Should I remove old PS fluid with a spray bottle

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First? Hey, all. Been hearing a whine from PS pump on the 99 Ford Expedition. Will be wanting to look at Power Steering fluid next.

A couple of quick, possibly dumb questions, so that I may make the right move:

1. Shall I get a spray bottle, and remove the old PS fluid from the reservior?

2. Is there a best PS fluid for Ford, or will the Supertech or the Prestone (are both fine? I would choose ST) work well?

3. Will this eliminate the whine, and ever so slight heavy feeling?

The fluid may be low.. my question is as to changing it, and not just topping it off.

I feel as though I am giving this truck its pre-160,000 mile service.. perhaps to repeat in another 4k. It runs real smooth.

Beyond this, only other issues are: 1. Sunroof not 100% closed, as evidenced by the car wash
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and 2. Headlight switch does high beams, not low beams. So high beams are always on, when lights are on.

Thank you.

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The Noise you are hearing is most likely from contamination of the fluid or the valves sticking. I like to use a little MMO (4-oz) and run it a few days to clean up the internal parts. Use a turkey baster, or any other devise to pump out the old fluid; the spray bottle may work, just very slow and possible messy. The reservoir is about half of the volume of fluid and it will require 2-3 changes to freshen up the entire P/S system. Any approved P/S fluid is good, I prefer the NAPA brand or Max-Life (synthetic).
 
Why don't you just remove a line and flush it out. I just did this on my daughters car yesterday, exchanging whatever dark mass (liked like well worn atf) and replaced with valvoline power steering fluid. It was amazing how much lighter and better the steering felt. Took all of 45 minutes.
 
Originally Posted By: Propflux01
Why don't you just remove a line and flush it out. I just did this on my daughters car yesterday, exchanging whatever dark mass (liked like well worn atf) and replaced with valvoline power steering fluid. It was amazing how much lighter and better the steering felt. Took all of 45 minutes.


I could do this too!
 
Originally Posted By: Dufus2
The Noise you are hearing is most likely from contamination of the fluid or the valves sticking. I like to use a little MMO (4-oz) and run it a few days to clean up the internal parts. Use a turkey baster, or any other devise to pump out the old fluid; the spray bottle may work, just very slow and possible messy. The reservoir is about half of the volume of fluid and it will require 2-3 changes to freshen up the entire P/S system. Any approved P/S fluid is good, I prefer the NAPA brand or Max-Life (synthetic).


Good idea!
 
Originally Posted By: Propflux01
Why don't you just remove a line and flush it out. I just did this on my daughters car yesterday, exchanging whatever dark mass (liked like well worn atf) and replaced with valvoline power steering fluid. It was amazing how much lighter and better the steering felt. Took all of 45 minutes.


+1
There are a couple of good vids on youtube showing the procedure.
 
I recently learned of a method that is pretty much similar to what has been described above and did it on my Focus and it worked like a charm.

What I did was I used my suction gun to remove the old PS (ATF) out of the PS reservoir.

Then I removed the return line from the PS reservoir. (The return line was the small hose.) I blocked off the return fitting on the PS reservoir with a hose with a bolt stuck in it and used a hose clamp to secure the bolt and secure the other end of the hose onto the reservoir.

Then I remounted the reservoir back onto the frame and filled it up with ATF. Also, I stuck a large funnel into the PS reservoir and filled that up with about a quart of ATF.

The return line that was still disconnected was ran to an empty 1 gallon water jug that I cut a hole in the top of so that the hose would fit snugly. I stuck the hose through the top of the water jug.

I had a helper start the car and immediately turn the wheel to the right and to the left and shut the car off. (Quickness here is of the utmost importance to minimize the amount of new fluid being discharged as possible.) I did not have to add fluid while it was draining the funnel, but depending on how fast/slow your helper is, you may have to add fluid.

At this point, all of the burnt PS (ATF) fluid was in the jug and you could see where the new fluid started to come out after the old stuff was flushed out since the discharge coming out of the hose was hitting the side of the jug (from the inside of course).

After this, I used my suction gun to drain the new fluid out of the reservoir (could've let it stay, but I didn't want to risk a mess), disconnected my "block hose" from the reservoir, reconnected my return hose to the reservoir, remounted, filled it up, started it up and bled the air out.

This method worked like a charm on my Focus. Depending on how burnt and gunky your PS (ATF) fluid is, it could possibly set off the CEL if the old fluid was causing the PS pump to create excessive drag on the engine and the ECM doesn't realize why there's now less drag on the engine. If that happens, just disconnect your battery for 15 min or so to clear out the code and you're good at that point.

This is the method I learned along with my experience. Just passing it on for your to consider.
 
I've always used a baster but will probably go with a siphon next time to keep things cleaner.. Might speed up an already fairly quick job

Probably go with something like this: Siphon

Plenty of them on the shelves at local store
 
I bleed mine pretty much the same way I'd imagine anyone else does.

Let it run until there are no longer bubbles in the reservoir and occasionally turn the wheel to the left and right as the bubbles begin to go away.

Once there are no more bubbles, ensure the fluid level is proper when it gets all the way up to normal operating temperature and call it done.

I don't do the by the book method, which involves jacking up the front wheels and turning them from right to left. It's the ideal way to go, but I continue to do it the way above because it works just as well and I haven't tanked a pump yet.

My bleeding process is definitely nothing special in my opinion and I'm sure some "by the book" individuals will call it flat out wrong, but it works for me.

The removal of the unit as described above is to eliminate the time element associated with the baster procedure and to get a baseline as far as fresh fluid is concerned.

If the old fluid is really burnt, this method definitely helps to speed things up as the detergents begin to clean the system out and change the color of the new fluid.
 
On the Expedition, just get a small margarine dish and place it below the reservoir. Pull the return line and the contents will dump into the dish. Fill the reservoir with clean fluid. Let it cycle. Repeat as necessary. This prevents you from running the pump dry and causing it to make the infamous Ford PS whine.

Also, use Mobil 1 ATF. It is the best of every ATF I've tried in this application.
 
I use the turkey baster to draw fluid out at every oil change.10K. Then re-fill with M1 ATF. Never had a PS pump failure. So far.
 
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