Power steering issue in a 2004 Hondappliance Civic - rack or pump?

Hey guys, picked up (insert Clarkson voice) "the most boring car....in the world" as a third car/mile-eater.  I'm probably the 3rd or 4th owner, and it's clear that the first few owners were not GRM'ers, or gearheads of any form or fashion.  There's a staggering amount of deferred maintenance to be addressed which I'm poking away at, but have a steering issue I'm trying to sort out.

Simply put, at random times and in random directions, the power steering assist stops assisting.  Even when the power assist is working, it makes a bit of a "crunching" noise - not all the time, and usually when the car is going over a bump (like pulling into my driveway).  As this is a car that my beautiful wife may borrow from time to time, I need to make it safe.  I have no idea if the prior owners used the magic Honda-specific fluid (or if it's ever been changed), but the level is topped up.  I'm going to try cycling it back and forth to hopefully burp any air out of the system, but can't imagine it will be that simple.  Any way, shy of throwing parts at it, to determine if it's the rack or pump?  I grabbed a pump from the pick-and-pull, and am wondering if I head back out and grab a rack as well.  Needless to say, I'm sort of hoping it's the pump, as that should be much easier to change.  :) 

Thanks...

Jason

Take the PS reservoir off the car. Empty it with a rag over the catch can you use. Look for the shiny aluminum foil seal that’s used to seal PS bottles. Saw this once, car had assist then a little later none. We changed the rack once, the pump twice, both hoses, til we found the foil in the reservoir that would block the suction pipe randomly. Cheap fix if you find that’s the problem. 

cut away the entire unibody, replace with poorly designed and welded 'cage'

then, you won't need the PS anymore, and it will definitely no longer be the most boring car in the world. Win win.

sergio said:

Take the PS reservoir off the car. Empty it with a rag over the catch can you use. Look for the shiny aluminum foil seal that’s used to seal PS bottles. Saw this once, car had assist then a little later none. We changed the rack once, the pump twice, both hoses, til we found the foil in the reservoir that would block the suction pipe randomly. Cheap fix if you find that’s the problem. 

Thanks Sergio - that would be frustrating to change out all those parts and find that was the issue.  :)  Worth checking out for sure, as the fluid needs to come out anyway.

Robbie said:

cut away the entire unibody, replace with poorly designed and welded 'cage'

then, you won't need the PS anymore, and it will definitely no longer be the most boring car in the world. Win win.

Now, to make sure I'm doing it correctly - just glue exhaust tubing together with booger welds, and then hose it all down with orange paint to add "structure"?  

As fun as that might be (and I still think a competently built one could actually be fun), with two caged cars in the fleet, this one needs to stay as boring as watching paint dry.

To close out on this (at least for now), I used a suction pump to get all the old, nasty fluid out of the reservoir, topped up with Carquest Honda-specific fluid, ran the motor and cycled the steering wheel 8-10 times, then suctioned that out and refilled.  After doing that four times, the fluid came out looking a heck of a lot better and (so far) power steering assist is working as it should.  I don't know if the PO used the magic Honda unicorn juice or not (the fluid was pretty dark) so this may be a short term fix, but we'll take an easy semi-win at the moment.

The "scrunching" noise is still there on low speed turns...I had my local mechanics give a look and they're scratching their head as well, although are inclined to believe it's the steering rack.  Since this is a daily beater, we're just going to monitor the situation for now...hell, it'll probably outlive me, making noise and all.  :)

Thanks...

Jason