Post Your Latest Power Steering Fluid Change

Originally Posted By: rjacket
I'm a little surprised at what I am reading. Power steering fluid is not even on most manufacturer's maintenance and there are people changing it once a year!



I'd bet money 99% of the people driving in North America DO NOT change their PS fluid.

It's us, the anal ones, who enjoy replentishing the refreshing fluid.
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Keep posting 'em!
 
2001 Toyota Tundra v8, has a remote PSF reservior so I just pull the return line, let it drain, flush out reservior to clean out minor black residue, then refill reservior. Takes half a quart to fill system.

Filled system with Valvoline DexVI.
 
05 Neon SRT4
Turkey baster
in: Redline C+ATF
out: Redline C+ATF

empty and fill the res. every other oil change, or 10k miles
 
Originally Posted By: cancov
What's with all the Mobil1 ATF? It's good stuff when in the power steering system I assume?


Works great in my BMW.
 
Just did all three trucks below. The 2 2500hds below flushed original mud with 1 gallon Valvoine PSF and then filled resovoir with Maxlife PSF. Put a Magnefine on mine, the one 250 k mile on it.

The 7500 just got a 1 gallon Supertech Dex/Merc Flush( yes a gm ps system calling for DexIII) had always had 1 quart Maxlife DexMerc resivor change at oil changes. THe fluid was fine and has a factory filter, but I wanted try something thicker in there to see if made a difference in the Hydroboost, it did, maybe slightly.


P.S. The Difference in braking performance after the flush on both 2500hd's(both original brakes)was nothing short amazing!!
 
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Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Here's a thread for us rare few (perhaps not?) who actually change their Power Steering Fluid.

Full change or Turkey Baster (TB), it don't matter.

I'll go 1st with the last vehicle's change only:

- 2000 Saturn SL2, 37,104 miles purchased 1 week ago.

- Out: Original GM PS fluid.

- In: Twice (so far): Amsoil ATF via Turkey Baster

How does the atf feel? I considered using ATF(Maxlife, DexVI or Transynd) for my 2500hds but decided to stick with the PSF it calls for. May still change slowly with reservoir changes at every oil change.
 
Originally Posted By: 3311
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Here's a thread for us rare few (perhaps not?) who actually change their Power Steering Fluid.

Full change or Turkey Baster (TB), it don't matter.

I'll go 1st with the last vehicle's change only:

- 2000 Saturn SL2, 37,104 miles purchased 1 week ago.

- Out: Original GM PS fluid.

- In: Twice (so far): Amsoil ATF via Turkey Baster

How does the atf feel? I considered using ATF(Maxlife, DexVI or Transynd) for my 2500hds but decided to stick with the PSF it calls for. May still change slowly with reservoir changes at every oil change.


Amsoil ATF feels like it loosened it up a bit, in a good way. Today the high is 9F, so I'll know more later.
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But in my GMC Truck, what a difference!
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Next up Amsoil ATF goes on the '06 GTO (see sig.)
 
In my '96 Chevy Astro, the PS fluid had never been changed to my knowledge. I bought it in '99 with 39k on the clock. It had around 103k on it when I used the turkey baster method. WOW - that fluid was black. Sucked and filled a total of three times. Used a quart of Prestone PS fluid with stop leak. My van also uses PS fluid for the power brakes. I was starting to hear the PS pump start to whine, especially in cold weather. Now the whine is gone, I want to run another quart of fluid through, then I will move to a three year replacement. I replace all my fluids (trans, brake, PS, coolent) every three years. I had never thought about my PS fluid until I started coming to this site. I want this van to last a long time yet, and fresh fluid never hurts....
 
In my 2003 Toyota Sienna, that PS fluid is Dex III ATF. It is super easy to change - pop the cover, pull the tank out of the bracket holding it to the firewall, pour it out, refill. I drained and refilled that fluid three times. Used Super Tech (Walmart) ATF. Old fluid was pretty dirty, that van had 80k on it at the time, I am sure the fluid was original. It will be changed every three years going forward, or maybe sooner if I am bored.
 
Ok, so yesterday it was in the single digits (F) and the '00 Saturn sat outside at work all day with the 2X TB suck & re-fill with Amsoil ATF.

The wheel turned effortlessly, no groaning, whining, nothing.

I'll do one more suck-out & re-fill with Amsoil ATF this weekend, FTW. The -63 Pour Point is nice for the PS Pumps.
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I changed the power steering fluid in my Five Hundred this past fall with 65,600 miles on the clock.

Pretty easy to flush it, remove the return line from the res, put line in a jug, start car while pooring new fluid in. Continue until new fluid comes out of the return line. This clearly needs two people...

Factory fill was a dark red, quite dirty.

Should be good until 120K.

Out: Factory Fill
In: Motorcraft XT-5-QM
 
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Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Here's a thread for us rare few (perhaps not?) who actually change their Power Steering Fluid.


Lastest PSF changes...

2005 Ford Freestyle (turkey baster method, 3 reservoir empty/fills) ~85K at the time, ~93K currently
Out - factory fill
In - Amsoil ATF

2001 Ford F150 4.6 (complete change) ~140K at the time, ~182K currently
Out - Mobil 1 Mercon V (the bottle the said Mercon V)
In - Red Line D4

2002 Ford F250 SD PSD 4x4 (complete change), ~80K at the time, ~105 K currently
Out - factory fill
In - Red Line D4
 
Originally Posted By: kb9skw
Pretty easy to flush it, remove the return line from the res, put line in a jug, start car while pooring new fluid in. Continue until new fluid comes out of the return line. This clearly needs two people...

This sounds like the way to go.
 
Just did one of our Silverados. Simply disconnected one of the hoses from the rack while changing the oil. By the time I was done the fluid had virtually all drained out.

Refilled with Amsoil synthetic ATF
 
Did the 3rd TB suckout in a week or so in the 2000 Saturn SL1 (Creampuff).

This time, I used a cleaned out long hosed pump out of a tall shampoo bottle or something like that. It got deeper into the fluid in the back narrow area.
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This last fluid sucked out is pretty red, so I'm good for a while.
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Re-filled again with Amsoil ATF.
 
01 GMC Jimmy, out original, in 500 mile run of Royal Purple PSF, in again RP PSF. Turkey baster.

09 Speed 3, out stock fluid, in Amsoil ATF for 5k, in again same thing. Used flush method.
 
2008 Camry 47k, I remove the PS tank from the bracket on passenger side fender and slid the overflow coolant tank out of the way. Then I loosened the two clamps that hold the rubber hose securely to the PS reservoir. I then proceeded to pour out FF into a disposable cup. Once the tank was empty I removed the tank from the rubber hoses and cleaned the PS res. I let air dry and reinstalled and topped off with Valvoline Maxlife Dex/Merc
 
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2001 Mazda 626, 115,000 miles

Power steering pump went out on new years eve so had it replaced at Firestone. Factory fill was ATF and Firestone refilled with their generic (conoco?) power steering fluid.

There was some leftover ATF in the system so the mixed fluid is a very light pink. Seems to be working fine.

As an interesting side note, while the factory fill was ATF the factory cap on the P/S tank said "power steering fluid only" on the top in big letters. I always thought that was odd. This particular Mazda was built in a Ford factory, so perhaps that had something to do with it...
 
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