Question about changing power steering fluid and brake fluid

nagyiii

Original poster
Member
Apr 26, 2014
73
I was wondering if it's ok to just suck out all I can out of the power steering fluid reservoir, and then replace with appropriate fluid, or do I need to drain the entire system? Will sucking it out of the res. cause air entrapment in the lines? Can you do brake fluid the same way or should they be drained thru the bleeders and refilled?
 

AtlWrk

Member
Dec 6, 2011
674
Unless your power steering fluid shows serious signs of degradation no one really bothers with fully draining the system. There's not all that much in the lines and emptying the rack would be a major project. Just not worth it. Emptying the resevoir and refilling will be sufficient. After refilling raise the front of the vehicle and turn hard over back and forth a few times (don't hold the steering wheel at lock) with the engine running. This will cycle the fluid and purge the air. You can repeat if you're really worried about getting all the old fluid out.

There's not much benefit to emptying the brake resevoir and refilling as the fluid doesn't get cycled through the system. You really need to do a proper bleed on all four wheels to replace the brake fluid.
 

tom1999d

Member
Apr 24, 2012
32
I change ps fluid annually. Super cheap and super easy. suck out the fluid from the fill cap with a turkey baster or suction gun (I have this type for 14 years) refill with Valvoline PS fluid which meets GM specification. Fill to the correct mark. Drive it for a day, repeat. Each flush will get 60-70% of the fluid. I do this 2x every fall. Total cost is $7 for the fluid.
 
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Mark20

Member
Dec 6, 2011
1,630
My wife's old grand am got very hard to steer after being run on the highway for an hour. Looking at it I opened the PS cap and was severely hissed at. I suspect water got in the system and turned to steam and it over pressurized the reservoir causing the problem. About a weak later it did the same but not as bad. Venting the steam and thus the water solved the problem. Later on I did use the turkey baster method to flush the system. I think I did it 3 or 4 times over the course of a month.
 

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