Acceptable to change p/s fluid like this?

[Mitch]

I drive a 2005 honda civic and would never usually change my power steering fluid but I’ve noticed my hoses are starting to get old and crack. Before they start leaking and creates a mess, I figure I’ll replace the hoses and flush the fluid. However, I’ve never had to replace p/s fluid before. I want to make sure I do a proper flush. I found this video of a guy flushing his accord and was wondering if anyone has any major problems with the way he does it. Seems like he gets all the old fluid out pretty effectively.

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[rhsimmons92]

I had to change the reservoir on my van recently and i just replaced all the fluid while I was at it. What I did was took a syringe and drained all the fluid out of the old reservoir and then replaced it as normal. Then I started the van and turned it from lock to lock and drained the reservoir. I did this a few times and re filled it and bled the system. A safer way would be to drain the reservoir re fill it with fresh fluid and run the car and re drain it and re fill it until you see the fluid looks clean.

[twiggy]

That video is how the Honda Service manual tells you to do it. But I haven’t done that because I don’t like the brief moment the pump runs dry.

What I did based on advice from some members of this forum is to jack the front of the car up so both wheels are off the ground to make is easier to turn the steering wheel from lock to lock (ENGINE OFF).

Disconnect the return line, feed into a container. Running the steering wheel lock to lock (engine off) does pump out a lot of the fluid.

Because this will force fluid into the feed line as well make sure you block the nipple of the reservoir where you removed the return line or you will have a mess. I made this mistake LOL..

[Author]

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