98 Ford Taurus - power steering problem

Hi all,

I'm no car expert, so bare with me. This afternoon, my car ran out of power steering fluid somehow, because the steering wheel gets extremely tough to turn.

So I turned off the engine and refilled it with new power steering fluid where the bottle says it's recommended for Ford (my car is 98 Ford Taurus). I filled it until it's between the lines. I tried not to overfill it.

After that, I turned on the engine. However, the steering is still tough, so I suspect there was not enough fluid. I rechecked, and I see the fluid is no longer between the lines... so I added more fluid. I turned on the engine again, and still it doesn't fix it. I even waited 2 hours and still doesn't work.

Last time I checked, there was a little foaming... so I searched on the internet and it suggests 2 things:

1) power steering fluid overflown
if this is the case, how do I make it not overflown? and do you think this is the case?

2) power steering pump needs replacement/maintenance
if this is the case, then I'll have to spend a bit of money to fix it. Do you think this is the case?

Please help me out.
Reply to this thread or email me at esisad @ yahoo.com

Thank you very much!

  ssalim

Well for one thing, if the level keeps going down you've got either a leak, OR when it ran down low and you refilled it, there was an air pocket left in the system which would drastically reduce the efficiency of the power steering. Could also explain the bubbling of the fluid.

  KNTRDR

First things first. Do not come in here freeloading off of us, and tell us to email you the information. A forum is for discussions and information for everyone. If we e-mailed you and everybody else this forum would be useless to others if they wanted to learn about similar problems. As everyn place else, we have rules. The rules here are to introduce yourself before freeloading. Please visit the forum index page and click "Introduce yourself" and atleast say hi. Please don't get offended by this, we will cooperate with you only if you cooperate with us. It's give and take just like everything else in this world.

Now about your problem. When you waited to hours after filling it, what was the fluid level after the 2 hours? You have a leak somewhere obviously, clean everything up, fill the resiviour and find the general area its coming from (gearbox, return hose, pressure hose, pump) and get back to us and we can help you then. :thumbs:

  DodgeRida67

I'm having a similar problem with my taurus, actually. It's a '90, but they all use the same power steering systems. Mine will pump into the system for a while when filled, but it's not too long before all the fluid is gone. I followed the power steering lines, and they were clean except for the return line (bottom, rubber hose for the most part.) right at the pump, and the crap was everywhere, which makes sense considering how much fluid was put into that thing before it got parked.

So I removed the line, and found no damage. I then decided to remove the pump's resevoir to check the bottom of it for damage, but there was none. So I checked the pump itself, even though I'm sure it works fine, as I said, it pumps into the system while there's fluid in the resevoir. lastly, I noticed there was a considerable amount of leaked fluid on the outside of the resevoir seal...if the seal is fine, there should be no fluid out there, so i've determined that it must be the seal. (though this may be innacurate, it's 95% certain)

So, check your resevoir seal if you haven't resolved the problem already. Here's how, if you want to do it yourself:

1:Open the hood, disconnect the battery (duh =P)

2:Remove the pump's cap, and push the wiring on the right side to the left side of the fill hole for the pump. This will free up some space to get your hands in.

3:remove the power steering sending line by loosening the smaller nut until the line comes free.

4:Remove the return line by unscrewing the tiny bolts that secure the clamps at the pump. Note: This line is quite difficult to remove from the resevoir, I suggest getting some pliers and using them to grip the hose, and wriggle it around until it comes free. Note 2: Get something underneath the line if you can to catch any fluid that may still be in the bottom of the pump!!

5:Remove the larger nut where the sending line was in, then grab the resevoir by the fill neck and pull it off carefully.

The seal is the black rubber ring on the left side of the pump. (in case you're totally oblivious =P)

Remeber, don't do this if you KNOW it's NOT the seal, because it's a pain in the ass, unless you have really small hands!

  Bloody August