Do you flush your power steering system?

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Sorry on the wording. When I say flush I mean flush out all the old fluid and add new. I will not be having this done with any solvents. Just having new fluid pushing the old fluid out. That’s what I meant by flushing the system. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Yep I change the PS fluid on my vehicles. Never sampled the oil before until recently. As you can see the original fluid was oxidised to all [censored], viscosity had dropped of and there was a reasonalbe load of wear material:
 
Originally Posted By: Ammofirst
I use the turkey baster method as well. On the final refill I use brown gravy & a pinch of salt.


Lol. That’s funny right there
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Depends on the vehicle, My 2500HD has HydroBoost with no P/S cooler....It has to be exchanged every once in a while to keep steering & brakes feeling right.

Exchanging fluid is different than a Flush. Flushing something involves flooding the component/s with a solvent.


Jeez. Have you looked into a cooler for your truck?
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Depends on the vehicle, My 2500HD has HydroBoost with no P/S cooler....It has to be exchanged every once in a while to keep steering & brakes feeling right.

Exchanging fluid is different than a Flush. Flushing something involves flooding the component/s with a solvent.


You may have a long strip of metal line that runs under the radiator in a loop. Believe it or not that's a cooler.

Flushing also can be with the working fluid, aka fluid exchange...
 
I just wanted to mention that steering rack rebuilders require a fluid flush to get any debris out before buttoning up the unit for service.... not turkey basting it.

Quote:
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Exchanging fluid is different than a Flush. Flushing something involves flooding the component/s with a solvent.

Flushing also can be with the working fluid, aka fluid exchange...

Agreed. It's all semantics. I flush my toilet; I don't exchange the fluid.
 
Turkey baster every 2 years. It helps that toyota racks just use regular dexron 3 stuff which is cheappp to come by these days
 
I like to get as clean as a base line on fluids and maintenance for all the vehicles I buy, so I flush as much as a I can, then keep a regular schedule with the turkey baster for PS and Brake Fluid.

Vehicles I service for friends and family? If they want to help, sure, I'll do a full flush. If they don't care or just ask for something, I'll bust out the turkey baster.
 
I'm not sure why I do this; I'm just an OCD BITOGER....Or maybe it's the fact that I work for a testing laboratory...No, we don't test oil or car anything...but I keep small samples of old fluids on some shelves out in the garage. They are dated and labeled so I know what is what.

Here is a picture of 3 syringes of PS fluid. 1 is new fluid sucked out of a new bottle, 1 is fluid which has been in service since 9.15.15, (2 years plus a week, sucked out about an hour ago), and 1 is the fluid I drained from OEM? (when I bought the car it was 12 yrs old and 57K on it). Guess which fluid is which...



BTW, when I did the new fluid on 9.15.15, I jacked the front wheels off the ground, disconnected the return hose and had my daughter crank the steering wheel lock to lock (motor off) with me under the car until all fluid quit spurting out, then refilled the system with almost 20 oz (in a system that the FSM says holds 16 oz). Judging from this pic, I see no reason to change my 2 year old fluid...Although my curiosity is now piqued and I may do UOA on the OEM? fluid just to see how nasty it is?

To the OP: If you're considering transmission fluid service on a vehicle with 130K on it, you may find this worth a read...http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/238
 
Originally Posted By: Kuato
I've found that the turkey baster method about every 50,000 miles keeps the system in good working order. Any hydraulic fluid can get dirty and/or collect moisture and impurities; the system was designed to work with fresh fluid....

if the system was designed for "fresh fluids".....why is there no drain plug to do a drain and fill? Leave the power steering fluid alone, your wasting your time.
 
That would be like saying why extract all the old brake fluid and add new cause the master cylinder doesn’t have a drain plug on it. A lot of transmissions don’t have drain plugs either but transmission services are to be performed on them and power steering fluid isint a lifetime fluid so why not change it as well right.
 
Originally Posted By: Ihatetochangeoil
I'm not sure why I do this; I'm just an OCD BITOGER....Or maybe it's the fact that I work for a testing laboratory...No, we don't test oil or car anything...but I keep small samples of old fluids on some shelves out in the garage. They are dated and labeled so I know what is what.

