir has no original Honda fluid?

My car has 127000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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