So here's my problem....

I've been having to top off my power steering quite frequently recently and have been trying to figure out how i'm losing it. It goes from full to bone dry in about a day and a half. I didn't notice any leaks until recently although its leaking from the passenger side rather than the drivers side where the pump is located. I took a closer look under my hood and its leaking from the top of the coolant reservoir, down onto the frame where the battery sits, then down onto the inside of the front bumper and then down on the ground. I checked my coolant and the dipstick has brown fluid on it, looks just like my power steering fluid. After some reasearch on here, it looks like my power steering cooler broke and its leaking PS fluid into the coolant and overflowing it. does this sound right to all of you? If so, i'm going to be replacing the PS cooler, draining the PS and coolant, and then topping it back off. Does this sound like the proper fix? Also, I'd really like some advice on how to replace the cooler and where to buy a new one. Any advice or direction would be appreciated!

 

OK my friend I just went throught this whole deal a year ago, what a mess. Anyways yes it is the power steering cooling tube that is leaking guaranteed!!! I dont know why but these parts are a stupid design.If you look on the front right hand side of your engine bay right below your air box youll see a metal tube (about a foot long) spliced in to your rubber rad hose with two smaller fittings coming out of it on the bottom side.Thats the cooler if you didnt know already.Thats the easy fix, just undo the 4 clips and disconnect the 4 hoses (2 rad and 2 power steering lines) youll have to buy the new one from gm I believe Icouldnt find one anywhere else it was about 200 cdn (not cheap) and install it the same way you took the other one out. The hard part is getting the oil out of the whole system,it sounds like yours started to overflow like mine did out of the coolant resevoir. I tried to clean my system myself (it took forever).I would recomend letting a garage do it but if you want to do it yourself then youll need a strong cleaner,I went with one that was very acidic to break down the oil otherwise it sticks and wont come out totally.After about 3-4 flushes I got almost all of it.Just make sure if you put the cleaner in you let the engine get hot enough to let the thermostat open otherwise you wont get it all.If you have any other ?'s let me know.

 

Thanks! is it that bad to leave remenence of ps fluid in the coolant? I'm planning on draining the coolant and refilling but was wondering if its harmfull to have traces of ps fluid in the system?

 

I would try to get as much out as possible,I had problems with my temp. fluctuating badly when I still had some in there,Im not sure what else it could screw up I never left it long enough to find out.

 

Instead of buying a replacement stock PS cooler, buy a small trans cooler and route the PS cooler hoses to this (mount it where it can get airflow).
You'll be bound to get better results and you'll exclude this problem from ever happening again.

(What happened, did the PS cooler crack and let PS fluid into the coolant...?)

 

For some reason they start leaking on the inside where the pieces are put together (bad design)impossible to repair.

 

where in the heck is the power steering cooler? i've been under my car several times trying to find it and figure out how i can fix this problem myself, but i cant find it. i've also considered just re-routing the hoses to bypass the cooler completely but i cant figure out which hoses are what, which is the return, etc. will the chiltons manual give me more of a description of what is what and what goes where? Also, i'll need to flush the coolant and power steering although i have absolutely no idea how to do this. Will the chiltons manual describe the process? Is all of this going to be extremely difficult and should i take it somewhere instead?

 

The cooler itself is just a metal tube(nothing elaborate) it is below the air intake box, on the left hand side of the engine compartment its spliced into the top rad hose and has 2 smaller fittings that run to the power steering pump.Its really not hard to find your probably looking for something too elaborate ,its just a piece of pipe.As for the flushing I would have someone else do it (its kind of a pain in the ***) to get it all out but there is a small section in the haynes manual i have that describes how to pull the drain plugs on the bottom of the rad and then on the bottom of the motor.and as for the p. steering I just disconnected the lines to the resevoir and let it drain that way.

 

can you see it from the top, or do you have to get under the car? how thick is it? i've been looking for something about 1" to 1 1/2" in diameter. when you say "left side" do you mean passenger side?

i know...i'm retarded.

 

Its on the drivers side and you can see it very easily and can remove it no problem from the top.Your car being an SS may have it hidden a little better than mine because of your larger air box but the easiest way to find it is follow the rad hose from the top drivers side of the rad to the top passenger side of the water pump its about 6 inches down from where it comes out of the rad on that line.It looks like a tube with a flange in the middle of it.

 

thanks a million, that helps out a lot. i'll take a look when i get home.

 

no problem any other ?'s just ask