Honda Repair: Desperate for help with intermittant fault please!, honda prelude vtec, power steering fluid

Question
Dear Bill,

I have a 1994 Honda Prelude VTEC with an intermittant fault.  When I have been driving for a while and the engine heats up, sometimes, the engine appears to lose power.  When this happens, the steering is erratic and the car is heavy, clunky and hard to control.  If I stop, I have to rev really hard to get it to go again out of first gear.  Reversing is fine.  As you move up the gears, it moves more freely, but the steering is a bit bouncy.  And it sounds really dreadful and is straining a lot.  There is some smoke coming off the engine when this happens, but I am not sure if that is because I am revving so hard.  Also, a little bit of power-steering fluid can drip out, but the level has remained constant, so there doesn't seem to be a bad leak.  The other day I had to push it to get out of traffic, but then suddenly, the problem just disappeared.  And always does as I am driving to the mechanics.  I don't know what to do.  Please help me!  I have had the spark plugs changed recently.  Do you think it could be a clutch or axle problem?  I would be grateful for your advice because I am actually in Japan and speak only very limited Japanese, so it is very difficult (almost impossible) for me to communicate with the mechanics and I keep trying with things like power-steering, clutch, but they keep saying these things are fine.

Thanks heaps for reading my little story!  And I would so appreciate any advice you have to offer.

Cheers,
Kathryn

Answer
Kathryn:
I would say that it sounds like a clutch or transmission problem. The car is eleven and if the clutch is original it may be bad. The axles are held into the transmission with a clip and if the clip is broken, it would not cause and intermittent failure, it would fail all the time. There may be a piece broken off in the clutch and sometimes it causes a failure, just a guess.
Try to see what is the same when it fails, going up hill, going 50 MPH, in traffic, etc. You may need to have the mechanic keep the car for a few days and drive it until it fails.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Bill