could a bad power steering pump cause foam?

[Koldham]

my friends b5 passat keeps foaming up its ps fluid. its not leaking any and she has to keep refilling it. could the pump be leaking air in?is there a way to test this? she is also using the correct fluid(surprisingly)

[bhusted]

If she is refilling it, the fluid is going somewhere... A leak at one of the fittings will allow air in and cause the foaming/whine.

[TheTanker]

What he said, and you can probably pick up a dye to add in and try and find the leak if it's a small leak and you can't find it. How much fluid is she adding and how often? We use uv dyes at work but you can normally see the dye with out a black light, think you could get a bright colored dye at a auto parts store

[Koldham]

she has to add alot of fluid because its foaming out as she drives. the tank is wet and dirty but the pump and all the lines are dry. she has to refill it once a week, maby more. i dont understand what "alot" meant.

[bhusted]

Air is getting into the system somewhere. There must be a bad fitting or hose. If it's foaming out of the reservoir that much, she needs to stop driving it until the problem is found/fixed. Running that much air through the pump will ruin it.

[Koldham]

i told her that but she never listens. i finally convinced her to change the t belt. i look at it again over the weekend. how can you test for air leaks?

[Seerlah]

Test for air leaks? Reservoir has to be refilled every week. Test done.

she has to add alot of fluid because its foaming out as she drives. the tank is wet and dirty but the pump and all the lines are dry. she has to refill it once a week, maby more. i dont understand what "alot" meant.

Replace the reservoir for starters, new fluid and go from there. Heat, plastic, and age don't fare well together. Could have a crack in it. If that doesn't fix it, search for another leak. But that reservoir being wet says that is where it is. Most just have dried build up...nothing wet.