For some reason my car has always liked power steering fluid but I've never had any visible drips on the garage floor....no leaks I'm aware of. The other day I'm checking the levels and open up the reservoir to find the fluid is bright orange now, not clear. Anyone else had this happen? Is there water somewhere I should know about?

 

You have a WS6 so you have a P/S cooler, right? I would check there, a change of color in any fluid is generally a sign of mixing with something else most often coolant. Your bottom radiator hose is your P/S cooler and they commonly develop leaks (internal leaks). Check that out, also check out where your pressure lines meet the rack and pump and even where the steering shaft meets the rack (there is a cicular seal in there, mine leaked from there ).

Best bet is the P/S cooler (as long as you have one).

 

OOOH, sounds like someone has DEX-COOL from their power steering cooler located in the radiator. Ouch.

 

Thanks, I was under there recently and noticed where the lines come in and out of the radiator hose. I'll check it out more closely. Is that cooler a bitch to fix?

 

You have to drain the coolant and remove the hose, most people ditch it or get an air-to-fluid cooler (10$ maybe) and fix it somewhere, does the same job with no risk of contaminating your coolant.

Anyway remove the hose and the P/S lines and you're gonna need a new P/S coolar lower radiator hose. Put it all back together (either with a new P/S coolar lower radiator hose or with a normal LS1 lower radiator hose and a universal P/S cooler. Then you're gonna need to fill the rad with coolant and the P/S pump with fresh fluid and flush the P/S system.

Ask someone else about flushing the P/S system. I've never done it.

 

He's right, the leak is probably in the PS cooler. I didn't find my leak until I started running the PS fluid almost empty in a single day, with no visible leaks.

Check for the leak this way - use a radiator pressure tester (free loaner from Autozone) attached to the radiator filler neck. When you pressurize the radiator look for air bubbles in the PS resevoir. Assuming thats it, replace the metal pipe in the UPPER radiator hose (at least it is on my 98 camaro) which is also the PS cooler. I got my direct from the chevy dealer and it wasn't too expensive. Flush both the PS system and the cooling system. The PS fluid in the cooling system also gunked up the coolant-low sensor in my radiator and had been causing the low coolant light to come on the dash, even though it wasn't low. You may want to pull the sensor (just below the radiator filler neck) and clean it good.

 

Thanks guys, sounds like I have a project this week.

 

let us know what you find. On my 98 the PS cooler is in a metal pipe in the upper radiator hose that runs parrallel with the radiator. is your 99 the same setup?

 

my power steering fluid is orange too but i dont think i have a power steering cooler. the fluid has been orange since i bought it with 22,000 miles.

 

Been thinking about bypassing the whole setup. I might just hook the two P/S lines into eachother and loop it then do something about the radiator hose. Really if you think about it, how many vehicles have a power steering cooler, how many really need one? I know a person with a 99' Z28; his car just flat out does not have one. Mine and his are basically the same car...

 

why do that when all you have to do is replace 1 part? if you do it what you are talking about you need parts to loop the PS lines together and you will still need to replace the radiator hose, plus you lose any benefits the PS cooler offers. Why go backwards and down grade the options on the car? especially in this case where it won't be easier or probably even any cheaper. ????

 

It's simple, cost. That cooler for my car is priced at about $115, and that's with a parts discount. I think the chances of bypassing it for less money are pretty good. Joining the two P/S hoses together would not be that difficult. I'll look into any other possible benefits that cooler offers but if it comes down to it, it'll probably go. I don't think the car will miss it. It's not like I'm racing the car on a road course everyday...

 

its $91 from gmpartsdirect.
even at $115, thats too much to fix it right compared to rigging it?
you'll still have to remove the old cooler, and have to replace the whole upper hose assembly with something else. pay the $100 and fix it correctly.

 

My powersteering fluid is kinda dark, what color is it supposed to be?

 

out of the bottle, the fluid is almost clear.

 

I've got a stock PS cooler minus hoses with 18K miles on it. $20 shipped to you if you want it.

 

Cool. Sounds good to me. Hang on to that PS Cooler, I'll take it. Do you accept Paypal?

 

Yea, I'll PM you my info.