Howdy --

I flushed my power steering fluid about 1 year ago. 10 months later I noticed it was dirty so I flushed it again. About 6-8 weeks have passed, and I noticed after checking it yesterday it appears to be pretty dirty again (dark brown in color). The PS is working as expected, aside from a groan I sometimes get in the morning when pulling out of the driveway (starting car cold in the morning). For the flush, I'm doing the system where you pump/turkey baste out the reservoir and refill, crank the steering, do it again, etc. for a total of 6 quarts of PS fluid.

Should I keep flushing every few months until the fluid stays clear? Or is this an indicator that my PS pump may be about to die?

Thanks,
RedAustinIX (Ed)

 

First off the "turkey baster" method is in no way doing anything other than wasting your money.
The only fluid you are changing by doing that is whats in the reservoir.
Second you cannot tell how dirty it is just by looking at it, by its very nature a lubricating oil or a hydraulic oil will look "dirty" even when it is still perfectly good.

You need to do it one of 2 ways...
Loosen the bleed screw ontop of the steering box and connect a hose and terminate that into a empty gallon jug.
Then have a friend start the engine while you keep the reservoir full.
Once you see clean fluid come out close the bleed screw and shut off the engine.
Top off the system.
Done, leave it alone, its good for another 100k.
The other method is to remove the return line from the bottom of the reservoir, again terminate that into a gallon jug, friend starts engine, you keep the system full until clean fluid comes out.
Put the hose back, top off the system, leave it alone for another 100k.

Turkey basters are for basting turkeys, thats why they are called turkey basters and not power steering fluid money wasting thingy things.

 

Now that is some funny sh*t.

 

what do you guys think of this
that pic was taken the day after i power washed the steering box because it was all soaked in power steering fluid. and i found out that its leaking from the top bolt.
that pic was taken about couple months ago and now the steering box is soaked again... but.... the steering fluid reservoir is still full.
was thinking to flush the system because the steerign fluid in my truck is black.

do you think the leak is just that bolt loosening or its time to take it to a shop?

 

I just went through the entire maintence schedule for a DI and a DII.
Per Land Rovers recommendations the power steering fluid never needs to be changed.
I would still change it once and awhile, but it is not required.

 

i have a leak in my power steering system somewhere. I cannot find the leak though. its not a huge leak, i have to refill the resivior ever 2 or 3 days from the min to the max line. there is always a puddle where i park because of the leak. I have tried the stop leak stuff and it hasnt helped. Anyone got any ideas before i take it to the shop?

 

That sure sounds like a pretty big leak.

This is really easy. Clean it. Clean it really, really well. Now run it for a bit. Now get your head in there, with a flashlight and a mirror and see where its leaking from.

It's either the suction hose (bottom of the pump to the reservoir), the pressure hose (threaded into the driver's side of the pump) or along the seams or shaft of the pump (bad pump).

There's no magic in finding a leak on anything other than cleaning it and watching where it leaks. Or you could just throw parts at it. I'd suggest looking first.