Flushing P/S pump and resv

[Poison457]

does anyone know a better way to flush the P/S pump and resv besides unhooking the return hose and starting the car? I'm looking for a project to today and this seems like as good as anything, reason i want to do it is frankly my P/S fluid look's BLACK like seriously engine oil black.

[Stewi]

yeah, unhook one of the lines that goes to the power steering cooler and put a drain pan under it. its important that you watch until all the fluid is out of the reservoir and keep the steering wheel straight. as soon as all the fluid is out of the reservoir, shut the car off, let the rest drip out. if you run the car for a while with no fluid, the pump will burn out, it uses the passing by fluid as means of lubrication

[Stewi]

fyi the factory power steering cooler is that round tube thats in the lower area behind the front bumper

[Poison457]

thanks stewi i was pretty sure that was about the only way to do it was just hoping there might be a bleeder valve or something, i'm not "NEW" to modern car's but still learning, i grew up building muscle car's with my dad so i can rip apart a 302 or a 350 and rebuild it in my sleep but with the new hawtness i sometimes stumble :P

[Poison457]

hey stewi this is why i wanted to change it EWWWW, i'm not sure how much fluid the system holds but 2 quart container's didn't cut it :(

[02redgalant]

the way I did it to prevent from running it dry and preventing air from getting into the system was disconnect the crankshaft position sensor that way the motor just cranks and you can monitor fluid level

[Stewi]

I guess you can do that. but the pump spins so slowly at cranking RPM that I cant image it would be practical. It seems like it would take forever and possibly drain the battery a bit. Air in the power steering system isnt a big deal as its a self bleeding system. The way you get the air out is take the car to an empty parking lot and spend a good 15 minutes making sharp turns both left and right. the constantly cycling of the rack back and forth opens the bleeder valve frequently.