I lost all the power steering fluid in my system. I replaced the hardline I cut, and bolted everything back up nice and snug. Now the problem.
I filled the reservoir with fresh fluid, and started the car. The car seems to suck up all the fluid in the reservoir when running, and then returns the fluid to the reservoir when stopped. Im assuming the air in the line compresses when on.
ANYWAYS if you read all that, thanks. If not, heres the question. How can I BLEED the PS line to get air out? Has anyone done this before?
The only thing I can think of is to loosen the hardline fitting on the rack while having someone keep the reservoir full until it runs through. Any suggestions?
IIRC, to bleed the PS rack you need to jack the front end of the car up, start the engine and then turn the wheel to just before the stop and hold it for a minute, and then repeat in the opposite direction until the pump quiets down (meaning the air in the rack has been worked out of the system.) I think there's a how-to thread about it somewhere on here...
While jacking isn't REQUIRED, it makes life easier & reduces wear on the tires etc..
Since you have to turn the steering back & forth quite a few times to get most of the air out....
I just had to do this TWICE on a Chevy Monte Carlo with a damaged cooler line, once for the initial "emergency" repair & again when I replaced the damaged cooler assembly for a friend... It wasn't COMPLETELY bled till after a good test drive as well.... THAT got the last bubbles out of the system, though it was close to OK before I drove it..
Patience & a LOT more wheel twisting than you expected to need to do is the key, when it doesn't work right away it'll worry you a bit - just give it more time to circulate. The system doesn't work well at all on air, and it takes a while to get it all out...
A tip. Sometimes the air is fixed finely with the fluid itself, especially if you let it run empty for a bit. Purge the lines left/right to lock as said then let car sit 10-15 minutes for fluid in reservoir to de-aerate. You may have to do it a couple of times. Later on the noise miraculously has disappeared.
You need to watch the level in the res as you run it and turn the wheel...mine only stopped foaming after I filled the res almost to the top and turned it back and forth...also let it sit idling turned all the way left and right. It was picking up and recirculating foam.
You can damage parts by leaving the steering at full lock left or right for a long period.
It's GOING TO recirculate foam, motion tends to trap air. The only way to stop it is stop engine and let foam come out in reservoir, you have to repeat since foam in the rack cannot get out until it's in the reservoir also.
Done correctly you can install fluid with almost no aeration at all. The system is almost instantly self bleeding, the trick is to get the new fluid in there quick enough so that the pump can never run out and pull air. Once pump starts whining say when you are uncapping the second bottle of fluid to put in you have already screwed up.
I installed a rebuilt rack....and was following the Ford FSM method for refilling (other than using vacuum).
Didn't work.
What does work? Fill the res up to within 1/2" of the top and turn lock to lock...let it sit a while...run at full lock (but not to the point that the pump is working hard)..let it sit.
If you never have the level above the FULL mark...it will just pump foam. As soon as I filled the res...it cleared up in under a minute. You can ALWAYS remove a little fluid....my level ended up right at the full mark.
Then...lo and behold...the next morning the level was within 1/2" of the cap...so I took some out...down to the top mark. Then I started it ...turned wheel from lock to lock 2 times or so....shut it off. Level was now down to the bottom of the res. So I added some back to the full mark. Has now stayed there for 30 miles or so.
Recommendation? Fill it up to about 1/2" below the cap and keep it there till you are sure it has stabilized. If it overflows and runs out...who cares...if it stays off the serp belt? Once you've driven it for a while and all seems well...put the level at the top mark.
The pump has no way of knowing whether half or overfull. As long as level never gets low enough to suck more air you should be fine. The pump will get noticeably louder when it eats air.
Lots of people have trouble and whatever trick they are working at the time is the supposed cure. The point is that air can really get chucked in there and the ONLY WAY it will EVER bleed is for all fluid to get back up into pump to be able to release its' air since air is trapped everywhere else in the system and cannot get out.
If you have more than enough fluid to fill it open and ready to go you can get someone to start car, run rack one way and then other, and you filling pump as fast as it eats. Done correctly it fills instantly with no air at all and no bleeding to be done. I do it all the time but you have to be quick about it.
I have jacked car up but actually better not to since car weight makes the torsion valve in rack open more to bleed more completely and faster. No load on that valve with car in the air..............
FORD vehicles have always been the worst for P/S NOISE!!, any one on here trying to make it sound like it is no big deal ,1-2-3 and done have not worked on many fords , cause most will never stop making noise EVER!!!!! peace out!!!
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