A couple of months ago, my 2003 trail blazer started leaking power steering fluid on the return at the location of the driver side tire on the frame. I could see the leak spraying out hitting my tire and eventually spraying, wetting the entire driver side of my vehicle.
Oh boy, this was all going through my mind over the next few weeks; I had no clue how to replace the line, I didn’t know if the low or pressure side was leaking, I’d never thought I’d be able to reach the steering rack since there was only a small accessible area, I was leery on buying the part from rock auto, I wished I had the money to have a someone fix this for me, I have to get this fixed before I take my family on vacation in July, crap I’m too old for this, hot does the line attach to the steering rack and I could not find any how-to videos on youtube.
So I’ve decided to tackle this and scheduled doing this work on a Saturday and Sunday since I’ve read this will take a couple of days. Here’s my replacement story.
I’ve learned that the low pressure (The return) is the hose that connects into the cooler under the radiator. I decided to buy the replacement part from a local dealer; Tom Hesser’s located in Scranton PA. The cost was $140. The identical part from Rock Auto, I believe was listed at $38.00. I just wanted to be sure the part was correct and now if I had to replace the other side, I would feel comfortable buying the high pressure line from rockauto.com. Okay I have the part.
Saturday, I pull my trailblazer in by brother’s garage; Larry’s gone to Florida for a week, lucky me ;-) My son-in-law Andrew Davis and my niece’s husband Tom Davis arrive to assist. I had a hangover ;-) It’s the rice they brew Coors light with.
The time is oh 11:45AM, Saturday March 15, 2014
Here’s the procedure we followed and made it up as we moved along.
Removal process
1) Lifted the front of the vehicle
2) Pulled driver side tire
3) Lowered the vehicle close to the ground
4) Removed the battery, and the battery tray, etc. Two bolts by the horn we tricky to reach.
5) Took a picture just in case we forgot where something attaches. We didn’t need this just a safeguard.
6) Removed the screws holding down the fuse box. There is a red wire not connected to anything. A google search states that this is used for charging the battery on a trailer and is not connected by default.
7) Unclipped several wire harness clips to allow for slack to move the fuse box out of the way. We used an old piece of wire to hold this out of the way.
8) Disconnected the large wiring connector by sliding the lever to unlock and then unclipped.
9) Removed the two grounds connected to the fender.
10) Removed the connector attached to the break master cylinder.
11) Unbolted the tongue that holds down the two power steering lines on the frame. This bolt was hard to see because it is under all of the wiring. When I loosed the bolt the bracket pulled away from the frame. No biggie.
12) Lifted the vehicle up, higher is better so you can see the rack better instead of crouching.
13) Remove the one bolt that holds the high pressure and return lines onto the rack. I used a quarter inch ratchet, a 10 inch or so extension and I forgot the socket size, maybe 8mm. I was able to slip the socket in from the left side of the strut. Once the bolt was all the way loose I used long pin nose pliers to remove the bolt from the small access window. This wasn’t necessary I just didn’t want to lose the bolt which would be my luck.
14) Using a flathead screw driver I pried the connecting flange away from the rack, this was easy. Here I prayed I’d be able to get this thing reattached.
15) Placed pan under already dripping power steering fluid, oops.
16) Removed the hose clamp from the power steering cooler. Used a flat head screw driver to spin the clamp so I could reach it from underneath with a smaller pair of pliers.
17) Put a second under the dripping fluid.
18) Once the metal tongue was removed in step 9 we then started to unfasten the two frame clamps that hold down the line where my leak was, we also pulled the 4 inch rubber from under this tongue which lies on top of the hoses.
19) Removed the bad return hose. Mine was rotted pretty bad and fell apart where the leak was.
Took a 5 minute break
20) Sent Andrew to autozone for two quarts of power steering fluid.
Installation process
1) Fished the new line in place.
2) Connected the cooler end
3) Connected the Rack end. We had a problem here. We could not get the hose in the retaining brace. The reason was we fished the back side in between the brake lines. Oops, We pulled the back side out and fished correctly and we were easily and able to slide the return hose on the brace.
