power steering fluid question

mtndew · Mar 30, 2011

hey im gonna be changing the power steering pump on my 89 4.0 today. mainly what i want to know is:
is there somewhere on the rack to drain the fluid out of so im not contaminating all my new fluid with the nasty stuff down there (fluids damn near black)?
and second how much fluid will a completely drained system take?

snail · Mar 31, 2011

not sure about the quantity, but I usually disconnect the low pressure hose (i think) and have someone crank/run the engine for a few seconds to flow the fluid out. I add some cheap ATP fluid and keep cranking/shutting down until the fluid runs out fresh looking, then add in PS fluid. Id also recommend adding an inline filter if you ever end up changing out something like the PS pump

mtndew · Mar 31, 2011

not a bad idea on the filter, but i flushed the system the way i do at work which isnt very good in my opinion but it worked awesome this time, just took a siphon pump and siphoned it all out, added clean fluid, start it and crank the well back and forth a bunch of times, and start over at step 1 til its clean. it ended up taking about 1.5 qts and sucking it out 3 times to get it clear

iwannadie · Mar 31, 2011

I lift the front axle, disconnect the low pressure hose and route it to some catch bottle, with the engine off crank the wheel back and forth adding fluid every few turns and stop when it comes out clear. I also use a small fluid pump to clear the reservoir first so there's less fluid to flush through the box.

I use mopar power steering fluid.

fyrfytr1717 · Mar 31, 2011

iwannadie said:
I lift the front axle, disconnect the low pressure hose and route it to some catch bottle, with the engine off crank the wheel back and forth adding fluid every few turns and stop when it comes out clear. I also use a small fluid pump to clear the reservoir first so there's less fluid to flush through the box.

I use mopar power steering fluid.

With the engine off? Wow, that would have saved me from making a huge mess the last time I tried to do this myself...

iwannadie · Mar 31, 2011

fyrfytr1717 said:
With the engine off? Wow, that would have saved me from making a huge mess the last time I tried to do this myself...

Yea the pump isn't spraying it out just the wheel cranking is pushing it out with much less force. I don't know if that's the proper way to do it but it sure seems to work for me. With the front axle off the ground there's no resistance so it turns super easy too.

ehall · Mar 31, 2011

You can also pull the distributor coil wire to keep the car from starting and then crank the motor, the serp belt will spin the pump and force fluid through the system but it won't spray everywhere.

First time I forgot to pull the coil wire, I got a stream about 12 foot high

power steering fluid question

mtndew

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snail

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mtndew

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iwannadie

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fyrfytr1717

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iwannadie

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ehall

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