Power Steering
 

First my car was starting to turn easier than it should.. Now its getting stiffer.

I looked in my PSF Reservior, and its almost full, but the fluid look dirty, and there is a brown foam on the top of the fluid.. now once i saw this it instantly didnt look right.. so im thinking my pump is going.. and thats also what the guy at advance auto said..

do you guys agree?? that i need a new power steering pump, or should i try flushing it, and putting fresh fluid in first?

Might as well. If a pump is going and then you swap out old fluid with clean fluid, it can trigger the immediate failure of the pump. But at least then you'll know for sure. Otherwise, you might be able to save it, to some extent.

what is i drain the old fluid, and put the old fluid back in.. will that also trigger the failure?

^What would the purpose of replacing old fluid with old fluid be? I would also recommend you get a new pump. Or, I dont know if these can be rebuilt. I know my parents rebuilt their escort's pump rather than replace it.

You replace the fluid because it is obviously contaminated.


If the pump is in fact failing, and you change the fluid, it may trigger an immediate failure. I've seen it happen. Much like if your transmission is going and you change the fluid, it can put the already failing mechanical parts into shock, and cause the failure to be immediate.


On the other hand, you could potentially save your ps pump. Just make sure you have money on hand for a new one when you change the fluid, just in case.

the reason i asked this was, so that if it could possibly do it with new fluid, then if it would do it with the old fluid to, then if i needed a pump, i could get the pump and new fluid at the same time, rather than goin to the parts store 20mil times, haha.. idk thinkin outside the box..


and i checked the fluid today, level seems to have gone down a bit, which is expected, but it wasnt foamy, or brown