Changine Power Steering Fluid?

[TUF250]

I am keen to change my power steering fluid on my r33 gts-t s2 as it has gone a little off colour, now tending to be more brown than red.

Castrol recommend just their plain power steering fluid, the red stuff. is this ok for the skylines?

My next question is what is the best way to change it? Happy to flush it a few times if need be. It it easiest just to undo the hose from the bottom of the reseviour and refill then repeat a couple of times?

cheers

[ARTZ]

i think there is a drain somewhere not sure.. but with mine i undid one end of one of the metal lines under the car so fluid didnt get all in the engine bay, then with engine running you can move the steering wheel side to side and it will push all the fluid out the line...Just do this till no more fluid comes out...

Do the bolt back up then put fluid in and move steering wheel side to side again with the cap off and you will see air bubble coming out of the reservoir, keep doin this till it stops making bubbles...

Beware, if you put too much fluid in it will overflow the reservoir cause when you move the wheel it pumps out,so just fill it up a bit move wheel, fill, move wheel, repeat till full and no more bubbles coming out...

Pretty sure any steering fluid will work and some auto trans oils as well and a litre bottle is heaps

Edited September 11, 2010 by Arthur T3

[Kinks]

undoing the lines under the car is a bit of a pain.. i undid the return line at the reservoir and put it in a bucket and then kept the reservoir filled (not too full as it rises up when you turn) while i turned the wheel left and right by hand (car on axle stands, engine NOT running). you eventually start seeing new fluid come through, but the colour change is only slight so it can be hard to tell. reattach the lines and do several turns lock to lock to clear any air in the system.

then start the car and do several turns left to right, just in case there's any air in the pump section.

arthur's method probably works too and more economical with the fluid but i read someone who had done it this way so i copied it.

there's no drain line and nissan don't seem to list a service interval for PS fluid in their service manual. I did mine anyway because i don't like having old fluids in any of the systems. used the castrol power steering fluid.

[08yannch]

use castrol trans max z this is the best stuff u can get and ur only probs going 2 do it once so go the good stuff and also think about replacing old hoses at the same time saves having to drain the system again

[Munkyb0y]

arthur's method is a little suss. coz... i heard you shouldnt run the power steering pump with no fluid, because it uses the fluid to lubricate itself, so running it dry might cause damage.

kinks' method seems more appropriate.

i was thinking of changing mine soon, coz my p/s fluid looks a little brown.

anyone have other methods of doing this?

[wlspn]

Remove the return hose to the reservoir & run it into a bucket. Have a mate stand there blocking the hole in the reservoir. Start the car & get your mate to keep filling the reservoir with new fluid as the old stuff runs into the bucket. While this is happening you should be in the car turning steering wheel lock to lock. Continue until only clean oil runs into the bucket then turn off car, re-attach the return hose, fill, re-start car, bleed & repeat until fully bled & at correct fluid level.

This is a full flush & what you would do if system was contaminated (water, etc) however you will use quite a bit of fluid depending on how dirty the old oil was.

[ARTZ]

arthur's method is a little suss. coz... i heard you shouldnt run the power steering pump with no fluid, because it uses the fluid to lubricate itself, so running it dry might cause damage.

kinks' method seems more appropriate.

i was thinking of changing mine soon, coz my p/s fluid looks a little brown.

anyone have other methods of doing this?

I had a bit of a accident that chopped the metal line under the car and had to get it home so i did the best I could to fix it with hose and clamps, that got me to the need of the block before it blew the hose. It wasnt a long drive so I drove it home and no harm is done...

Remember most oils do stick to moving parts. Running it dry for extended time will no doubt do damage but for less than a minute it is unlikely to damage anything..Power steering pump does rattle like a bitch though when its empty but soon as you hear it rattle shut it down

Also Undoing a line is as simple as undoing 1 bolt how is that a hassle? its more of a hassle to clean fluid from your engine bay...Either way is fine anyway i just did this cause i was changing the line at the time

Anyway thats how i did it and it worked fine, And for the record i did have it on stands just forgot to mention it But its not that important...