As many of you probably know I'm in the process of tearing into my motor a bit this winter and one item that I have found neglected by the PO was the power steering. Pulling the pump revealed chocolate milk in the reservoir and the lines look like the originals so I'm planning on replacing the pump and the soft lines. But, does anyone have suggestions as to how I can get all the old fluid out of the steering gear box and cooler lines? Is there a good way to flush this? Thanks ya'll.

 

A cheap turkey baster comes in handy for just such occasions. Since you've already pulled the pump, you can spin the shaft and it should pump out any fluid in the lines. I had a leaking pump shaft seal so I replaced mine. I rented a puller from Autozone to transfer the pulley from the pump. It worked perfectly!

 

I think getting the crap out of the box will be the biggest problem. I recently had to clean out burned fluid out of my car. Right or wrong, I just drained the reservoir, filled the system, started car, turned wheel side to side a bunch of times and repeated about 6 times. After I did it 6 times the fluid smelled a lot less burned and was mostly clear after that.

 

I thought about doing something similar. I was considering getting a new pump installed and just hook up the discharge to gearbox while capping the return at the pump. Then run the return line from the radiator into a bucket and keep adding fluid with the car running until it runs clear. Not sure if I can do all that with it running but theoretically you should be able to push all the old crap right through right?

 

Sorry, I misread your post. I thought you were talking about the pump. I agree with scooter that once you put fresh fluid in the pump, there should be no further problems. The gearbox doesn't hold very much. Turning the wheels from side to side after the system is back together and the engine is running, removes the air from the system. You could check the condition of your fluid at that time and decide if it needs to be sucked out.

 

10-4. I'll give it a try and see what happens after getting all I can out of the gearbox. Thank you.

 

You can disconnect the return line from the pump, plug the hole in the pump, start the motor with the line pointing into a catch can of some sort, and add fluid to the reservoir as it comes out the return line. Should flush it all out within a few seconds.

 

Thanks Sofa. That's what I'm going to try. Hopefully I can do that without losing any fingers! Lots of moving parts.