[williamoss]

Why is it that all other fluids, radiator, oil, brake, rear axle, transmission, etc. have an easy way to change that kind of fluid , while power steering fluid does not? Is power steering fluid a life time fluid and how long is life time? Our cars are now anywhere from 16 years old to 19 years old. So how does one go about changing the power steering fluid anyway???





William Moss

Tigard OR

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[StephenHallman]

Funny... I was just pondering this the other day. I look forward to seeing the answer.

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[DaveN]

I never thought I would quote Flash - "Search is your friend"

Lots for history for this question. Basically use a turkey baster and suck out as much as you can. Refill the reservoir, start the car and go lock to lock a few times. Then it's turkey baster time again and refill once more. That will change most of the fluid - ATF BTW.

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[flash]

lol - or you could do like many and wait for a tragic leak, do an expensive repair, and change it that way



sorry - i'm sure that was no help, but in light of a local guy's trials and tribulations, i found it funny in a twisted sort of way

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[nissanite]

A company called BG has a fluid flushing system. You add a flush chemical to the fluid & work the steering wheel from side to side for a few minutes. Then the system uses 2 hoses, one to suck & one to fill. In the reservoir you find where the fluid returns & place the suction hose there. Put the fill hose in the top of the reservoir. It wastes a little fluid but the kit comes with about a 1/2 gallon. Comes dino oil or synthetic. Costs about $120.

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[Cloud9...68]

On our minivan, I pulled the hose that returns the fluid to the reservoir, had my wife start the car and turn the wheel from side to side, while I poured new fluid into the reservoir. For some reason, I decided to go eith the turkey baster method on the 968, though.



By the way, has anyone tried pulling their power steering pump? I was trying to get it off last night, to make it easier to get to the bolt holding the oil cooler feed lines to the block, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get it off (so I disconnected the oil lines at the cooler instead). I removed every stinkin' bolt and nut remotely in te vicinity of the pump and its bracketry, but the pump is still trapped inside its bracket, although it's flopping in the breeze. I guess I'll get a better look at how it's attached once I get the engine out, at which time I'll (hopefully) remove it, and re-seal it, as it's leaking pretty noticeably.

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[bombfactory]

Hi - 'local guy' here. Yes indeed I have had some adventures with my power steering lately. Replaced the reservoir, reservoir to pump hose and the return line that includes the cooler. This last was difficult to get to - had to drop the oil cooler out of the way and remove the fender liner. Also rebuilt my pump, which was pretty simple actually - there's a very helpful video on YouTube that walks you through it.



Next up is replacing the pressure hose, which unfortunately is going to require dropping the rack - hopefully not totally removing it tho - to gain access to where the hose attaches to the ps gear. The bolt is positioned right up against the oil pan with very little room to turn the wrench.



Cloud - getting the pump off is super easy. It's held on by two bolts, one in the front and one in the back, in line with each other. You probably haven't taken the rear one off yet. Once this bolt and its thick spacer/sleeve (just like on the front bolt) are out, the pump will drop right out.



-Austin

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[Cloud9...68]

"Cloud - getting the pump off is super easy. It's held on by two bolts, one in the front and one in the back, in line with each other. You probably haven't taken the rear one off yet. Once this bolt and its thick spacer/sleeve (just like on the front bolt) are out, the pump will drop right out."



I thought this is exactly what I did, and the pump is now very loose, just dangling there, but it's still trapped inside its bracket, and no amount of tugging and twisting is setting it free. Strange...

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[bombfactory]

Hmm, the only thing I can think of that would prevent the pump from coming off would be if the rear bolt and it's sleeve/spacer (#11 and 12) are still in there. They actually don't fasten the pump on there, they just provide an 'axle' on which the pump can pivot when the belt is tensioned. Only the front nut (#6) and the tensioner assembly actually lock the pump in place.



   

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[Chris Vais]

Haven't you heard about the automatic power stearing fluid change option the Porsche included on these cars? It easy, you just drive the car until the nipple on the bottom of the tank fails and then the car deposits all of the old power steering fluid on the ground at various locations, not of your choosing, such as your mother in laws nice white concrete driveway. It keeps doing this until all the fluid is gone and you no longer have power steering. Then you just buy a new reservoir and refill it.

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[pmason]

Good info as I will need to replace a couple of the hoses as soon as I get the car back from the shop. They indicated that one of the hoses was starting to leak a little.

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[Cloud9...68]

Bombfactory,



It was the sleeve/spacer (#12 in your diagram) that was trapping the pump inside its bracket. I had to tap (more like pound) it out, and that finally freed the pump. Took over an hour of struggling to get the thing out, but now that I know the issue, it should be easy to put back in, especially if I decide to do it with the engine still out of the car.

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[bombfactory]

Cool, glad you got it - guess I was lucky when I did mine, the spacer just fell right out when I removed the rear bolt. I would have been in the same boat as you if it hadn't - I had no idea how the pump mounted in there when I when I went to remove it. Now that I've seen how it works, it's a pretty simple and effective solution. Hey Porsche engineering guys - good job!



-Austin

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[williamoss]

Had my fluid changed, here is how my shop did it,



First they sucked out all the fluid from the top and added fluid

Then started the engine and turned the wheels just enough to get resistance into the wheels. AS they did this the fluid was drawn into the system. They just kept adding fluid until there was no more draw down



Then they turned the wheels completely side to side to check that the system was full.

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