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So jiffy lube told me my power steering fluid is black, they asked if I wanted it service for $60 but I passed. I called up midas they charge $99. I called up my buddy and he said I would need 3 bottles of those power steering fluid to replace the old one. Is that about right? I’ll let him do it for me but in case it’s an easy job and I want to do it my self. How do I do it?
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I don’t have a turkey blaster either or know what it is so I might as well get the actual suction gun lol.
[quote=”barneyb” post=133024][quote=”TokyoDrift99″ post=132972]You don’t need a suction gun, a turkey baster will do it, but slowly. By the way Dexron isn’t a brand of fluid, it’s a type of automatic transmission fluid. Most power steering systems use any atf. I’d get a suction gun though. They’re about $13 at advance auto and they come in real handy. You could drain it thru the return hose but it would get messy.[/quote]
Yeah, a turkey baster will do but it is much more manly to be using a real tool rather than something you ‘borrowed” from the kitchen. On a forum somewhere I remember a guy asking how to get the petroleum smell out of his wife’s turkey baster so that he could return it to the kitchen. The answer was buy her a new one.[/quote]
Dexron is automatic transmission fluid. ATF means automatic transmission fluid. Most vehicles, but not all, use ATF. There are various types of ATF and Dexron is only one of those.
What you should use is whatever the maker says to use and that information is found in the owner’s manual. If you have no owners manual sometimes it will be written right on the cap of the fluid reservoir. Otherwise, call the dealership service department and ask.
I called up autozone and advanced and they said they do not sell the suction gun for power steering fluid. Advanced however do rent them out for $74.99 which I get back after use. Strange that they do not have it for sale. The guy I know checked under my car if there was some type of drain plug but couldn’t find any.
Suction guns have gotten expensive. The last one I bought was about 3 bux.
[quote=”barneyb” post=133023]The power steering fluid in my car at 100k looks the same it did the day I bought it new. My car uses special Mitsubishi power steering fluid. One day I stopped at the Mitsubishi dealership in Fort Collins, Colorado to buy the special power steering fluid and was given a jug of automatic transmission fluid. The people at the dealership claimed to have never heard of special Mitsubishi power steering fluid.[/quote]
This drove me freaking nuts when I started working at my Mitsubishi dealer, they said the same friggin nonsense. It took me 2 years of complaining to get them stocking that fluid. We were using NAPA fluid for warranty repairs before that. Completely absurd.
funny how the big box car parts stores do not sell them as if to say no one really changes power steering fluids. I went to a repair shop to see if they can change my fluid. They had the suction gun but they used it for oil so I passed on it. I didn’t want oil and steering fluid mixing. They were only charging $10 since I had my own fluids.
How are these suction guns used? Do I simply suck out the fluid in the steering fluid compartment or will there be more to suck all the way down to the hose/pipes? If that is even possible? Is it critical to suck out all the old fluid or not really as long as newer fluid is added is sufficient?
[quote=”barneyb” post=133172]Suction guns have gotten expensive. The last one I bought was about 3 bux.
The method I describe will never remove all of the old fluid. Using the suction gun (or whatever you choose to use) empty the reservoir and then refill to the full mark. Operating the engine then circulates the fluid. Cranking the steering will help flush things out. Repeat until you are satisfied with the result.
There is one caution: the power steering pump draws from the reservoir, running the pump dry (empty reservoir) may damage the pump.
I guess nobody likes Eric’s method? Any of the contributing veterans care to explain?
Since there has been so much discussion of a suction gun, and his method uses no suction gun, I would’ve figured that would be an adequate solution.
the suction gun thing may not remove all the old liquids but it should be adequate. I don’t mind Eric’s method but I’d have to look at it again to figure out where in my car is the right hose to pull out and drain out of etc.
Using a suction gun means you’d have to spend money on it. Eric’s method is just fine but a bit more technical than just using a suction gun.
Eric’s method ran the car a bit without fluids int he reservoir. Not sure if this is to remove every drop of old fluid that it was necessary to run the engine. I was hoping just removing the hose to drain out old fluid would be enough then just refill the reservoir without buying a suction gun.
[quote=”barneyb” post=133668]The method I describe will never remove all of the old fluid. Using the suction gun (or whatever you choose to use) empty the reservoir and then refill to the full mark. Operating the engine then circulates the fluid. Cranking the steering will help flush things out. Repeat until you are satisfied with the result.
There is one caution: the power steering pump draws from the reservoir, running the pump dry (empty reservoir) may damage the pump.[/quote]
Maybe it would help if I posted a picture of how my power steering reservoir looks like. See attached pics. The hoses or pipes aren’t rubber or flexible but more like a hard steel. Not sure if its even removable.
Not sure yet if I’d want to spend $12 on something I will use once every 10 years but I think I could get away with a syringe, now the question is what size syringe do I use? Do I remove the needle so that it sucks the fluid from the reservoir a bit faster?
[quote=”barneyb” post=133172]Suction guns have gotten expensive. The last one I bought was about 3 bux.
I have to say that it boggles my mind for $12 to be too much to spend on a tool to work on your car, that costs at most 1/4 of the labor you would pay a shop to do the same thing. It sounds like a deal to me.
Anyway, I will tell you a way to do a better job than the $12 syringe nearly for free. All you need (other than a couple quarts of fluid) is a scrap hose that will fit the return line you will remove from your reservoir and extend it into a large catch container, and a plug to put over the reservoir nipple you remove the return hose from. You don’t touch the hose that goes from the reservoir to the pump. Pull off the one that comes from the rack (or you may just see it go down into the dark dirty nether regions). Fluid will leak out unless you suck the res down first, but you can just use rags to catch it all instead.
You set the extended return hose up so it empties into at least a gallon catch container, set up securely so you don’t have to hold anything in place. You install a plug over the reservoir nipple so it doesn’t leak. Then you locate the starter relay under the hood and make a suitable wire to jump it with (key off). You get ready with all your fluid opened and ready to go, then insert the jumper wire across the starter relay terminal to get the engine (and thus the P/S pump) going. The level in the res will drop quick, but nowhere near as fast as if the engine was running. Keep pouring new fluid into the reservoir until it can be seen coming out of the extended return hose. Only run the starter for 30 seconds at a time, then give it a few minutes to cool off. If your battery is weak and cannot run the starter long enough, hook up a charger or another running car with jumper cables to do it. Once you’re expelling clean fluid, stop and put it back together, get it cleaned up and running, and set your fluid level and it’s done.
This is obviously similar to Eric’s video, but in theory the system will never run dry during this procedure.
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