98' Trans Am power steering
07-27-2010, 08:50 AM
#1
98' Trans Am power steering I have a question maybe someone here can help answer for me?
I have a 1998 Trans Am WS6 and inside the power steering resevoir it is a cloudy milky substance and although the level is at the cold fill line when cold it winds up spraying up on the underside of the hood. Although I have no completely drained the system I did syphon some of the fluid out and filled it with new let it run and did it about 5 or 6 times untill it looked fairly clean but it is back to the cloudy substance again. I should also point out that the steering also now has a some play in it so I am not sure if maybe the rack is just shot?
Any help would be appreciated
thanks
I have a 1998 Trans Am WS6 and inside the power steering resevoir it is a cloudy milky substance and although the level is at the cold fill line when cold it winds up spraying up on the underside of the hood. Although I have no completely drained the system I did syphon some of the fluid out and filled it with new let it run and did it about 5 or 6 times untill it looked fairly clean but it is back to the cloudy substance again. I should also point out that the steering also now has a some play in it so I am not sure if maybe the rack is just shot?
Any help would be appreciated
thanks
07-28-2010, 12:50 PM
#4
Check and see if the car is equiped with a power steering cooler. Its in the upper radiotor hose, its a long aluminum piece, cant miss it. They cool the power steering fluid using a coil that is submerged in the coolant. Over time they tend to corrode and leak coolant into the powersteering system or vice versa. My p/s cooler fail on me, leaked coolant into the entire system. I had to replace the rack and pump.
07-28-2010, 02:37 PM
#5
Check and see if the car is equiped with a power steering cooler. Its in the upper radiotor hose, its a long aluminum piece, cant miss it. They cool the power steering fluid using a coil that is submerged in the coolant. Over time they tend to corrode and leak coolant into the powersteering system or vice versa. My p/s cooler fail on me, leaked coolant into the entire system. I had to replace the rack and pump.
07-30-2010, 07:14 AM
#6
Check and see if the car is equiped with a power steering cooler. Its in the upper radiotor hose, its a long aluminum piece, cant miss it. They cool the power steering fluid using a coil that is submerged in the coolant. Over time they tend to corrode and leak coolant into the powersteering system or vice versa. My p/s cooler fail on me, leaked coolant into the entire system. I had to replace the rack and pump.
07-30-2010, 07:32 AM
#7
You cant see when the p/s steering cooler leaks because the P/s fluid goes inside of it where the coolant is. They are seperated inside and the coolant is supposed to "cool" the power steering fluid. I would by pass the cooler and flush the fluid and see if the fluid stays clean. This is a very common problem with these cars. The p/s lines connect to the bottom of the cooler just disconnect them, cap off the nipples on the cooler, and conncet the p/s lines. I'm almost 99% sure that this is your problem.
I went one step further, I went to my parts store and got an upper radiator hose for my same car that was not equiped with the powersteering cooler and replaced the entire upper hose, used one of the two power steering lines and connected it straight to my reservoir.
I would also check your coolant and see if that has been contaminated by the p/s fluid
I went one step further, I went to my parts store and got an upper radiator hose for my same car that was not equiped with the powersteering cooler and replaced the entire upper hose, used one of the two power steering lines and connected it straight to my reservoir.
I would also check your coolant and see if that has been contaminated by the p/s fluid
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08-02-2010, 11:50 AM
#11
You can either leave the cooler in its place and just bypass the p/s lines so it goes straight to the reservoir or you can replace the upper radiator hose with a single hose for a 98-02 fbody without the power steering cooler and bypass the p/s lines. Search on here, this is a very common problem. This was an option on these cars so not all f-bodys had it and you shouldnt run into problems without the cooler in place. Hopefully there hasnt been a lot of damage done to the pump or rack due to the coolant in the system. I've had mine off for over a year now and everything is fine. If you were doing a lot of autocross or something you might want to replace the cooler but i'm pretty sure its about $140.
08-02-2010, 01:28 PM
#12
?
You can either leave the cooler in its place and just bypass the p/s lines so it goes straight to the reservoir or you can replace the upper radiator hose with a single hose for a 98-02 fbody without the power steering cooler and bypass the p/s lines. Search on here, this is a very common problem. This was an option on these cars so not all f-bodys had it and you shouldnt run into problems without the cooler in place. Hopefully there hasnt been a lot of damage done to the pump or rack due to the coolant in the system. I've had mine off for over a year now and everything is fine. If you were doing a lot of autocross or something you might want to replace the cooler but i'm pretty sure its about $140.
You can either leave the cooler in its place and just bypass the p/s lines so it goes straight to the reservoir or you can replace the upper radiator hose with a single hose for a 98-02 fbody without the power steering cooler and bypass the p/s lines. Search on here, this is a very common problem. This was an option on these cars so not all f-bodys had it and you shouldnt run into problems without the cooler in place. Hopefully there hasnt been a lot of damage done to the pump or rack due to the coolant in the system. I've had mine off for over a year now and everything is fine. If you were doing a lot of autocross or something you might want to replace the cooler but i'm pretty sure its about $140.
Hopefully that takes care of my problem.
08-10-2010, 01:53 PM
#15
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Thanks for the info. I just ran in to this problem and will do as Mart00SS did. I dont have $140 to buy an new ps cooler and possible have this happen ago in the future.
08-17-2010, 11:04 AM
#16
Got everything all replaced, even though it would have been alot cheeper to plug up the old one I wound up just replacing the cooler because I got it very cheap with shipping from Scoggin Dickey. I replaced that and the top hose and drained the coolant. I am going to get the power steering flushed this weekend but MART02SS that is definetly what the problem was. When I took the ps cooler off all this creamy liquid ( the same stuff sitting in my ps pump ) came out of it so thanks for your help with this. I don't know if having the system flushed is going to get rid of the play I have in the steering wheel so I might need a new rack but it isnt so bad and it is not a dd so I can live with it for now.
