I am in the middle of replacing my lower rad support and I was thinking; I had an auto that I swapped to a manual so I have an extra cooler on the bottom of my rad. I was thinking of plumbing my power steering system into this cooler. The lines are right there already all I need is some hose. The stock P/S cooler lines are a return to the tank, so it's low pressure. The cooler was originally filled with ATF, and that's what the P/S system uses as well.

What do you guys think?

 

Is this installed into the bottom tank or "separate". Might be too hot, unless PS runs hotter than the motor. Idk. Considering the factory cooler is mounted in front of everything else to be in the cold air, I think your proposed mod might be detrimental.

 

I don't. Although I'm in for someone more experienced.

I Will say, I can't see the PS pump needing cold fluid?

 

This is news to me, I thought only 95-96s had PSF coolers.... With the extra lines running in front of the radiator, and I thought in 97 they kind of tee'd off those lines making them run a loop and bypassing that extra line that goes in front of the rad and back to the resevoir...

 

That's a good point. The cooler is integrated into the radiator. I think I should measure the temperature of the fluid after some spirited driving before determining that this is a good idea.

I don't think the power steering fluid needs to be cold, but if you can remove some heat from it, it would probably prolong the life to the power steering hydraulic components.

My 97 SE has a aluminum loop run in front of the radiator as a kind of power steering cooler. I've got a 99 GXE parts car that just has the rubber line looped back on the passenger side of the car where the aluminum loop on my 97 would connect. So I tihnk it depends on the trim level.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of a Power Steering Pump going bad on these cars but once every blue moon...

 

I don't think it would be a wise idea to run the p/s fluid through a 180 degree "cooling loop". There is no way that p/s fluid ever reaches those temps. I personally feel you'll actually be adding unwanted heat to the p/s system.

 

This was my thought also. I will check my lower tank and see what the temp. If it is the "cold" side it might be cool enough to be feaseable.

 

power steering fluid doesnt reach the temperatures needed to use any type of real cooler.

the factory cooler resembles a hairpin in shape, thats all it is because thats all it needs.

 

Running autocross with a 97 rack (higher steering gear ratio), which many people do here, you might heat up the fluid enough to lose some performance, and OP has no cooler. Personally I would just buy a small remote tranny cooler and call it a day.

Ill put my temp gun in the glove box and collect some numbers.

 

I thought that as well. But the stock setup is for stock driving in a grocery-getter. If you were auto-Xing on a hot day, your power steering temps might get up there.

This was just something I considered while looking at my car with the bumper off.

 

You beat me to it.

This isn't exactly high on my to-do list and I wouldn't put the money towards a remote cooler. I was just trying to re-purpose an unused part.