Is the turkey baster method good enough?

[dparm]

My car is due for a PS fluid change soon. The engine bay is pretty tight to work in so I'm not thrilled when I see the photos of how to change the PS fluid.

Some people here have suggested the turkey baster method where you just replace a little bit each time until all the old fluid is gone.

Any comments? Should I just suck it up and flush the fluid myself?

 

[blue94]

Turkey baster method is fine. It just takes longer and is less efficient. Don't lose sleep over it.

 

[SuperDave456]

I've used the turkey baster method in cars that I didn't have time to crawl under and drain it all.
It does a decent job of getting the old stuff out, sometimes you even get little chunks of junk with the old fluid.

There are better ways, but I am not sure on an engine such as yours that they are worth it.
Just change it out with a quality lubricant and you will significantly increase the lifespan of your PS pump and seals.

 

[Jim 5]

You'll be miles ahead of not doing it at all. You just have to do more times, and you'll have more waste as has been pointed out.

I do it at every oil change with my oil extractor. I just let the extractor suck the reservoir dry and replace with new fluid. It's all I'm willing to do, but my theory is that it definitely is worthwhile.

 

[dparm]

So what are the basic steps? Pop the top off the reservoir, suck out as much as possible, then top it off with new fluid? Repeat every ____ days/weeks/miles?

 

[JOD]

I think the turkey baster method is the way to go. I flushed mine the conventional way, and it was taking forever (read weeks) to get all of the air out of the system, and I'd get just a bit of noise approaching full lock.

It eventually went away, but I won't do a full flush again. I just do the turkey baster method every other oil change.

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

Originally Posted By: dparm
So what are the basic steps? Pop the top off the reservoir, suck out as much as possible, then top it off with new fluid? Repeat every ____ days/weeks/miles?

I TB'ed my Axiom and Tacoma this way.
I gave it a week between the each service, only because I prefer to work on my cars on weekends. I'd think two days would be enough, if you want to do it faster.

 

[Jim 5]

- Suck out the reservoir
- Refill with fresh
- go for a drive, 1 mile is enough (or wait a week or a month)you just want it to mix. It doesn't take long at all, but if I'm not mistaken, you need the steering to have turned a few times so that the pump runs fluid through the whole system. Idling is not enough.
- suck out the reservoir
- refill with fresh

 

[mikered30]

I like to jack up the car when I do mine. I use the baster normally but I start the car and go lock to lock on the wheel, turn it off and do it again 3 more times.

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: mikered30
I like to jack up the car when I do mine. I use the baster normally but I start the car and go lock to lock on the wheel, turn it off and do it again 3 more times.


To be honest I do that too. Just didn't want to complicate things.

 

[dparm]

The OEM service procedure involves turning lock to lock 10 times to circulate the fluid. My car is difficult to jack up the front end due to the oil pan design and the low ground clearance. Sounds like driving around for a minute or two should be sufficient.

I assume PS fluid is disposed of just like motor oil?

 

[unDummy]

Originally Posted By: dparm
So what are the basic steps? Pop the top off the reservoir, suck out as much as possible, then top it off with new fluid? Repeat every ____ days/weeks/miles?


You should do it once at every oil change or minimally once a year. Pretty simple and old PSF can be recycled with the oil.

Siphon/refill, drive and repeat. Thats it! If you've never done it, then you want to do this once a week until you use up about 2 quarts of fluid. Then, repeat once at every oil change.

 

[dparm]

How many times should I expect to use the turkey baster? Car's capacity is about 1.5L. I don't want to be driving around for an hour to get the fluid out when flushing it myself would take roughly the same amount of time.

 

[unDummy]

I use gravity siphon with nothing but a simple hose until the reservoir is as empty as its going to get. Turkey baster are for the kitchen.

Don't drive around for the PSF change. Siphon, refill, and go about your normal weekly routine. Repeat weekly as needed or until you're happy. Usually about 2 quarts will get you on the right track, and repeat then at every oil change.

Takes me less than 5 minutes to siphon/refill my PSF reservoir whenever I want to do it. I don't jack the vehicle up, or disconnect hoses, don't get dirty, don't turn it into a spiteful maintenance item, don't let it hog up my time.....

 

[dparm]

Due to space constraints, a gravity siphon is going to be time consuming for me, on the order of 90+ minutes.

 

[dailydriver]

I use a Black & Decker hand crank type pump to do mine once every two months, even though I use pricey Red Line fluid.

I bought this pump MANY years ago and have not seen one since then.
I do not know if they still make it or not.

 

[tig1]

TB method has worked great for me for many years. I draw out the PS fluid and brake master cyl. at each engine oil change.

 

[ET16]

An oil extractor like the Pela is good. I use it for PS fluid and ATF.

 

[blue94]

Originally Posted By: dparm
I assume PS fluid is disposed of just like motor oil?



Check with your town. In every place I've lived, ATF and PS fluid are collected separately.

 

[paulo57509]

I think something like this is easier to use than a baster:

http://www.amazon.com/Sta-Lube-SL4344-Fluid-Oil-Pump/dp/B000CPIOBA