Power Steering Service - Drive or Just Turn Wheel

Process seems to be to drain and fill the reservoir until the fluid is a good color.

Some online videos show people driving their truck around between drains/fills and others just turn the wheel left and right without driving.

Is one methodology preferred? Or do they accomplish the same task?

 

Turning is what circulates the fluid.
You can pull the return hose and do a full system flush by just turning the steering wheel left and right.

 

I use the good old turkey baster method just to get some fresh fluid in there. I really don't care what it looks like. When I was a youngin, we never changed that stuff out and it would look black as tar.

But as always, what the hell do I know?

 

Yeah better question is when turning the wheel to pump fluid through the system is it better to do it while driving or stationary? Does it matter?

 

If I’m not mistaken, I believe you can jack the truck up slightly and just turn the wheels. I don’t think it’s required to drive it around. Just need to get new fluid circulated throughout.

 

Be sure you are watching Team Oil Drop’s videos in the Maintenance Map thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O0tbvbl_co

 

Just did this last weekend...I put a jack under the truck and turned the wheels about 10-15 times between fluid swaps. I used Toyota's ATF/PS Fluid...1qt got me about 6 fills or so

 

Driving is just more time consuming.

I recently had an '02 tacoma with a very loud PS pump. I found it was filled with power steering fluid and not ATF like it was designed for. I used a fluid extractor and pulled out all the fluid and filled with the proper ATF. Then I lifted the front a bit and ran the truck and moved the wheel from lock to lock a few times. Then repeated the process 3-4 times. Pump is quiet and the steering wheel resistance on fast inputs went away.

 

That's what I do. You can do it on ground, but you're just grinding your tires into the surface and putting more strain on the system.