Power Steering fluid in coolant
Power Steering fluid in coolant I guess my PS cooler took a dump and now i have a mix of what looks like crap. Anyway i read the other posts about this and i'm going to put a new non-cooler hose in and loop the 2 PS hoses. Whats the best way to connect the 2 PS hoses together ?
Your hose that runs to the power steering should come off. It is supposed to be clamped on there. You can get a piece of pipe or a barb fitting from your local parts store and join both of those lines and reuse the clamps.
You'll want to have a bucket ready with some rags and a fresh bottle of power steering fluid as you'll more than likely be better off draining off the fluid on the line and starting over again.
You'll want to have a bucket ready with some rags and a fresh bottle of power steering fluid as you'll more than likely be better off draining off the fluid on the line and starting over again.
You dont need to join the lines. Just run the line that goes from the rack to the PS cooler straight to the PS pump resv. It is plenty long enough. Also you dont have to get a non-cooled upper hose, just get to fittings from the plumbing section at Lowes and plug the PS cooler where the PS lines ran into it (the barbed fittings screw out and the plugs will screw in.) Since my PS cooler was chromed I did that to keep it.
Teching In
Joined: May 2009
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Power-steering cooler bypass I used a turkey baster to syphon the fluid out of the resevoir first before unhooking the lines. Then i removed the lines from the cooler and allowed them to drain w/o risking oil being spilled on my alternator. I'll see if I can give a simple list for hose reconnects. Keep in mind I went with a solid radiator hose as well instead of plugging the cooler.
1. Disconnect both lines from the bottom of the power-steering cooler. They're going to be coming off anyway so that's where I chose to start. This could also be a good starting point to fully drain the resevoir.
2. At this point you now have 2 hose ends. One hose still attached to the rack and the other still attached to the resevoir. This step you will unhook the line from the resevoir only.
3. Now take the hose that is still attached to the rack and clamp the open end to the resevoir. I personally did not cut this hose what-so-ever. But I made sure that it did not kink. Also zip-tied it away from the knuckle for the steering shaft.
4. Now what you should be left with is "ONE" length of hose. This hose should be the one that went from the resevoir to the cooler. Refill your p/s resevoir and start up your car. Turn your steering wheel end-to-end so that you can cycle the fluid through the lines and get the residual air out of the hoses. Top off your resevoir and check for leaks.
5. Get both your power-steering and coolant systems flushed to remove any possible contaminents.
And that's pretty much it. It's up to you if you want to cap the p/s cooler fittings or replace it with a solid hose.
P.S. If I recall correctly, all my lines were clamped. No fittings to unscrew. I just reused the clamps that were on the lines already.
1. Disconnect both lines from the bottom of the power-steering cooler. They're going to be coming off anyway so that's where I chose to start. This could also be a good starting point to fully drain the resevoir.
2. At this point you now have 2 hose ends. One hose still attached to the rack and the other still attached to the resevoir. This step you will unhook the line from the resevoir only.
3. Now take the hose that is still attached to the rack and clamp the open end to the resevoir. I personally did not cut this hose what-so-ever. But I made sure that it did not kink. Also zip-tied it away from the knuckle for the steering shaft.
4. Now what you should be left with is "ONE" length of hose. This hose should be the one that went from the resevoir to the cooler. Refill your p/s resevoir and start up your car. Turn your steering wheel end-to-end so that you can cycle the fluid through the lines and get the residual air out of the hoses. Top off your resevoir and check for leaks.
5. Get both your power-steering and coolant systems flushed to remove any possible contaminents.
And that's pretty much it. It's up to you if you want to cap the p/s cooler fittings or replace it with a solid hose.
P.S. If I recall correctly, all my lines were clamped. No fittings to unscrew. I just reused the clamps that were on the lines already.
I did all the work today and everything went smooth. A new upper radiator hose (non-ps cooler) and reroute the ps hose.
One thing i did notice is the end of the ps hose there is some seepage coming were the threads are.
Take a look at this closeup picture, see its only seeping where the threads are.
Here's the new hose
One thing i did notice is the end of the ps hose there is some seepage coming were the threads are.
Take a look at this closeup picture, see its only seeping where the threads are.
Here's the new hose
