2006 Honda Accord exl v6 6spd.

Just replaced the o-ring on the low-pressure line on my power steering pump and it doesn’t appear to be sucking air anymore. I’m worried about my rack and pinion since my fluid was so nasty. I know you can just use a turkey baster or something to pull the fluid from the reservoir, fill it with new fluid, start the engine, turn the wheel a few times and let run, repeat. This does waste a lot of fluid but I have a lot of fluid (just found 5 12oz I bought a few years ago, and I just about 12 12oz). I watched a video of someone taking the return line off the reservoir, plugging the hole, filling the reservoir and putting the tube in a catch pan. He turned the wheel to pump all the fluid out and continued to top off the reservoir. He kept the engine off the whole time.

This seemed to introduce a lot of air into the system that he had to bleed out. I thought about doing this but I am worried about all the extra air damaging the pump or rack while it bleeds out. I couldn’t find info on this specifically.

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Also, I squeezed the boots on my rack and they didn’t feel like they had any fluid in them but it’s hard to tell really. Are there any better ways to test the condition of my rack?

I don’t have any steering problems, there don’t appear to be any obvious leaks (I’m gonna put some UV dye in once I get my fluid all shiny), and the pump makes a bit of nose but it’s better after fixing the o-ring, and some new fluid. Also when I turn the wheel to lock, it makes a pretty bad noise so I avoid it.