PAS Fluid Change

[cammmy]

Hi All. Looking to change my PAS fluid as the pump is a bit louder than I think it should be. What's the easiest way to do this? I would normally vacuum out the reservoir, refill, fire up the car and turn it lock to lock a few times then repeat. Issue is that the reservoir has a screen in it that looks like it can't be removed?

Cheers
Cam

[IanH755]

The cap has a dipstick built-in so a screen in the Res would block you fitting the cap. Can you take a photo of the screen for us to see where it is in your car?

[cammmy]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, so where the cap screws on is a very shallow section of the reservoir. When you fill it there, is goes through the screen into the main body, which I can't get the vacuum tube in to.

Also, the fluid in these is supposed to be green? I wonder if someone has changed it before with the wrong stuff.

[Jim Haseltine]

Yes, the fluid should have a green tint (well, the OE stuff does). It's not bright green though, it's quite pale and a small amount can look sort of golden brown especially if it's been used as it's a mineral oil. If the fluid is red/dark brown then somebody has put ATF type fluid in it.

[cammmy]

Okay cool, maybe it's just the stuff that it left the factory with then. Did the image attach okay?

[ruedisrs6]

I changed the fluid on mine a few month ago. I disconnected the return line on the left side near the oil cooler (tube is accessible when you remove the engine noice insulation) and let the fluid drain from the reservoir. I then blocked the tube that goes to the reservoir and filled the reservoir with the new fluid to the very top. Then I asked my son to start the engine for a couple of seconds and to move the steering to the limits. I checked the color of the drained fluid from the return line and filled up the reservoir again to the top. I repeated this procedure I believe twice until the color of the fluid drained from the return line changed from brown to green. I then put back the tube to the return line and removed the block and checked final fluid level.
On normal cars you would also exchange the fluid reservoir because of maybe clogged screen. But I have never seen a clogged screen in a car without a mechanical failure of the steering pump. And the exchange of the reservoir in our cars is at least very complicated if not an engine out task
Hope this helps.

[cammmy]

Nice one, thanks for that. Much appreciated.

[cammmy]

I ended up disconnecting the hose from the pump, underneath the car. It was a bit of the pain, the hardest part being cutting off the old hose clamp. Should be much easier in the future with a worm drive clamp on there.

Fluid will go everywhere, including into the cross member, so have a lot of cleaning agent ready.