Power steering fluid change?

[Jim Allen]

0) Consult OEM manual to see what, if any, special steps there might be.

1) Empty reservoir (could be combined with step 2)

2) Remove low pressure return line from reservoir and plug nipple securely,

3) Run/extend return hose from gear/rack into jug. Use a clear line so you can see color of oil.

4) Refill reservoir with new PS oil.

5) Have assistant start engine. Fluid will rapidly go down and you keep refilling until the return line oil is clear. Have the assistant run the steering once lock to lock during the process. You shouldn't have to run too much more than about 1.5 times the capacity of the system but if it's your first time, get plenty of extra. You'll feel like a one-armed paper hanger ( : < ).

6) Reconnect hose while losing as little from reservoir as possible. Top of reservoir and clean up any oil mess.

7) An option is to put a T-valve in the return line that allows you to just hook up and line to the empty nipple and direct oil to a jug.

8) Install an inline filter into the return line. There is no filter in a PS system at all. Magnefine makes one (same filter as for the trans but with different kit contents).

I installed a Magnefine into the return line of the rack and pinion steering in my F150 and ran it for 552 miles before resampling the oil. The ISO oil cleanliness code (google it) dropped from a dirty 20/17/12 to a clean 17/15/12. One code in any of the three number, e.g. 20 to 19, is a 50% drop in contamination. Similarly, when installed into the long-overdue-for-an-oil-change power steering of my ’86 F250 (recirculating ball system), it dropped the code from a filthy 21/18/14 to 18/16/13 in just 289 miles.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Turk
I used to use the Turkey Baster until...........

I started using a long Shampoo Bottle (or equivalent) pump - it got down further & NO suction leak or dribble!!

Try it -- Works much better!



Will do.

 

[demarpaint]

I did it recently to my 00 Century using the Turkey Baster method. I bought a gallon of Valvoline PSF and extracted the fluid from the reservoir and refilled it. I drove it as I normally would, it took about 3 weeks to swap out the entire gallon. I drove the car as I normally would and popped the hood after a drive if convenient, sucked the PSF out and refilled. I'm not a fan of taking off a PS line and draining it that way. Opinions vary.

 

[Jim Allen]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I did it recently to my 00 Century using the Turkey Baster method. I bought a gallon of Valvoline PSF and extracted the fluid from the reservoir and refilled it. I drove it as I normally would, it took about 3 weeks to swap out the entire gallon. I drove the car as I normally would and popped the hood after a drive if convenient, sucked the PSF out and refilled. I'm not a fan of taking off a PS line and draining it that way. Opinions vary.


Not a fan why? Takes me about 30 minutes on my stuff... or less. May vary according to vehicle, of course. I like the idea of a complete job, done in one session.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I did it recently to my 00 Century using the Turkey Baster method. I bought a gallon of Valvoline PSF and extracted the fluid from the reservoir and refilled it. I drove it as I normally would, it took about 3 weeks to swap out the entire gallon. I drove the car as I normally would and popped the hood after a drive if convenient, sucked the PSF out and refilled. I'm not a fan of taking off a PS line and draining it that way. Opinions vary.


Not a fan why? Takes me about 30 minutes on my stuff... or less. May vary according to vehicle, of course. I like the idea of a complete job, done in one session.


I'd rather not risk a leak, damaging a hose or a line, that's all, especially on an older car or one that never had a line removed. Looking at my 2000 Century it looks like a PITA to remove the line. Like I said opinions vary.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: yonyon
Originally Posted By: eddy21
I can't find the reservoir on my "12 Focus

Does it have electric power steering? You can usually tell electric power steering because it feels like you have hydraulic power steering with a mild case of "morning sickness" as from a worn out hydraulic power steering rack unit, but the sickness never goes away.


My 2012 Mazda3 has an electric pump. It has a very small "reservoir" right near the windshield washer tank. On a Mazda3 forum one of the posters disconnected a return line under the car to drain the pump. By the looks of the setup I can probably accomplish the same thing by using my Mityvac. Since it has a long, skinny vinly tube I think I can snake it all the way down into the top of the electric pump and draw out a good amount of fluid. Doing that every 30,000 miles ought to be plenty adequate.

Maybe the Focus has a similar design. AS far as the "sickness" goes, if I didn't know the steering pump was electric I would not be able to tell from the steering. It does make a characteristic "whine" that I can hear in the company parking garage. Apparently, that is normal.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I did it recently to my 00 Century using the Turkey Baster method. I bought a gallon of Valvoline PSF and extracted the fluid from the reservoir and refilled it. I drove it as I normally would, it took about 3 weeks to swap out the entire gallon. I drove the car as I normally would and popped the hood after a drive if convenient, sucked the PSF out and refilled. I'm not a fan of taking off a PS line and draining it that way. Opinions vary.


Not a fan why? Takes me about 30 minutes on my stuff... or less. May vary according to vehicle, of course. I like the idea of a complete job, done in one session.


I'd rather not risk a leak, damaging a hose or a line, that's all, especially on an older car or one that never had a line removed. Looking at my 2000 Century it looks like a PITA to remove the line. Like I said opinions vary.

