Hello guys,

I have never done a power steering fluid change DIY and was surprised to read it was one of the easiest things to DIY and can simply be changed using a turkey baster. From what I read it should be done multiple times throughout the week until you have fully used up the bottle/jug of fluid.

But am I right in assuming the PS is like the transmission fluid in that only some of the fluid is actually taken out with each change? If that is the case, how much is the turkey baster method really taking out? I know in the case of the transmission it is generally 2/3-3/4 of the fluid per drain and thus we do a 3x3 flush over the course of a week, is this similar?

Thanks in advance.

 

I read on Eric the Car Guy about it and I believe he said that the reservoir holds the majority of the fluid. I would have thought closer to half. But I plan on doing this method on my cars this spring. Keep doing it until the colour of the fluid looks new. I'm sure a full flush would be best, but "I ain't got time for that".

 

there is a good DIY on the 3G TL forum I followed in the past. And I am pretty sure I had a turkey baster too, just not 100% on the process itself

 

yes the turkey baster works... or a siphon

 

Best way to do it is put the front on jacks (less wear and tear)
Cycle out the old fluid by draining res, then putting return line a bottle (2L or similar)
Clean the res, there's a bottom chamber that usually all the crap settles at.
Fill the res with new fluid, plug the return line

Turn car on, turn wheel lock to lock until fluid goes low in the res
Fill res again and cycle until clean fluid starts spitting out (usually 2 bottles)
You could try actively filling res as you cycle it out, but it can get messy.
Finally, top it off. It's a 10-15 min job.

Most of the fluid is most certainly not in the res. Maybe 40%.
If you did turkey baster you'd have to use a lot of fluid to get it to mostly new
You also don't pull the sediment out of the res.

 

^ I have powersteering fluid on the way and this is the exact procedure I found for my car.

Does the vehicle in question have a powersteering reservoir filter / screen? If it's in plain visible sight, it may not be a bad idea to clean it if it does ..

Majofo =

 

Wow this is an excellent reply and I highly appreciate it!, thank you very much for this reply and thank you all for your replies as well. I accidentally turned into those people who post threads and never come back to reply....my arch nemesis haha.

 

Yeah, majofo is right with the suggested technique. If you are lazy, you can just turkey blaster the reservoir completely, refill, drive around, repeat a number of times. It'll net you the same result, though it'll likely take an additional bottle of fluid and extra time. Less labor intensive though. Pick your poison

the power steering pump circulates all the fluid, so eventually all the old stuff will come out.

 

 

I have an oilboy that i use for certain fluids.

 

Thanks a lot man, it's very appreciated!

Thank you for the excellent video man!

I searched oil boy on google and I'll just say not the best stuff popped up...I'm glad no one was home to see that as I searched it up on the main house computer haha. Then searched oil boy fluid extractor and it popped. Thanks for the suggestion man.

 

now that is funny.

 

 

I pull the return hose and cap the reservoir side and just have it flush everything out as I put in new fluid.

 

Is this like the brake fluid flush where you DO NOT want to ever let it get air in the system?

 

Watch the Eric the Car Guy video! If you have air in the system, you'll have a noisy PS pump. He had it at first, but in the video he just let the system sit for a bit, and all the air bubbles percolated out of the system into the reservoir.

 

Alright sounds good! I'll have the video with me when I do mine!

 

yeah the air bump will work its way out over time. Do a few lock to lock turns on the wheel to make sure that a majority of old fluid out.

 

i never had thought about the search results.