If you have a car that is about 3 and above years old by now, then you might be wondering if the power steering fluid also needs to be changed?
Sadly, yes it should be!
Power steering fluid, like engine oil change should also be maintained and changed at the right time intervals that are mandated in your car’s service manual.
So why you should do a power steering flush. Here are the reasons why:
- Power steering fluid also gets bad and dirty overtime
- Dirty fluid can significantly affect your car’s steering power
- Your steering pump may get damage
- Noise can be heard on your steering pump
So it is quite important that you change your steering fluid regularly according to your PMS schedule.
What I am going to show you is a simple guide on how you can change your power steering fluid without requiring any special skills.
Take note though that this guide is for “power steering change” only, not “power steering flush”. Flushing requires the low pressure lines to be disconnected to flush all fluids in the system.
So these are the tools that you need:
- Your car’s OEM power steering fluid
- A turkey baster
- Mechanic’s gloves
- Eye goggles
- Funnel
- Floor jack
- Jack stands
The first thing that you should do is to jack up the car so that it the wheels can be freely turned. See the image below.
Now pop up the hood and look for your car’s power steering reservoir. It commonly has a steering logo on the cap or simply has “power steering” name on it.
Open the cap and sniff the fluid out using your turkey baster to get all the old fluid from the reservoir.
Once all the old fluid removed, you have to go inside the driver’s position and start turning the steering wheel left to right. Do this for at least 5 times. Turning your wheels from left to right initiates the power steering pump to purge out the fluid inside the system to go back into the reservoir.
What you need to do is to sniff the fluid out again from the reservoir until in dries out. If you are not satisfied, go back to the driver’s position and start turning the wheel again from left to right.
Doing this procedure for at least three times can almost clear the system of the old fluid. This way, you are “changing” the fluid without even pulling the hoses below the reservoir (power steering flush).
The next thing that you should do is to fill the reservoir with fresh new fluid.
Fill the reservoir up to the top first, then start the engine and keep it idle for about 15 seconds to get the extra air out of the system (burping). Turn off the engine then check the reservoir.
If it needs more fluid, then pour in more fluid into the reservoir but this time not in full but only up to the max level as indicated on your car’s reservoir. Turn on the engine again and see if the fluid goes into the engine. Pour in more fluid as needed until the system has enough fluid inside.
Put the cap back into the reservoir and drive your car for 10 to 15 minutes and check for anything unusual. If everything is good, then you have done it! You successfully changed your car’s power steering fluid!
To give you a complete guide, here is the video posted on my Youtube channel. The video is in Tagalog, not English. But you already knew how this works right? Cheers, till next time guys!
