Power Steering Bleed Question

So I flushed my power steering for the first time today ... should have been an easy job but it took me forever and i made a mess. Searched the interwebs and TW and couldn't find answers to a few of my questions that came up ... here goes.

1) Hypothetically, if someone spilled Dexron III all over the place, including the frame, hoses, and on the power steering belt, should that person worry about it? Hypothetically.

2) I tried to bleed the PS with a mityvac and a rubber stopper, but couldn't get a seal. I tested the pump just by covering up the hole in the stopper and got a good vacuum, and I checked to be sure the stopper was sealed against the PS reservoir and that was good too, but when I tried to bleed out the reservoir I couldn't get a vacuum. The return hose was reconnected and clamped also. Anybody know why I wouldn't be able to get a vacuum there?

FWIW, I just turned the wheel back and forth and checked for bubbles and refilled and I think the bleed was successful. It's not whining or anything yet, sounds normal. So at this point it's mostly academic ... but I am still curious.

 

No idea on question 2, but for question 1 if that happened i'd spray it with simple green and wash everything off.

 

The only way I've ever bled power steering is to turn the wheel back and forth and check the fluid level.

 

If I had ever spilled Dextron all over my engine bay, I would have used simply green and hosed down, that's what I would have done if I did the same thing 6 months ago...

As far as bleeding the system, I just kept pulling out the old fluid with a hand syphon pump replace with a little new stuff, start engine, turn wheel, repeat until what comes out looks new.

But after two PS pumps only lasting 6 months, I realized it was not the pumps going bad, it was the pumps being over worked from a bad steering rack. Might want to check yours out.

That is if it ever happened to me, that is...

 

1- hypothetically that person shouldn't worry about it unless they have a garage floor they don't want to get oily.
2- what do you mean mityvac? Like a shop vac??? I've flushed the power steering by disconnecting the return line, plugging the hose from the reservoir, and attatching a line to the return and putting it in a drain pan. Then running the truck while pouring Fluid in the reservoir. And that only works in short bursts because the fluid in the return line is pressurized high volume while pouring fluid in is not. Did you turn the wheel lock to lock, a lot. That's all It is to bleed the system. Then check the level

 

ATF would might ruin the alternator, if it got drenched.

 

Perfect. That's exactly what I did.

http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_hvpo.asp
There's the mityvac. Yep I turned lock to lock. I drove around a little today, doesn't seem any noisier than usual, so that seems to be a good sign.

Missed the alternator!! woo!

Thanks for the info gents!

 

I can attest to the Simple Green working great to clean up ATF/Power Steering Fluid. Carb and brake cleaner didn't do much.

Soaked my garage floor in it, scrubbed with my shop broom, let it sit for a few minutes then hosed it all out. No more ice skating rink when the humidity is high and that stench is gone!

 

The only bleeding needed is by cycling the steering from lock-to-lock (wheels off ground). Keep the reservoir filled as you cycle it. The air will come out in the reservoir.

 

Ok. So let me see if I have this straight. You put vacuum on the pressure line of the pump, blocked the return line and reservoir and didn't get anywhere?
I can see trying to "suck" out a steering rack or gear, but with circulation, why bother?

Were you running the PS pump? Were you trying to get fluid past the vanes?
If the pump stops, there are really small clearances around the pump vanes, otherwise it wouldn't work. While not like our pump, imagine if this one were stopped. Now if this was the case and you still couldn't get Vac, it could have leaked through the seals. If you were on the return line it may have opened the over pressure valve. Glad it's working, I siphon off my reservoir and then circulate new clean in the pump. I don't like to mess with PS lines till I have to.

 

i got a decent amount on/in mine when i changed out my ps fluid. so i just sprayed some CRC Lectra-Motive every where i could get to and i've been fine ever since.

i was really worried at the time though

 

Dragon- I was going off of a few other explanations I found about how to bleed the PS, and I tried to put vacuum on the reservoir itself, by using a rubber cone-shaped stopper that attached to a mityvac hand-pump. I definitely got suction with the setup, and I got a seal with the rubber stopper against the reservoir mouth, but I couldn't generate a vacuum when I pumped the mityvac. I'm pretty sure there is a flaw in my plan there somewhere, I'm just not sure where it is.

Either way, when I jacked up the front end and just turned the wheels stop to stop for a while it bled out fine, so that's what I'll do in the future. Gotta stop buying tools before I'm sure I'll need them ...

 

Understood. Maybe you can use it to service your A/C some day.

 

How many drain and fill cycles did you do before you were satisfied that the system was full flushed? I flushed mine a couple days ago, and found that after the first two drain-fill cycles that the fluid I was extracting looked pretty new. I continued anyway and did 5-6 cycles, using just over a quart of fluid total. When I started the fluid in the reservoir was pretty dark, but I've only owned the truck a few months and have no idea how long that fluid had been in there.