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HOWTO: Replace Power Steering fluid in 15 minutes


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If you live in a cold-climate area, or a very dry area, then the incidence of O-ring decomposition and failure increases. Most of us are changing our 4th Gens as a preventative measure, with several in that mix doing it as a repair. I had reached 155K before I changed-out my 9 1/2 year-old 2005 LGT wagon PS pump O-ring. It was becoming audible, so replaced it as a preventative step before failure.
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  • 4 months later...
I did this procedure along with a new belt last night. My steering is a tiny bit jittery now. Do you think it is the cheap dextron III I put in there? Would synthetic be smoother? It's pretty slight, but I can feel it a bit. Sorry to revive an old thread.
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  • I Donated
I did this procedure along with a new belt last night. My steering is a tiny bit jittery now. Do you think it is the cheap dextron III I put in there? Would synthetic be smoother? It's pretty slight, but I can feel it a bit. Sorry to revive an old thread.

 

Probably just need to bleed it, could be air in the lines

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  • 5 months later...

The one with the O-ring. It feeds the pump from the reservoir on the PS fender area.

 

The true "return line" is the one that comes into the reservoir from underneath the engine. It's the one you take off in this walkthrough to dump the old fluid during the process.

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  • 2 months later...

I think the PS line going into the reservoir of my non-turbo legacy is a little different, but still very good instructions, pretty easy job.

 

Last year I did the turkey baster method because I don't know much about PS systems, and that seemed easier, though not as thorough. Well, even after the turkey baster method and new o-ring last year, my PS pump was still a little noisy when cold and close to lock. So I figure my my fluid is still dirty, or the o-ring just isn't sealing right, because the o-ring gave me some trouble with leaks the first time I replaced it. Last year, I tried putting the o-ring directly into the pump twice, and it leaked twice. The third time I just stuck the o-ring on the elbow, and put it into the pump, and no leak. Replaced the o-ring again before I did the flush by putting it in the pump, and it sealed right the first time, no leaks. I've had the PS belt on and off the car so much in the past 6 months, old belt and new belt, that I've ruled that out as causing the noise.

 

Anyways, here's a couple pictures from my job today, and a few notes of what I did differently on my non-turbo legacy. I had 2 quarts of subaru atf hp on hand to try and do a thorough flush.

 

-Unbolted ps reservoir 2x 10mm bolts

 

-Pulled the rubber line going into the ps fluid reservoir towards the back of the car off, and put that into a plastic cup. I emptied the plastic cup into my big oil drain pan every time I refilled the reservoir with fresh fluid.

 

-Tiled PS reservoir towards the front of the car. Put a clear piece of vinyl tubing where I pulled the PS hose off the reservoir, as a makeshift overflow tube. Filled with fresh fluid.

 

-Used ratcheting offset box wrench to turn ps pump. Ratcheting part is key, made things go much faster. I think I flushed about 3/4-1qt of fluid through the system by turning the ps pump pulley with a ratchet.

 

-Jacked up car like deer killer says

 

-I have a wireless webcam that I use for security that I can view through my phone. I hooked that up outside, with it pointed at the reservoir. Obviously the camera isn't needed, but when doing this alone, it made me much more comfortable being able to watch the fluid level in the reservoir. Like Deer Killer said though, I agree you should be able to do one full lock to lock before refilling.

 

-Went inside my car, turned the key to accessory 2, and twisted the steering wheel lock to lock a couple of times, watching the fluid level on my phone. It's interesting, I think I heard it's not good to do this.. But I noticed that when I held the steering wheel at the full left or right lock, that's when the fluid really got sucked down the fastest.

 

Like I said I don't know a whole lot about PS systems, but this worked great for me. Even though I did the turkey baster method with around 1qt of fluid a year ago, the steering feels much better after doing it this way. I have not yet driven the car with the engine cold to see if it's still noisy, but I'm very happy with the results as of now.

