PCA Forums

John, have a question regarding power steering.

I bought a used Ford Ranger, 2003, with 178k miles for my daughter to drive back and forth from school, friends, etc. It's her first car.

She told me that the steering was making a whining noise, so I opened the hood and checked the fluid. It was a BLACK like I've never seen before. Since I did not have the time to spend hours sucking it out and refilling, I took it into a local shop that I trust. They went through 2 quart bottles, and it was still coming out black. The mechanic told me to drive it for a month or so, and bring it back for another treatment.

After he was done, even though it was still black, it was not as black when he first started. It's not more of a dull black color and not glossy. So my question is: do you think it will eventually clear up? What would cause it to spew out black fluid?

I know you were looking for Evil to answer this, but I will say from my general automotive and hydraulics knowledge that it is probably just extremely dirty. The grime coats everything in the system. As new fluid is put in, much of the old still remains in the system and 'taints' the new. This is why it is looking cleaner than it did, but not clear/red as it should.

Now the reason for being that dirty in 9 years is beyond me. Not sure if there are dust seals on the piston(s) that turn the wheels that have failed and are allowing contaminents in? Long exposure to heat from the ending causing sludging?

Thats my best foot forward on this one, but I will defer to the resident mechanic.

Yeah, it just gets dirty in time if never changed and most people never change PS fluid. It can be easily flushed if the reservoir is detached, otherwise use a siphon, suck out as much as possible, refill, run a few minutes and keep repeating until it looks clear.
Once noisy, the pump may never stop making noise even with cleaner fluid. A new or used PS pump may be needed.

Thanks for the info guys. The mechanic said there was nothing wrong with the pump. I noticed when driving home, it gets slightly louder when it gets warmed up.