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Power steering fluid

24K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  nipper 
#1 ·
Had my 06 outback finally in for the ECM reflash for cold start.
The guy at the counter came out to me with a list of things the mechanic stated that my car needed.
He said i needed the trans changed, coolent done, power steering changed and brake fluid and diffs.
Funny thing is I just had the car in there 7 k miles ago and had the tranny and coolant changed for the 60 k service. I do all the other things myself.

Ok for the question does the power sterring fluid need to be changed.
Looked at mine it is still at the full line but it is a darker color then it use to be. If i change it what should it be changed with.

Thanks

Mike K SJ
 
#2 ·
Well now you know not to trust these people and or thier computer records. I would have thrown it in thier faces that all this work was done.

P/S fluid lives a lazy life, it is ATF fluid that doesnt work anywhere as hard as the tranny fluid does. You dont need to change it directly. I am not sure of the capacities here but you will have to do the math yourself. Get a turkey baster and take out all the old PS fluid from the pump. Fill the pump with fresh fluid.

You are done.

Do the math and figure out how many oil changes you need to do this for, or just do it at every oil change, you will always have good fluid.

Brake fluid, look at it, if it is not on the clear side change it. You can do this yourself to with a freind or with a bleeder, same idea. Turkey baster (new one) remove old fluid, put in fresh and bleed. This needs to be done all at once and not in small amounts like the PS fluid.
 
#4 ·
At every other oil change I do a drain and fill of the transmission (not a flush) so that saves me the hastle of doing a home flush. Hydraulice fluid is neat that it doesnt come clean when new fluid is added, but it does refresh its chemicals properties.
 
#5 ·
Hi there!

There's a link on here about changing the PS fluid. I followed that recommendation, but in case you can't find it, here's what I did. It doesn't get 100% of the fluid changed but it does change a lot of it.

I removed as much fluid from the reservoir as I could with a 50cc syringe. I bought a big box of them off of eBay originally to bleed motorcycle brakes and they have been pretty useful for other jobs.

Disconnect the return line from the reservoir, and plug the hose barb on the reservoir so it won't leak fluid. Route the return line into a catch container.

Remove the drive belt from the pump.

Pour new ATF (Dexron III or newer) into the reservoir, and turn the power steering pump pulley clockwise by hand. Old fluid should be pushed out of the return line into your catch container. Keep the reservoir full while doing this. Keep doing this until you get new fluid from the return line.

Reattach and reassemble everything, and top off with new fluid. You may get some whine from the pump when you first start it, as there may be some air in the system. Slowly turning the steering wheel left and right (but not against the stops) a few times with the engine running will help purge the air out.

You only need 1 or 2 quarts to do this, depending on how much you flush out, and if you're like me, how much you accidentally spill...

Good luck,
 
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