Here is a picture of 3 syringes of PS fluid. 1 is new fluid sucked out of a new bottle, 1 is fluid which has been in service since 9.15.15, (2 years plus a week, sucked out about an hour ago), and 1 is the fluid I drained from OEM? (when I bought the car it was 12 yrs old and 57K on it). Guess which fluid is which...



BTW, when I did the new fluid on 9.15.15, I jacked the front wheels off the ground, disconnected the return hose and had my daughter crank the steering wheel lock to lock (motor off) with me under the car until all fluid quit spurting out, then refilled the system with almost 20 oz (in a system that the FSM says holds 16 oz). Judging from this pic, I see no reason to change my 2 year old fluid...Although my curiosity is now piqued and I may do UOA on the OEM? fluid just to see how nasty it is?

To the OP: If you're considering transmission fluid service on a vehicle with 130K on it, you may find this worth a read...http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/238


I’m gonna guess far right is oem fluid, middle is used fluid and left is new fluid but I might be wrong.
 
Originally Posted By: Diesel16
Originally Posted By: Ihatetochangeoil
I'm not sure why I do this; I'm just an OCD BITOGER....Or maybe it's the fact that I work for a testing laboratory...No, we don't test oil or car anything...but I keep small samples of old fluids on some shelves out in the garage. They are dated and labeled so I know what is what.

Here is a picture of 3 syringes of PS fluid. 1 is new fluid sucked out of a new bottle, 1 is fluid which has been in service since 9.15.15, (2 years plus a week, sucked out about an hour ago), and 1 is the fluid I drained from OEM? (when I bought the car it was 12 yrs old and 57K on it). Guess which fluid is which...



BTW, when I did the new fluid on 9.15.15, I jacked the front wheels off the ground, disconnected the return hose and had my daughter crank the steering wheel lock to lock (motor off) with me under the car until all fluid quit spurting out, then refilled the system with almost 20 oz (in a system that the FSM says holds 16 oz). Judging from this pic, I see no reason to change my 2 year old fluid...Although my curiosity is now piqued and I may do UOA on the OEM? fluid just to see how nasty it is?

To the OP: If you're considering transmission fluid service on a vehicle with 130K on it, you may find this worth a read...http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/238


I’m gonna guess far right is oem fluid, middle is used fluid and left is new fluid but I might be wrong.


You are correct sir. It was dusk outside and I needed a flashlight to illuminate the picture, but what I think I just learned is that my 2 year old fluid is fine. It is not nearly opaque.
 
Originally Posted By: mclasser
I turkey baster the reservoir once a year. It's an easy and gentle way to replenish the PSF and its additives.


I agree. Every engine oil change(10K) I TB the PS pump and replenish with M1 ATF in my 2007 Fusion. That method has worked well for me the last 27 years or so,
in the various Fords I have owned.
 
Originally Posted By: mclasser
I turkey baster the reservoir once a year. It's an easy and gentle way to replenish the PSF and its additives.

Definitely a great idea and the peace of mind is well worth the couple dollars for a bottle of transmission fluid and knowing it’s contamint free.
 
So I got the old power steering fluid removed from the power steering system yesterday and replaced it all with Amsoil Atf. Got the brakes done to and all the old brake fluid removed and new Amsoil brake fluid added. Car stops great and the steering is a lot smoother. This upcoming weekend it will be getting the transmission serviced and the transmission filter changed and Amsoil Atf added. Also it will be getting all the coolant removed and new Amsoil or Zerex coolant added. I will have peace of mind knowing it has all new fluids in it. It’s been the best car I’ve ever had and I wanna keep it running great for a long time to come. Hope to get over 300,000 miles on this Fusion.
 
My Ford Fusion has been a very reliable vehicle. Now with 213K there are no rattles, steering and suspension are sound, no rust, everything inside the car works well, trans shifts fine, and the engine shows no signs of wear, and doesn't leak a drop of oil.
 
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