 

A crummy camera phone picture of my rubber ps line going into the reservoir from the steering rack, and a better picture of the setup I had when doing the flush.

ps_line.thumb.jpg.8d265f1fd030446f96158ef3725e1cf3.jpg

ps.flush.thumb.jpg.5fee287fb1e858ec9fe48841c4566a02.jpg

Edited by apexi
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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...
I think the PS line going into the reservoir of my non-turbo legacy is a little different, but still very good instructions, pretty easy job.

 

Last year I did the turkey baster method because I don't know much about PS systems, and that seemed easier, though not as thorough. Well, even after the turkey baster method and new o-ring last year, my PS pump was still a little noisy when cold and close to lock. So I figure my my fluid is still dirty, or the o-ring just isn't sealing right, because the o-ring gave me some trouble with leaks the first time I replaced it. Last year, I tried putting the o-ring directly into the pump twice, and it leaked twice. The third time I just stuck the o-ring on the elbow, and put it into the pump, and no leak. Replaced the o-ring again before I did the flush by putting it in the pump, and it sealed right the first time, no leaks. I've had the PS belt on and off the car so much in the past 6 months, old belt and new belt, that I've ruled that out as causing the noise.

 

Anyways, here's a couple pictures from my job today, and a few notes of what I did differently on my non-turbo legacy. I had 2 quarts of subaru atf hp on hand to try and do a thorough flush.

 

-Unbolted ps reservoir 2x 10mm bolts

 

-Pulled the rubber line going into the ps fluid reservoir towards the back of the car off, and put that into a plastic cup. I emptied the plastic cup into my big oil drain pan every time I refilled the reservoir with fresh fluid.

 

-Tiled PS reservoir towards the front of the car. Put a clear piece of vinyl tubing where I pulled the PS hose off the reservoir, as a makeshift overflow tube. Filled with fresh fluid.

 

-Used ratcheting offset box wrench to turn ps pump. Ratcheting part is key, made things go much faster. I think I flushed about 3/4-1qt of fluid through the system by turning the ps pump pulley with a ratchet.

 

-Jacked up car like deer killer says

 

-I have a wireless webcam that I use for security that I can view through my phone. I hooked that up outside, with it pointed at the reservoir. Obviously the camera isn't needed, but when doing this alone, it made me much more comfortable being able to watch the fluid level in the reservoir. Like Deer Killer said though, I agree you should be able to do one full lock to lock before refilling.

 

-Went inside my car, turned the key to accessory 2, and twisted the steering wheel lock to lock a couple of times, watching the fluid level on my phone. It's interesting, I think I heard it's not good to do this.. But I noticed that when I held the steering wheel at the full left or right lock, that's when the fluid really got sucked down the fastest.

 

Like I said I don't know a whole lot about PS systems, but this worked great for me. Even though I did the turkey baster method with around 1qt of fluid a year ago, the steering feels much better after doing it this way. I have not yet driven the car with the engine cold to see if it's still noisy, but I'm very happy with the results as of now.

 

A crummy camera phone picture of my rubber ps line going into the reservoir from the steering rack, and a better picture of the setup I had when doing the flush.

 

That one looks more like mine! Thanks for posting this!

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  • 5 months later...

So I tried to do this today, and I could not get a drop of fluid to come out of the return line when I twirled the pump pulley by hand. Turning the steering lock-to-lock (with the wheels off the ground and the engine not running) did draw fluid through the system, so I believe I mostly replaced the fluid with fresh fluid.

 

I did this after replacing the o-ring, which I did because my PS started acting up during some very cold weather in January (noisy pump, hinky steering at low speed, losing fluid). I also pulled the suction house and replaced the hose clamps with regular ones, so I emptied out a fair amount of the system, and maybe that's why the method didn't work. FWIW, I probably rotated the pulley 100 revolutions (clockwise as you're standing in front of the car looking at the pulley) all told, in between turnings of the steering wheel.

 

After I replaced the drive belt and reconnected the return hose, and started the engine, the pump was very noisy, the steering very hinky, and the reservoir very frothy. However, after driving around trying to do figure-8s as much as possible, things got a LOT better than they were before I did this work - pretty smooth steering, maybe a little whining from the pump, but very little. However, after driving 20 miles or so, there's still some evidence of leaking around the pump (though I don't think it's coming from the o-ring area), and also a good bit of fluid on the outside of the reservoir (maybe overflow from further frothing ?)