Me too, I did the easy way without disconnect any hose, using shampoo pump to suck out old fluid in reservoir then refill with new fluid, start engine and turn steering wheel lock to lock couple times. Redo siphon - refill - turn wheel lock to lock few more times until 1 quart PSF is used.

I agree that flushing from return line is a much better method, but I also know that I can easily screw thing up so that I may break more thing doing this method. Siphon - refill is virtually fool proof.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR

I agree that flushing from return line is a much better method, but I also know that I can easily screw thing up so that I may break more thing doing this method. Siphon - refill is virtually fool proof.


Removing the return line is always better. I look at it this way, if it's easy to get off go for it! If it is an older car, or a difficult job I'd rather not risk it. I swap mine out often enough to know that a gallon exchanged over a short period of time keeps it in good shape. Once again opinions vary.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint

Removing the return line is always better. I look at it this way, if it's easy to get off go for it! If it is an older car, or a difficult job I'd rather not risk it. I swap mine out often enough to know that a gallon exchanged over a short period of time keeps it in good shape. Once again opinions vary.


I think it's car dependent to an extent..and on this car, there's no valid reason to avoid doing a full flush. On my Freestyle (or many Fords, it seems), I think drain and fills may be the way to go. But this car has easy access, an easy-to-remove hose and removing air is very simple and quick. OTOH, I ended up building some Rube Goldberg contraction to get the air out of the system on my Freestyle, since it was still there a month later.

On this car a full flush is the cheaper, simpler and faster way to go IMO.

 

[supton]

There's more than a gallon of power steering fluid in there? I get the impression that some think this discussion is about automatic trans, and others power steering...?

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: supton
There's more than a gallon of power steering fluid in there? I get the impression that some think this discussion is about automatic trans, and others power steering...?


The amount of fluid once again is vehicle dependent. To me a gallon is a reasonable amount costs under $15 and when I'm done the fluid is nice and clean. An automatic tranny OTOH can take a few gallons to do a proper exchange, again opinions vary.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: JOD
Originally Posted By: demarpaint

Removing the return line is always better. I look at it this way, if it's easy to get off go for it! If it is an older car, or a difficult job I'd rather not risk it. I swap mine out often enough to know that a gallon exchanged over a short period of time keeps it in good shape. Once again opinions vary.


I think it's car dependent to an extent..and on this car, there's no valid reason to avoid doing a full flush. On my Freestyle (or many Fords, it seems), I think drain and fills may be the way to go. But this car has easy access, an easy-to-remove hose and removing air is very simple and quick. OTOH, I ended up building some Rube Goldberg contraction to get the air out of the system on my Freestyle, since it was still there a month later.

On this car a full flush is the cheaper, simpler and faster way to go IMO.


I agree it is vehicle dependent. You said: On this car a full flush is the cheaper, simpler and faster way to go IMO. Which car are you referring to?

I also remember a conversation I had with Trav, and he said bleeding the air out in my Buick can sometimes be a PITA. We discussed rigging my Miti-Vac to a Rube Goldberg plug and using that. I avoided that situation with the turkey baster. As far as cost, under $15 for a gallon of PSF, so no biggie there either.

Trust me if I thought dropping the return line was going to be easier, and risk free I would have done that. I weighed my options and decided against it. Maybe if I was 20 years younger and I was really concerned and thought it would really make a difference it might have been a different story. lol

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: supton
There's more than a gallon of power steering fluid in there? I get the impression that some think this discussion is about automatic trans, and others power steering...?


The amount of fluid once again is vehicle dependent. To me a gallon is a reasonable amount costs under $15 and when I'm done the fluid is nice and clean. An automatic tranny OTOH can take a few gallons to do a proper exchange, again opinions vary.

The question was about a 2001 Honda Civic DX. I looked it up. The reservoir capacity is 0.4L and the total system capacity is 1.0L. It uses Honda PSF-V or whatever the current version is that would be backwards compatible. It's sold in the US in 12 oz bottles, so 3 should be enough for a Civic. There are some aftermarket PSF that are Honda-specific, where the label will say that it's not suitable for any other application other than Honda/Acura PS units. It should not be using generic power steering fluid (a GM spec fluid used to be almost universal) or ATF, which is spec'ed for quite a few power steering units these days.

And a factory service manual PS fluid removal procedure removes well over 90% of the fluid in the system. Doing it once is usually good enough. The turkey baster method might remove about 40% of the fluid - similar to a typical ATF drain. So if it's done 5 times it's probably about 93% of the previous fluid gone. If it hasn't been done in a while, it might be better to do that several times, then maybe once a year.

I'm still wondering exactly how to handle my 2004 Subaru. The factory fluid was brown and looked more like a purpose-made power steering fluid than an ATF. Since ATF is ubiquitous and cheap, I'll probably just find some Dexron ATF and do the turkey baster method over several days. While the Honda units specify just letting the pump evacuate almost all of the fluid until nearly dry, I'm not sure if Subaru PS units can eliminate the air quickly.

