The easy way to change your power steering fluid

[buzzer1955]

One of the jobs I have been meaning to do on my 182 was to change the power steering fluid. I looked at the pipes beneath the car but the unions were difficult to get at so I looked for an alternative method.

What I did was to use the nozzle off a tube of silicon and a length of plastic tubing. (see the picture below) Make sure its a new nozzle and everything is clean. First I removed the cap and then the filter from the Power Steering reservoir, this just pulls out. (insert your fingers (ooo er!) and lift it out)

Put the end of the tubing (the one without the nozzle) into a container to catch the oil. With the car running on tick over I then inserted the tube with the nozzle attached into the reservoir to the bottom and held it there so it covers the return oil supply hole, which is in the bottom of the reservoir. The return supply hole is slightly raised so its easy to locate the nozzle as its a lot bigger than the return hole. As soon as you do this, the oil will be forced quite quickly into the pipe and start to fill the container.

As its starts to fill the container, top up the reservior with the new Power Steering oil to ensure the pump does not run dry. It takes 1.1 liter to change it completely but as i had 2 liter, I continue until 1.5 litr had been used to ensure it had a good flushing.

I know its not a serviceable Item, but it cant hurt changing oil that been in use for 0000's of miles... with fresh oil.

 

[Soot1e]

Good idea Buzzer, It don't hurt to change ALL the fluids on a high mileage car, done all mine at 89K miles.

 

[Phate]

I know this is an old post but - I tried this as it seemed a very good idea, however I couldn't see any filter inside the resevoir (the hole is only wide enough for one of my fingers and I couldn't feel anything obvious) so I stuck my polyfiller-nozzel-capped hose in, turned on the engine but nothing was coming out. I'm guessing my nozzle was too small to fit over the return supply? Has anyone else tried this method?

 

[easym5]

I know this is an old post but i hope one of the mods put this in the how to guides as it saved me a lot of hassle when for some reason (heavy night)i put brake fluid in the power steering container by mistake
The only thing i would like to add is that with the small diameter pipe buzzer used takes quite a while to empty the container,so still useing the same nozzle i used a larger pipe and the fluid was out in a jiffy
Thanks Buzzer
Oh and phate you obviously didnt pull the long long filter out mate

 

[MG cup]

Impressed with this idea.

 

[Sam]

I need to do this on the bean to.

 

[Gaverick]

Used this method today and it worked a treat, thanks!

 

[Bex88]

First I removed the cap and then the filter from the Power Steering reservoir, this just pulls out. (insert your fingers (ooo er!) and lift it out)

SOrry to resurrect an old thread but in my 2001 clio I take off the cap and inside is an inner bit of plastic with little slit holes around it and 2 bits of plastic sticking up from the bottom (not very deep) Is this the filter? I cannot remove it at all, with fingers or clean pliers Or am I wrong?

 

[Budgie]

Yep, that's the filter. Hook it out with a tiny screwdriver

 

[Bex88]

It's like its molded in there, wont budge. Screwdriver just bends the plastic about if inserting through the little slots :/ Heres a pic:

A bit dirty...



Ignore, I've done it. just needed to pull abit harder with pliers lol

 

[Budgie]

Lol. Spot on. Need to give it a bit of a hard timw

 

[Diagro]

Bump.

Going to do this tomorrow at work

 

[Mully1906]

Really think this should be moved to the GUIDES section, helpful!

 

[Mike Lane]

What fluid are people putting in?

 

[Budgie]

What fluid are people putting in?

ATF/PAS/Hydraulic fluid.

 

[Gandi69]

used this method last time I changed mine, works really well. 5 minutes and its done quite literally.
The insert can become quite stuck however requires a bit of a tug

 

[nd-photo.nl]

Nice post, will put this on my list as well.

 

[Kablo182]

Jus tried this method today and it's so easy! See what the royal purple max ATF is like? Any one else used this?

 

[Slygreen]

Brilliant method so easy to do and takes 5 mins.
However get a mate to turn the car on or wedge the pipe in with a rage before starting....... otherwise you end up with a engine bay full or PAS Fluid like i did :fearscream:

 

[Trackslag172]

Brilliant method so easy to do and takes 5 mins.
However get a mate to turn the car on or wedge the pipe in with a rage before starting....... otherwise you end up with a engine bay full or PAS Fluid like i did :fearscream:

As he said, I made the same mistake trying to do it on my own. This is an excellent method though. I used the rubber hose for the windscreen washers (off a spare bonnet)
Also tape or cable ties the hose attachment to a screwdriver to make sure you can grip it easily, see my picture

imageupload

 

[HappySquidTom]

This looks like an excellent solution! I had a leaky pressure switch so given enough time and enough topping up the flush was done for me! 😅

(Have now finally replaced the switch...)

 

[GavC]

Used this method today. To remove the filter I poured some hot water around the outside of the cap. This made it easy to get the filter freed by gentle prying with a screwdriver inserted into a notch inside the filter. Once freed I was able to remove by hand.
I drained the reservoir connecting up my hose and had another person move the steering wheel to engage the pump to force the fluid out quicker. Note to others the fluid splats out from the bottom of the reservoir so make sure you have some old rags around the filler cap area. When the reservoir emptied the pump made a nasty noise around this time perhaps due to being dry but immediately turned off engine as this point. Filled reservoir with ~500mls of new fluid which exceeded the max level a good bit so be careful to top up in increments checking the level rather than chucking it in like I did. I then turned on the engine and went for a short drive to get the new fluid through the system :grinning:

 

[bozothenutter]

Used this method today. To remove the filter I poured some hot water around the outside of the cap. This made it easy to get the filter freed by gentle prying with a screwdriver inserted into a notch inside the filter. Once freed I was able to remove by hand.
I drained the reservoir connecting up my hose and had another person move the steering wheel to engage the pump to force the fluid out quicker. Note to others the fluid splats out from the bottom of the reservoir so make sure you have some old rags around the filler cap area. When the reservoir emptied the pump made a nasty noise around this time perhaps due to being dry but immediately turned off engine as this point. Filled reservoir with ~500mls of new fluid which exceeded the max level a good bit so be careful to top up in increments checking the level rather than chucking it in like I did. I then turned on the engine and went for a short drive to get the new fluid through the system :grinning:

why let the reservoir go dry?
it has a lubricating function aswell I guess.
probably no damage done, but i'd treat it like bleeding brakes and never let it run dry.

 

[GavC]

why let the reservoir go dry?
it has a lubricating function aswell I guess.
probably no damage done, but i'd treat it like bleeding brakes and never let it run dry.

It was a mistake really!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[markhump]

Sorry to bring back an old thread! But I’m in need of some help please. Car is 2004 Clio 182 (track only) with pas pump and lines as standard.

Today I’ve flushed the power steering fluid (1.5l) and replaced with good quality redline fluid. I followed to the letter this guide and was very careful to keep the reservoir topped up and not to let the pump run dry. All went well until I’ve come to move the car and feel like I have no power steering at all.

I assume maybe an air lock, so have tried lock to lock with the cap off, but it’s SO heavy and difficult to move! No obvious leaks previously or now..any ideas??