 

Appreciate any thoughts on what's going on here ...

Edited by RustyShackleford
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  • 1 year later...
Just to be clear (because I went to AutoZone today to check out the options), the recommendation for "POWER STEERING FLUID" is to use "AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID"? That's what the manual says - just don't wanna do something really stupid. And it mentions "Dexron III" compatibility. I was looking at the back of a bottle of Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF and it said recommended for use in applications requiring Dexron IIIH and Dexron IIIG. What's the difference? Do I even care so long as it has "Dexron III" in the name?
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As long as it says Dexron III you're good. G versus H and previous iterations are just minor changes in the additives and such. I believe H is the most recent and it has been around for a good while, since before 4th gen LGTs started being produced.
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  • 1 month later...

At 206k km, did this procedure last night on my '09 SpecB. This past winter the power steering pump had been complaining, especially on the coldest days, and the fluid was very dark.

 

I started with the steering wheel lock to lock flush after disconnecting the return line, adding new fluid to the reservoir as needed. I also unbolted the reservoir (2 bolts) so I could more easily plug the return line port on the reservoir (and clean up the drips!). Once I saw new fluid in the return line from the lock to lock flush, I opted to turn the motor over to flush the pump rather than take the belt off and turn it by hand. I topped the reservoir up to the top, turned the motor over and killed it once it caught. I'd estimate 1, 1.5 seconds tops. This method draws the fluid in the reservoir down very quickly. Did it twice, re-filling the reservoir on the second go and got new fluid returns.

 

Hooked the return line back up, filled to the "cold max" line and turned the steering wheel lock to lock again a few times. I noted that the reservoir fluid level dropped a small amount after cycling the steering and suspect the system purged some air.

 

Topped it up a final time and took it for a drive. Butter smooth, silent pump.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 years later...

Bumping this thread...

Yesterday I replaced the suction hose as it was dribbling down the front of the timing cover and making a mess.  The fluid was also old, so replenished it with Dex iii as required.  

I disconnected the return hose to the reservoir and caught the old fluid being pumped through while turning the PS pump by hand and running the steering wheel full lock to lock several times, adding new fluid to the reservoir.  After a few minutes of doing this the fluid was looking good with very few bubbles.  I re-connected the return to the reservoir and spun the pump several more times, adding a little fluid as it was drawn out.  Again, ran the steering lock to lock several times until no bubbles and the fluid level remained stable.

After starting the car up with the front wheels off the ground, turning the wheel to the right was smooth, however turning it to the left resulted in very dramatic judder in the wheels. The fluid belched but quickly became stable again without any frothing.

I shut it off, let it sit for a bit then performed what must have been 25+ lock-to-lock rotations of the steering wheel.  I started it up with it full lock to the left, ran for 30 sec, shut it down and repeated with it full lock to the right.

Still some judder but overall much better.  I did some figure 8s in a nearby parking lot and it seemed smooth.

During driving, there was still some pulsation in the wheel, notably when turning to the left.  Tight turns such as backing into a parking space was hit/miss as to whether it would produce the pulsation.  

I left it overnight for any aeration to escape the fluid and drove for a bit in the morning with some minor pulsation.

I lifted the front end up again and ran through probably another 50 lock-to-lock rotations of the wheel with the engine off.  The judder became worse but slowly tapered off while driving, but not eliminated.

Making a U-turn in a gravel/rutted parking lot revealed LOTS of pulsation again.  In general, uneven surfaces that put force on the rack while turning seem to be the bigger issue. Dry steering with the engine on and not moving doesn't seem to produce much, if any pulsation.

So I'm not sure what's next here.  Just give it more time for air to escape or do I have a bigger issue with the rack?

 

Cheers

 

EDIT:  Pump is as quiet as it's ever been, no whirring or anything sounding like air is getting in at the O-ring that was recently replaced.

Edited by ssbtech
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