Power Steering Went Dry....Now Noisy

[Phishin]

Okay, the wife called me today. She tried to leave work on her lunch break, and the 2000 Nissan Altima was requiring a lot of effort to turn the wheel. She back up, and then pull back ahead. She noticed red fluid all over the snow. She called me.

I opened the hood and a power steering hose had come loose. It's the type of connection where a rubber hose slides over a metal tube with a clamp around the rubber hose. So, I simply slide the rubber hose back over the metal tube, and tighten the clamp.

There was a PSF leak, so I added a bit of Lucas PSF Leak Stop to the reservior a few months ago. The rest of the bottle was in the truck, so I dug it out and was gonna add it to the reservior, but it wouldn't flow!!!! Maybe this thick stuff caused the PS hose to blow off. Since it's so cold here, is that possible?

Second question, I filled the reservior with Maxlife ATF, turned the wheel left and right to lock out, the reservior was empty again, so I refilled it. Turned wheel again from lock out to lock. Level never changed.

However......now the PS pump is pretty noisey!! Could there be air trapped in the system? Could the pump have been damaged from the thick Lucas stuff or from being ran without fluid?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dave180]

The second fill-up probably brought the reservoir up to full. Unless she ran it dry for a long period of time it is not likely that damage occurred.

If you have your power assist now, I would suggest that normal driving and maybe turning from almost lock to lock will force the remainder of the air out of the system. By "almost" I mean don't turn to the right or left lock where you hear the pump straining.

 

[SOHCman]

I would skip the lucas next time, all of their products actually. If it wont flow from your bottle, imagine what its doing in your pump.

 

[dailydriver]

There could still be some of the Lucas 'jello' in the rest of the system, which could be causing the groaning/moaning due to it not flowing at all in this cold snap.

If you turkey baster out the rest of the goop, and fill it back up with the Max Life each time, you may be good to go.

I also am using the Lucas jelly to try and delay replacing a 170K mile, badly leaking steering rack until it gets warmer, and I know how noisy/stiff the steering is until I get some heat into the system, especially in this exceptional cold we are experiencing right now.

(I may flush out this stuff and just keep topping it off with the Max Life as well until i can fix this.)

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: SOHCman
I would skip the lucas next time, all of their products actually. If it wont flow from your bottle, imagine what its doing in your pump.


Agreed.

Unless the leak is severe or large I would simply keep topping off the fluid with the correct specification until you can get around to repairing it. These stop leaks often times cause more problems than they solve and can add to the damage. Lucas stuff is snake oil. Even their regular products are not good quality.

 

[eljefino]

Sometimes it takes a while to burp PS bubbles to a non-noisy level. On Fords it can be 10-20 years.

But seriously I was in this boat and things were moan-ey for a while.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
On Fords it can be 10-20 years.

My LTD's PS pump went dry once, too. Its hose blew off and it wasn't as simple as the Nissan/Infiniti system, unfortunately. Nonetheless, it made noise until it got totaled off. It worked as good as new, though.

Phishin, if it works, don't worry about it. At most, if it were me, I'd probably do a flush or a bunch of drain and fills. Does that year Altima permit Dexron VI?

 

[gregk24]

The Lucas [censored] probably got too thick and blew the hose of like you said. Dont use that stuff anymore.

 

[TFB1]

So the Lucas was cause??? I really doubt that a few ounces would have such a profound effect... Now if it were filled with mostly Lucas, I'd maybe agree...



I've used 80-140 gear lube in the early '80s Ford power racks that were prone to be balky(intermittent assist) and/or noisy, made them smooth as warm butter...

 

[Rand]

the lucas stuff is no where near as good as 80w140 gear oil

very low VI, turd in a bottle.

 

[GSCJR]

It's normal to hear the pump whine when a system has been run low on fluid. Just drive the vehicle as you normally would and monitor the fluid level. The whine will eventually subside. As others have mentioned, replenish with ATF as needed in the future and the Lucas should be avoided.

 

[Rick in PA]

Yeah, my wife's van blew a hose not far from the house. She drove it home. I put the hose back on, double clamped it and filled it back up. It was noisy for a while but we just drove it. It was OK for the rest of it's life.

 

[morris]

above ALL do NOT flush with solvents or gasoline. to flush the pump only use the right oil with the pump running. by hand might be ok, just a guess. the first two do not have any lube abailty it will jam the pump.

 

[Doog]

Get some Royal Purple MaxEZ PS fluid. It might work.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Get some Royal Purple MaxEZ PS fluid. It might work.


^^^This, the Red Line, and the 11S/22S Pentosins are probably the best high/higher VI, full synthetic, power steering fluids around, followed by the much more reasonably priced, but very good, Max Life fluid.

 

[dailydriver]

^^^That should be 202S Pentosin above.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
Yeah, my wife's van blew a hose not far from the house. She drove it home. I put the hose back on, double clamped it and filled it back up. It was noisy for a while but we just drove it. It was OK for the rest of it's life.


I have had the same experience.