PS Fluid for GM Pickup, Rack & Pinion

[Rhymingmechanic]

Truck is a 2001 Silverado 2WD with rack and pinion steering. I flushed last summer with a quart of the GM stuff, 4oz Lubegard p/s protectant, .5 oz Lube Control, and some Pyroil fluid to top off.

The system has seemed noisier since the flush, so I'm looking for a synthetic fluid. The manual specifies GM p/s fluid #1050017/1052884. My local choices are:

Royal Purple MaxEZ
Red Line Power Steering
GM cold-weather/synthetic

The dealership stuff is $17.88 per quart, so I'd like to use one of the others if possible. I'm avoiding Valvoline Synpower because of the stop-leak additives. Red Line lists the GM part# on the bottle and web, but it is very thin and some recent posts mention noise and leaks with this fluid. RP does not list factory specs anywhere.

Can anyone recommend one fluid or the other? I'd especially like to hear from drivers of the 2WD GM's with rack and pinion.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

 

[Islandvic]

I used the Turkey Baster method to remove/refill 3x on my '95 GMC K1500.

I used Super Tech P/S fluid and on the last refill LubeGuard P/S Protectant.

No noise at all.

I'm sure you cant go wrong with RP.

Is there a correlation between the weather outside and the noise?

 

[wavinwayne]

Can you get Valvoline Synpower power steering fluid? It is a synthetic blend; it meets GM part #1050017 (Spec. 9985010) & it can usually be found at WalMart, Autozone, & Adavance Auto Parts.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

The noise is not dependent on temperature. It has sounded louder since changing fluid last summer. I first noticed right after the change, when I was using a parking garage every day. It's not overly loud or obnoxious, but there's a whine with even the slightest turn of the wheel.

I can get the Synpower at a few places, but I've stayed away from it because of the stop leak agents. I'm assuming that swelling the rack seals when they aren't leaking might wear them out prematurely.

I might be wrong about that assumption. Has anyone been using Synpower long-term in GM rack and pinion systems without (or with) problems?

 

[Islandvic]

Could it be the pump itself and not fluid related?

 

[Hirev]

Stop using extra additives. It generally a real bad idea with most all hydraulic systems. You now need to flush all the extra additives out of the system. Your best bet at this stage is use what GM specifies.

 

[olympic]

I have 4 Pontiac Montana vans used as taxis which specify the GM PS fluid. I change it every 60k miles and have never had a pump or rack fail in nearly 1 million combined miles. I wanted to switch them to Amsoil ATF but neither GM or Amsoil recommend that so I didn't want to take the risk.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Use the GM stuff and never mind any addtives, YOU DO NOT NEED THEM


It requires a certain procedure to flush a PS system, failure to follow proper procedure can cause damage to the system. Removing a little bit at a time is useless.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Thanks for the replies so far. Here's the flush procedure I used, suggested often on this site:

1. Pumped fluid out of reservoir
2. Disconnected return line at the pump. Plugged return inlet.
3. Filled reservoir. With front tires off the ground, turned wheel to one lock position, filled, and turned to the other lock. Repeated until I had added a quart of new fluid. (Had to add the extra Pyroil because I forgot to reattach the return line BEFORE the final fill.)

As far as there being a problem with the pump, I suppose that's possible. But with 56k miles, I hope not. Steering performance has not changed--there's just a little more noise .

When I decide on a fluid, I plan to install it with no additives. Most of you seem to favor using GM fluid. Does anybody have experience with the GM cold-weather synthetic? Would it be compatible, and give any benefits in fairly normal driving conditions? This truck has a factory cooler, so I wonder if the system is hard on fluid.

 

[unDummy]

I'm not a fan of OEM fluids.
Try the Royalpurple. I haven't heard of too many people using it. See if it helps or not.