Power Steering Fluid
Power Steering Fluid I am having trouble losing power steering fluid. I have not yet found any obvious signs of any leaks. When it gets real low it creates a vacuum in the resovoir and when I take the cap off it "pops" like a soda bottle. Is it possible for the power steering fluid to leak into the engine cooling system? I don't know where the fluid is going. The antifreeze appears to be oily. I know the fluid goes into the metal tube along the back of the radiator that the upper radiator hose connects to. Any chance the fluid is leaking into the engine coolant? In the past I have had to replace my radiator coolant level sensor because of false low coolant light and I discovered that just cleaning the old sensor will make it work normally again for quite a while. I don't know if the is any connection to these two problems. Any info would be appreciated.
Re: Power Steering Fluid I figured someone would tackle this one. I hated to see it sink to the bottom with no replies.
The power steering fluid does not run through the radiator. It has a separate cooler under the car. You could be losing fluid out of the rack, the pump or any of the fittings. I'd start by looking at the fittings on the rack first. You may want to clean the under side of the engine area with some Gunk engine cleaner (or similar). Remember, this stuff breaks down oil and grease (petroleum products), rubber is also a petroleum product, so be careful using it around rubber parts (it won't destroy them, but I try not to spray them down with it) and then hose off the car (underneath). Start it and check for leaks, if you find none, drive it for a day and look again. You should find the "trail" from the oil somewhere between the pump and the rack (or on one of the two). Just my thoughts. Good luck!
The power steering fluid does not run through the radiator. It has a separate cooler under the car. You could be losing fluid out of the rack, the pump or any of the fittings. I'd start by looking at the fittings on the rack first. You may want to clean the under side of the engine area with some Gunk engine cleaner (or similar). Remember, this stuff breaks down oil and grease (petroleum products), rubber is also a petroleum product, so be careful using it around rubber parts (it won't destroy them, but I try not to spray them down with it) and then hose off the car (underneath). Start it and check for leaks, if you find none, drive it for a day and look again. You should find the "trail" from the oil somewhere between the pump and the rack (or on one of the two). Just my thoughts. Good luck!
Re: Power Steering Fluid The power steering fluid does not run through the radiator. It has a separate cooler under the car.
The Power Steering cooler option on the LS1's uses a coller in between two pieces of the radiator hoses. So technically it doesn't go into the radiator, but it IS in direct contact with the cooling system, to if there were a problem with his cooler, it's possible to be losing power steering fluid into the coolant... Check your coolant for oily spots... Check the power steering fluid for water... it's slighty possible that you may be getting some leakage, but more than likely it will be an external leak that you just haven't seen yet...
Good Luck
Re: Power Steering Fluid Vip,
Thanks, I started to post that as "as far as I can remember", and after thinking about it, I was pretty sure....guess I wasn't that sure. Thanks for catching my error.
Kevin
Thanks, I started to post that as "as far as I can remember", and after thinking about it, I was pretty sure....guess I wasn't that sure. Thanks for catching my error.
Kevin
Re: Power Steering Fluid Vip is correct. The engine coolant does seem oily. There are no leaks underneath. I have seen others say that they have replaced their PS cooler but didn't say why. Anybody ever have leaks into the engine coolant?
Re: Power Steering Fluid Some have posted about failed heat exchangers.
If you are losing PS fluid and underneath the car is dry, then it has to be that cooler.
Now, old Dexcool will turn "gunky" after a couple of years. I know it says 100,000 miles ... but Mobil 1 says 30,000 miles and we don't do it because ... ????
The coolant needs to be flushed every other year to keep the system clean and in good working order. I do mine at least once a year ...
If you are losing PS fluid and underneath the car is dry, then it has to be that cooler.
Now, old Dexcool will turn "gunky" after a couple of years. I know it says 100,000 miles ... but Mobil 1 says 30,000 miles and we don't do it because ... ????
The coolant needs to be flushed every other year to keep the system clean and in good working order. I do mine at least once a year ...
Re: Power Steering Fluid I attached a cooling system pressure tester to the radiator. When I pumped up the radiator the level of the PS fluid began to rise. I then replaced the PS cooler tube in the upper radiator hose. PS leak appears to be gone. I need to flush both the cooling system and PS system a few more times to insure all contamination is gone.
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Re: Power Steering Fluid What mileage did this happen?
Over what period of time?
Had you ever changed your coolant before?
Was the heat exchanger corroded or was there a failed seam?
Over what period of time?
Had you ever changed your coolant before?
Was the heat exchanger corroded or was there a failed seam?
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Verdad Gallardo Re: Power Steering Fluid 104k miles. dont know when it started but it was real bad just this week. I have changed the coolant once before. I didnt see any corrosion in the cooler tube, so maybe it was a seam. If you havent seen inside one it would be hard to describe. ran out of time to flush it as many times as I would have liked, so I'll get back on it in the next few days.
Re: Power Steering Fluid Glad you got it fixed! Trackbird, didn't mean for it to seem like I was slamming the door on ya man, I've read many of your posts and I know you're very knowledgeable!
Re: Power Steering Fluid Vip,
Not a problem. I didn't remember the water cooler on the P/S on these cars. I didn't want to see this thing sink to the bottom with no help, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Ultimately, he got the help he needed and I learned something, never a bad thing. Thanks for correcting me...I make mistakes, we all do.
Kevin
Not a problem. I didn't remember the water cooler on the P/S on these cars. I didn't want to see this thing sink to the bottom with no help, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Ultimately, he got the help he needed and I learned something, never a bad thing. Thanks for correcting me...I make mistakes, we all do.
Kevin
Re: Power Steering Fluid pjb ... this is good information, brother.
There are a LOT of these coolers out there. Just trying to get a fix on what issues I might see with mine ...
Kevin, my bubble is burst ... YOU ... make mistakes???
There are a LOT of these coolers out there. Just trying to get a fix on what issues I might see with mine ...
Kevin, my bubble is burst ... YOU ... make mistakes???
Re: Power Steering Fluid I have driven the car daily and all appears to be good. Chevy dealer wanted $138 for the PS cooler, GMpartsdirect wanted $70 plus shipping for a total of about $85. I don't know how long it would have taken to arrive. I found a chevy dealer in the area that had one in stock and sold it to me for $99 plus tax for a total of $104. Coolant, flush, distilled water, PS fluid brought my total expense to about $135. Very easy to swap out the cooler. Flushing the coolant and PS fluid was the hardest part (not hard either, but time consuming).
On The Tree
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 159
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From: Muscatine, Iowa
Re: Power Steering Fluid On my 98 1LE I used a tranny cooler for a power steering cooler. This was before Chevy offered the upper radiator hose power steering cooler. It worked great and I also flushed the original fluid with synthetic fluid. The engine runs at 210 degrees unless you have a lower thermostat so how much will it actually cool the fluid? A sepreate and remote cooler in front of the radiator or wherever will do a much better job of cooling the fluid than a coolant based cooler.