Oh - I looked and found that Subaru sells two types of ATF that it says are good for their PS units. I'm not sure which one though - there's one in a white bottle and another called "HP" in a silver bottle.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: supton
There's more than a gallon of power steering fluid in there? I get the impression that some think this discussion is about automatic trans, and others power steering...?


The amount of fluid once again is vehicle dependent. To me a gallon is a reasonable amount costs under $15 and when I'm done the fluid is nice and clean. An automatic tranny OTOH can take a few gallons to do a proper exchange, again opinions vary.

The question was about a 2001 Honda Civic DX. I looked it up. The reservoir capacity is 0.4L and the total system capacity is 1.0L. It uses Honda PSF-V or whatever the current version is that would be backwards compatible. It's sold in the US in 12 oz bottles, so 3 should be enough for a Civic. There are some aftermarket PSF that are Honda-specific, where the label will say that it's not suitable for any other application other than Honda/Acura PS units. It should not be using generic power steering fluid (a GM spec fluid used to be almost universal) or ATF, which is spec'ed for quite a few power steering units these days.

And a factory service manual PS fluid removal procedure removes well over 90% of the fluid in the system. Doing it once is usually good enough. The turkey baster method might remove about 40% of the fluid - similar to a typical ATF drain. So if it's done 5 times it's probably about 93% of the previous fluid gone. If it hasn't been done in a while, it might be better to do that several times, then maybe once a year.

I'm still wondering exactly how to handle my 2004 Subaru. The factory fluid was brown and looked more like a purpose-made power steering fluid than an ATF. Since ATF is ubiquitous and cheap, I'll probably just find some Dexron ATF and do the turkey baster method over several days. While the Honda units specify just letting the pump evacuate almost all of the fluid until nearly dry, I'm not sure if Subaru PS units can eliminate the air quickly.

Oh - I looked and found that Subaru sells two types of ATF that it says are good for their PS units. I'm not sure which one though - there's one in a white bottle and another called "HP" in a silver bottle.


Thanks for clearing that up. I sold Honda vehicles only worked on a few though. I guess it depends on how easy it is to pop the return line and run PSF through until its clean. Or baster it out until its clean. I'd use their PSF. It also depends on your mechanical ability, btw that is not an insult. Some people have little to no mechanical skills so the baster method is great for them.

I'd deal with the Subaru the same way, once you find the correct fluid.

My car uses plain no frills PSF, I grabbed a gallon of Valvoline's stuff.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: supton
There's more than a gallon of power steering fluid in there? I get the impression that some think this discussion is about automatic trans, and others power steering...?


The amount of fluid once again is vehicle dependent. To me a gallon is a reasonable amount costs under $15 and when I'm done the fluid is nice and clean. An automatic tranny OTOH can take a few gallons to do a proper exchange, again opinions vary.

The question was about a 2001 Honda Civic DX. I looked it up. The reservoir capacity is 0.4L and the total system capacity is 1.0L. It uses Honda PSF-V or whatever the current version is that would be backwards compatible. It's sold in the US in 12 oz bottles, so 3 should be enough for a Civic. There are some aftermarket PSF that are Honda-specific, where the label will say that it's not suitable for any other application other than Honda/Acura PS units. It should not be using generic power steering fluid (a GM spec fluid used to be almost universal) or ATF, which is spec'ed for quite a few power steering units these days.

And a factory service manual PS fluid removal procedure removes well over 90% of the fluid in the system. Doing it once is usually good enough. The turkey baster method might remove about 40% of the fluid - similar to a typical ATF drain. So if it's done 5 times it's probably about 93% of the previous fluid gone. If it hasn't been done in a while, it might be better to do that several times, then maybe once a year.

I'm still wondering exactly how to handle my 2004 Subaru. The factory fluid was brown and looked more like a purpose-made power steering fluid than an ATF. Since ATF is ubiquitous and cheap, I'll probably just find some Dexron ATF and do the turkey baster method over several days. While the Honda units specify just letting the pump evacuate almost all of the fluid until nearly dry, I'm not sure if Subaru PS units can eliminate the air quickly.

Oh - I looked and found that Subaru sells two types of ATF that it says are good for their PS units. I'm not sure which one though - there's one in a white bottle and another called "HP" in a silver bottle.


Thanks for clearing that up. I sold Honda vehicles only worked on a few though. I guess it depends on how easy it is to pop the return line and run PSF through until its clean. Or baster it out until its clean. I'd use their PSF. It also depends on your mechanical ability, btw that is not an insult. Some people have little to no mechanical skills so the baster method is great for them.

I'd deal with the Subaru the same way, once you find the correct fluid.

My car uses plain no frills PSF, I grabbed a gallon of Valvoline's stuff.

Actually a Civic HX, but I think it's the same procedure and capacities.

Subaru spec'ed Dexron III at the time, but I can't find it (not sure if the current Dexron standard is appropriate) and supposedly they allow either of their OEM ATFs for this service as a preferred fluid.

I've done a Honda PSF change. It was easy, but extremely painful. A PS pump makes awful groaning noises when running without fluid, and most people hearing it would think it would damage the system. I did this almost (I used a bottle taped to a hose instead of an open wide-mouth container) according to a factory service manual, so I'm pretty sure it was correct.