How to get air out of power steering system?

[Carlostrece]

My cousin changed my Buick's PSF today. He replaced old Lucas PSF with new Idemitsu PSF.

After he was done it intially sound worse, then sounded better. Why? Does this mean we got air in the system?

If we did get air in the system, did it work itself out of the system thus resolving the problem?

 

[ripcord]

What I've done in the past its to jack up the front of the car and just turn the wheel from lock to lock until it started to sound normal. I think that's all you have to do on most cars.

 

[Dborch41]

Whenever you replace a power steering pump, you should fill the reservoir with as much fluid as it will hold then turn the wheel lock to lock with the engine off. It's best to raise the front wheels off the ground for this. Keep doing this and add fluid as necessary until the level stops dropping, this will purge the majority of the air from the system so the pump won't run dry on the first start.

Hopefully you can try this and see if the pump will start behaving without any damage being done, it's worth a try.

Good luck!

 

[Klutch9]

It can take a while to remove air from a power steering system. A couple years ago I had to replace a PS line in my old Sedona, so basically all the fluid drained out except what was in the rack. I filled it full, sawed the wheel back and forth many times with the engine off. When I started it, the fluid still foamed and overflowed a lot. Took quite a while to get all the air out.