4) Reattached the retaining brace to the rack using the quarter inch ratchet and from the left. Note that I was able to somehow get my left hand in the work area form the right side of the strut while my right hand was feeling the socket and guiding the hose into place.
5) Reinstalled the two rubber pieces on the frame and hand bent the metal over these rubber whatever these are.
6) Reinstalled the large rubber piece up top under the wiring and reattached the tongue.
7) Reattached the fuse box and the large connector
8) Reconnected the two grounds.
9) Installed the battery box, the battery, cleaned my terminals with a wire brush and connected the battery.
10) Installed the cross member over the battery, removal not mentioned above, sorry.
11) Put the tire on
12) Lowered the vehicle and removed jack so we can finish putting the clips back on
13) Jacked the vehicle up taking both tires of the ground.
14) Turned the key to unlock the steering
15) Filled the power steering pump to level, a quick “please God, no leaks”
16) Kept turning the wheels all the way from left to right (oh maybe 30 times) as Tom kept a check on the fluid level in the pump and added more as needed.
17) Lowered vehicle and removed jack.
18) Started vehicle (Thanked God it started ;-)
19) Checked for leaks. None, yes!
20) Took for drive around block, still no leaks!
21) Put cat litter on fluid spills, cleaned up garage
22) Thanked Tom and Andrew
The day is still Saturday and the time is 3:00PM. I said Man that was not as bad as I though! I planned on being here for two days but this only took a little over three hours!
I should have video recorded this procedure but I didn’t think about it until we were done so I’d like to share our experiences.
Enjoy.
A couple of notes:
One quart of fluid is all that we needed to fill the system.
We've noticed that there were two rubber caps that came with the new hose. I don't know what these are for, I assume these are to either plug the rack or cover the hose so that dirt don't get in. I don't know. I know I don't have any leaks and I did not need to replace the seals in the rack.
Also I did what I could to remove the grime from the rack before I pulled the bolt so dirt would be minimized. It's probably a good idea to pressure wash that area before replacing but I'm thinking about this after the replacement hose was installed.
Oh boy, this was all going through my mind over the next few weeks; I had no clue how to replace the line, I didn’t know if the low or pressure side was leaking, I’d never thought I’d be able to reach the steering rack since there was only a small accessible area, I was leery on buying the part from rock auto, I wished I had the money to have a someone fix this for me, I have to get this fixed before I take my family on vacation in July, crap I’m too old for this, hot does the line attach to the steering rack and I could not find any how-to videos on youtube.
So I’ve decided to tackle this and scheduled doing this work on a Saturday and Sunday since I’ve read this will take a couple of days. Here’s my replacement story.
I’ve learned that the low pressure (The return) is the hose that connects into the cooler under the radiator. I decided to buy the replacement part from a local dealer; Tom Hesser’s located in Scranton PA. The cost was $140. The identical part from Rock Auto, I believe was listed at $38.00. I just wanted to be sure the part was correct and now if I had to replace the other side, I would feel comfortable buying the high pressure line from rockauto.com. Okay I have the part.
Saturday, I pull my trailblazer in by brother’s garage; Larry’s gone to Florida for a week, lucky me ;-) My son-in-law Andrew Davis and my niece’s husband Tom Davis arrive to assist. I had a hangover ;-) It’s the rice they brew Coors light with.
The time is oh 11:45AM, Saturday March 15, 2014
Here’s the procedure we followed and made it up as we moved along.
Removal process
1) Lifted the front of the vehicle
2) Pulled driver side tire
3) Lowered the vehicle close to the ground
4) Removed the battery, and the battery tray, etc. Two bolts by the horn we tricky to reach.
5) Took a picture just in case we forgot where something attaches. We didn’t need this just a safeguard.
6) Removed the screws holding down the fuse box. There is a red wire not connected to anything. A google search states that this is used for charging the battery on a trailer and is not connected by default.
7) Unclipped several wire harness clips to allow for slack to move the fuse box out of the way. We used an old piece of wire to hold this out of the way.
