Power streeting fluid change procedure?

gcretro · Post by **gcretro** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:46 pm

Is there a stick for changing power steering fluid? (Not the flush, but I want to do it myself).

I saw what appears to be a PS fluid cooler under the car... Is it OK to disconnect one side of those hoses and then let fluid drain under gravity? Then lightly jack up the front end and rotate the steering lock to lock to get most out. Then refill... & get the air out.

Or should the PS pump/reservoir be actually removed to do this job? (I want to avoid taking the belt off etc... if possible).

Hudson_Neon · Post by **Hudson_Neon** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:02 pm

by doing what you said, you should be able to get most of the fluid swapped out

Post by **racer12306** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:27 pm

I sucked the fluid out of the reservoir, added, started, repeat a few times.

stairmaster3001 · Post by **stairmaster3001** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:05 pm

racer12306 wrote:I sucked the fluid out of the reservoir, added, started, repeat a few times.

what can you use to suck the fliud out? brake bleeder? vaccum?

darthroush · Post by **darthroush** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:01 pm

Turkey baster. You can probably find one at a dollar store.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:05 pm

They do make special 'suction pumps' just for this purpose.

- Nick

nicksdad06 · Post by **nicksdad06** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:14 pm

Use brake bleeder vac suck out fill turn wheel lock to lockrepeat till u empty 2 bottles of fluid

Post by **racer12306** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:47 am

Pretty much anything that provides suction will work. Turkey baster, vacuum pump, penis pump, etc, etc.

I used a contraction that ran off of air pressure to create a vacuum. It was primarily used for changing differential fluid but can be used for changing any fluid that doesn't have a drain plug.

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:07 am

I used a hairy cleavage pump.

OB · Post by OB » Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:30 pm

racer12306 wrote:Pretty much anything that provides suction will work. Turkey baster, vacuum pump, penis pump, etc, etc.

Dang Frank, with all the stuff you have laying around the house you could really do some solid sucking! JK!

OP - Your original plan would work fine, sucking the fluid from the reservoir would only help speed things up a bit. I would recommend getting all the fluid out, then pour fresh fluid into the res and let it travel through and drain via the lines at the cooler. This is a poor mans flush that should get some extra crud out.

esfan · Post by **esfan** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:28 pm

I actually took out the power steering pressure sensor (the power steering switch which throws a code P0551) when tried to eliminate the code. After taking that switch out a lot of power steering fluid drained out. Not sure how much does actually come out. Then it took me about one bottle of fluid to fill in, turns the steering for few times and done.

gcretro · Post by **gcretro** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:27 pm

and where is this pressure sensor located?
If it's easy to remove then I am all for using it as a make shift drain plug

(As long as the sensor isn't one that will fail by touching it... i just try to be cautious on a car with 100k)

gilly02le · Post by **gilly02le** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:11 am

This is what you are looking for..

P/s fluid pressure sensor. Its also only about 15 dollars, so if it dies, just replace it..

esfan · Post by **esfan** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:36 am

viewtopic.php?t=23635

Here's a How-to, I'm still not sure if that drains all the fluid out. It is at a kind of hard to reach place, probably need some long socket adapter to get in there.

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:51 am

gcretro wrote:and where is this pressure sensor located?
If it's easy to remove then I am all for using it as a make shift drain plug (As long as the sensor isn't one that will fail by touching it... i just try to be cautious on a car with 100k)

As you can see, it is not in the most friendly spot. A fair amount of ppl cross thread it, attempting to get it back in. But since you would be using it to drain, instead of trying to minimize the fluid loss, there should be no hurry to get it treaded back in place.