I decided I needed to change my power steering fluid the lazy way. It looked like diarrhea; brown and stinky. I used a suction gun and sucked out the reservoir, refilled it, cycled the steering, and repeated 7 times before it even started looking clean. When I'd used 2 quarts for this, I stopped. The pump was starting to whine before this and is quiet now. After I buy some more fluid, I'll do it again. I didn't want to get any air in the system is the reason I did it this way. I think I should have done it sooner. Mopar fluid was around $7/qt.

 

Is there an easier way to do it? I havent' done it but my thought would be to remove the return line from the back of the pump (block off pump return nipple), and feed the return line into a 5 gal bucket. Then have a helper start the vehicle while you pour fresh fluid to the resevior as it is emptied out. Would go quick but when you see clear fluid you know you have it 'flushed'.

I've done something similar many times while changing tranny fluid: Remove old fluid, clean and install new filter and fluid. Overfill fluid by a 2-3 quarts. Then remove a trans cooling line at the radiator and run rubber hoses from them to a 5 gal bucket. Have a helper start the car and watch the fluid come out until it's clear, then shut off. Takes about 15 seconds or so. But then you get all the fluid out of the torque converter. Return tranny fluid just goes to the drain pan anyway so it doesn't starve the tranny. Put everything together and top off fluid.

Anyone done this with P/S fluid?


Jeepwalker

 

I did it the same way, the only difference is that two change was enough

 

Well, mine was probably never done before I got it. It's got 160K miles on it and the last 35K has been on a newspaper route. There's a lot of close order maneuvering when trying to get close to mailboxes and turning around in driveways and narrow streets, so much so that tire wear is accelerated for the front tires. The reservoir is black and the dipstick is black so I didn't notice the color of the fluid until I wiped it with a rag.

The worst part is when I bought the jeep, I checked/changed all the fluids, even the brake fluid. Somehow I missed the P/S.