8) Disconnected the large wiring connector by sliding the lever to unlock and then unclipped.
9) Removed the two grounds connected to the fender.
10) Removed the connector attached to the break master cylinder.
11) Unbolted the tongue that holds down the two power steering lines on the frame. This bolt was hard to see because it is under all of the wiring. When I loosed the bolt the bracket pulled away from the frame. No biggie.
12) Lifted the vehicle up, higher is better so you can see the rack better instead of crouching.
13) Remove the one bolt that holds the high pressure and return lines onto the rack. I used a quarter inch ratchet, a 10 inch or so extension and I forgot the socket size, maybe 8mm. I was able to slip the socket in from the left side of the strut. Once the bolt was all the way loose I used long pin nose pliers to remove the bolt from the small access window. This wasn’t necessary I just didn’t want to lose the bolt which would be my luck.
14) Using a flathead screw driver I pried the connecting flange away from the rack, this was easy. Here I prayed I’d be able to get this thing reattached.
15) Placed pan under already dripping power steering fluid, oops.
16) Removed the hose clamp from the power steering cooler. Used a flat head screw driver to spin the clamp so I could reach it from underneath with a smaller pair of pliers.
17) Put a second under the dripping fluid.
18) Once the metal tongue was removed in step 9 we then started to unfasten the two frame clamps that hold down the line where my leak was, we also pulled the 4 inch rubber from under this tongue which lies on top of the hoses.
19) Removed the bad return hose. Mine was rotted pretty bad and fell apart where the leak was.
Took a 5 minute break
20) Sent Andrew to autozone for two quarts of power steering fluid.
Installation process
1) Fished the new line in place.
2) Connected the cooler end
3) Connected the Rack end. We had a problem here. We could not get the hose in the retaining brace. The reason was we fished the back side in between the brake lines. Oops, We pulled the back side out and fished correctly and we were easily and able to slide the return hose on the brace.
4) Reattached the retaining brace to the rack using the quarter inch ratchet and from the left. Note that I was able to somehow get my left hand in the work area form the right side of the strut while my right hand was feeling the socket and guiding the hose into place.
5) Reinstalled the two rubber pieces on the frame and hand bent the metal over these rubber whatever these are.
6) Reinstalled the large rubber piece up top under the wiring and reattached the tongue.
7) Reattached the fuse box and the large connector
8) Reconnected the two grounds.
9) Installed the battery box, the battery, cleaned my terminals with a wire brush and connected the battery.
10) Installed the cross member over the battery, removal not mentioned above, sorry.
11) Put the tire on
12) Lowered the vehicle and removed jack so we can finish putting the clips back on
13) Jacked the vehicle up taking both tires of the ground.
14) Turned the key to unlock the steering
15) Filled the power steering pump to level, a quick “please God, no leaks”
16) Kept turning the wheels all the way from left to right (oh maybe 30 times) as Tom kept a check on the fluid level in the pump and added more as needed.
17) Lowered vehicle and removed jack.
18) Started vehicle (Thanked God it started ;-)
19) Checked for leaks. None, yes!
20) Took for drive around block, still no leaks!
21) Put cat litter on fluid spills, cleaned up garage
22) Thanked Tom and Andrew
The day is still Saturday and the time is 3:00PM. I said Man that was not as bad as I though! I planned on being here for two days but this only took a little over three hours!
I should have video recorded this procedure but I didn’t think about it until we were done so I’d like to share our experiences.
Enjoy.
A couple of notes:
One quart of fluid is all that we needed to fill the system.
We've noticed that there were two rubber caps that came with the new hose. I don't know what these are for, I assume these are to either plug the rack or cover the hose so that dirt don't get in. I don't know. I know I don't have any leaks and I did not need to replace the seals in the rack.
Also I did what I could to remove the grime from the rack before I pulled the bolt so dirt would be minimized. It's probably a good idea to pressure wash that area before replacing but I'm thinking about this after the replacement hose was installed.
.
. I normally have bad grammar but wow that looked like gibberish lol.
