Power steering foaming after valve cover gasket change.

I just finished doing a vc gasket change on both sides and buttoned everything back up. After a day and a half of letting the gasket sealant dry, i started the car and let it idle. I saw fluid leaking and shut the car off,....to my surprise it was the power steering fluid bubbling and foaming as i did have the front end in the air on jackstands after refilling with new oil and to be able to check for any oil leaks.

This is my friend's car that im working on so i dont know if the fluid was over filled or the condition of the ps pump. i did turkey baste some of the fluid out of the resevoir as the fluid was at the max hot line when the engine was cold. I checked under the car and saw no leaks from the rack or anywhere else except from the resevoir itself as the fluid came out from under the cap as it foamed and bubbled over.

Is the o ring at the power steering pump the only thing i should replace or is there other things i should look for?

You bumped the power steering line on the top of the pump. This moves it just so much, which causes the o-ring to unseat and allow air to get in. Go buy another o-ring and replace it. You'll be good.

And no, that should be it.

You bumped the power steering line on the top of the pump. This moves it just so much, which causes the o-ring to unseat and allow air to get in. Go buy another o-ring and replace it. You'll be good.

 

And no, that should be it.

Thanks for the info,.. Hope this is a quick fix,...

I thought replacing the valve cover gaskets was going to be hard part when in fact replacing parts of the brittle cracked valve cover hoses and now the power steering pump o ring is what caused the most difficulty.

Changed the o ring and I still get the whining noise and fluid bubbling and foaming over. I did suction out the old fluid and replace with Dex VI after replacing the o ring from Subaru. New o Ring did not help and wonder if the PS Pump just went bad.

This is my friend's car that Im working on with over 100k miles and wonder if the PS Pump decided to go by coincidence.

I did have to jack the engine up to get access to the spark plugs and coils and valve cover, so I checked under the car that maybe there could be a pinched PS Line, (if this could happen). But I could not see any problems and the car doesnt leak any fluid underneath or from the return or suction line to the PS Pump as the car has been sitting for 3 days now from the time to for the VC gasket sealant to dry and to diagnose and buy the o ring and replace today.

any suggestions? Here is a video I made today after replacing the o ring with no success to fix the foaming...

View My Video

Fluid bubbling and foaming over indicates that the system is drawing air in from the outside. Short of having a hole in a line (which I doubt) your orings are the only real culprit. I would recheck to make sure it is seated correctly.

You did use an OEM o-ring....right? It is an odd size that needs to be exact. When I did mine, the giant o-ring set I had contained some that I thought were close enough to work. They weren't.

Fluid bubbling and foaming over indicates that the system is drawing air in from the outside. Short of having a hole in a line (which I doubt) your orings are the only real culprit. I would recheck to make sure it is seated correctly.

 

You did use an OEM o-ring....right? It is an odd size that needs to be exact. When I did mine, the giant o-ring set I had contained some that I thought were close enough to work. They weren't.

Yes, I used a Subaru O ring for the top of the PS Pump.

How many o rings are there to replace? Also, the Subaru O Ring I bought new today was orange, and I noticed that the one I took out was black.

Does this make a difference?

Again, are there more than 1 o ring for me to check, and by the sound of the PS Pump whining in my video, is the PS Pump bad?

A fellow hawaii icoub member suggest i seat the o Ring In the pump and push the male end with the hose on top of the o ring to seat it. Seams to have worked but how do i get all of the air out of the system?

The bubbles/foaming looks more like a simmer in the resevoir so i turkey basted out the aerated ps fluid and put in fresh ps fluid and idled the car in the air while turning the wheels left and right slowly with the front end on jackstands. I repeated this method until the ps fluid doesnt look as aerated or with little bubbles in it. I did this about 6 times and there still a little air in the system, but the ps pump and steering is feeling much more normal now.

Should i continue this method of bleeding as the fluid should settle down tomorrow? Or is the o ring not sealed properly again? It seems to be to me though,..

If it was me, I would turkey baste all the foamy fluid out add more new, then continue to turn right and left lock to lock. Then repeat.

If there isn't much left, letting it settle isn't a bad idea. But going lock to lock is really the best way to move the fluid around.

Btw, if I remember correctly, my replacement o-ring was orange too.

If it was me, I would turkey baste all the foamy fluid out add more new, then continue to turn right and left lock to lock. Then repeat.

 

If there isn't much left, letting it settle isn't a bad idea. But going lock to lock is really the best way to move the fluid around.

 

Btw, if I remember correctly, my replacement o-ring was orange too.

This is the method i am doing right now,...just wondering how many time do i got to do this as its been 6 times already. Hopefully letting things settle and repeating this process will expell all the air out tomorrow,....

If you havent already, get those constant tension clamps off the feed line from the reservoir to the pump, replace them with a worm gear clamp. Then you need to get the reservoir higher than the pump, i usually use bungee straps and strap it up via the hood. start car, run the wheel back and forth, allow it to idle a few minutes, run the wheel back and forth again, repeat until the aerated fluid is gone.

I run into this problem often here at work. Sometimes it just takes a slight bump to unseat that feed line and it starts sucking air.

Found the problem,..

It was the return rubber hose which had cracks at the end which let air in the system. Changing to worm gear clamps didnt help and went to my local parts store and got some gates multi purpose hoses and replaced both the feed hose to the ps pump and return hose since both hoses were old and hard,..

Air bled itself afer a few turns of he steering wheen and no more bubbles.

went to my local parts store and got some gates multi purpose hoses and replaced both the feed hose to the ps pump and return hose since both hoses were old and hard

What size hoses are they? i just did a huge engine service and now my P/S reservoir is foaming and overflowing. A new o ring is on the way but im going to go all the way and replace hoses too.