This will the be 1st winter i will own my max and i noticed on cold mornings if i start my car the power streering is very julty, after the car warms up it goes away so i am thinking that my power streering fluid is freezing

should i drain it and put better stuff in? how do i drain it? and what fluid will work best?

the weather has not getten that cold yet i worry on the very cold days i will do damage

Thanks for the help

 

www.motorvate.ca

 

dead link?

 

no, live link, thry:

http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/702

 

there we go worked perfect... thanx for the help i will do that this weekend

 

To get one better, get a piece of hose, like you use to bleed the brakes, put one end in the PS and suck some through the hose (don't drink of course) and then lower the end into a jar. You get a little more fluid than what you can get from the turkey baster!

 

I will give it a shot... but the risk of a mouth full of fluid does not set well with me LOL... thanx for the advice

 

The PS service will make a huge difference. I also change mine (using synthetic ATF) on a regular basis. I just purchased a used car with 32K on it for my son and there was tremendous resistance in the steering wheel. I swapped out the fluid a few times over the course of a week or so and the steering is like night and day. The fluid that come out of his car was about the color of coffee...really nasty. This service is very simple and it may save you several hundred dollars over the long haul. Ed

 

i did hte same thing and almost got ATF in my mouth

 

I use a piece of plastic tubing as suggested here, but I have connected it to a turkey marinade injector syringe...the tubing fits perfectly on the end of the syringe in place of the injector needle. The syringe will safely draw out the fluid. Works great! ed

 

How is it now with the fluid change? I'm having the same problem and I just changed some of the fluid with the turkey baster. Put in Pennzoil Dexron III ATF The old fluid was kind of dirty

 

I had clicking whenever I was turning the wheel. Was sure those were the axles, which did have ripped boots, but after changing them, the clicking noise ot the cold starts was still there. Noticed that my steering fluid was a little below level today, and I believe I was driving like this for 2 weeks. I hope I did not damage my power steering with this.

Just now finished replacing new fluid, Coastal Dexron III. Put lots of rags unbeneith and disconnected the bigger hose to drain the whole reservuar. Clean job! Lets see how it goes now.

 

I bought the valvoline high mileage power steering fluid but it didn't say anything about dexron II on the label. It was the only thing I could find at Walmart so I bought it. I used a turkey baster to remove some of the old fluid. Does anyone know what type of fluid this is?

 

Check your owner manual to be sure. I think Maxima uses Dexron III for power steering fluid. Don't put the usual power steering fluid in there. I don't know what those power steering fluids are, but they are not Dexron III.

 

Yep, the max uses tranny fluid for power steering. Real handy for us auto folks!

 

How do you get the cap off the power steering reservoir? Mine spins around (clockwise and counter clockwise) and never loosens or tightens.

 

Try pushing down and then turning it counter clockwise (like those medicine bottles). On my car, it opens without pushing down

 

Got it. It's a pop-off, like a medicine bottle.

How much fluid is in the power steering pump? I replaced what was in the reservoir...but how long will that take to "seep" into the system....does it mix in while driving?

I'd like to do this a few more times (every 1k miles since it only takes 3 to 4 ounces) to get most of the dirty fluid out.

 

Not sure, but I'll take it out and refill twice a month or so Now that the new ATF is going into the system, the steering wheel jerking I had in the cold is gone

 

I know this is kinda OT but when the weather's kinda cool in the morning and I turn the steering wheel, I get a wierd whining, and when I'm turning and accelerating the whining goes up with RPM. Is the power steering pump gone or something??

 

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