Hello all,

I would greatly appreciate it if someone coudl give me any hints about the situation with my 97 Maxima right now. I was adding some power steering fluid to the car when the small metallic disk in the cap of the bottle of fluid fell into the reservoir.

I have tried all sorts of ways to get it out including tweezers, lengths of wire, chopsticks but there seems to be some sort of obstruction directly underneath the filler hole. The only option I can think of at this point is to remove the power steering fluid reservoir, dump it and flush it out.

What I would like to know is:
1) how serious is the problem? (the problem of the disc being in there, not the problem of how negligent I was to not check for it first)
2) is there any way to remove the disc w/o taking out the reservoir
3) is something horrible going to happen when I take out the reservoir and/or when I try to put it back in

Thanks in advance - I'm planning to get started at 6a tomorrow so I need to get some sleep.

Jim

s_jaguar@hotmail.com

 

A magnetic pick-up tool?

 

Can you see the metallic insert?

I would be tempted to use my glass turkey baster that I use to suck all of the fluid out of the power steering reservoir so that I could get a better sense of where this foreign object has lodged in there.

I have a medical tool called a hemostats that are long nosed clamping tools used to lock off arteries, etc. during surgery.

These hemostats can be used to reach down somewhere and once found lock onto something to prevent you from losing the grip as you lift it out of there.

These hemostats can often times be found at the counter in a plastic jar in many hardware stores. They have various sizes from 4 inches long to really long pairs.

The turkey baster is great for removing fluid from the power steering reservoir as well as removing fluid from the brake master cylinder reservoir.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Good Luck!

White96MaxSE

 

Thanks for all your help!

I tried the suggestions however there seems to be something blocking the filler hole maybe 2 inches down. It seems to be clear since I can see all the way to the bottom when I light it up with my surefire. However, I can't figure out a way past that blockage. I've heard something about dirt filters in 96 models but nothing definite.

Also, as it turns out I cannot physically remove the reservoir due to the unfortunate placement of some mounting screws. I'll make an appointment w/the shop monday but in the meantime, I'm going to keep working on it.

Any further suggestions appreciated...

Jim

p.s. Anybody know where I can find some good schematics of max parts?

 

factory service manual ...