Power Steering Flush Procedure?
 

Guys:

I procured a 96-2000 Civic Service Manual. Here's what it says about PSF flush. I want to know if anyone has the 01-05 manual and if it's the same procedure or if it has been revised / done differently. If its the same procedure, I'll do a DIY in a while and post it.

96-2000 procedure:

1. Raise the reservoir, then disconnect the returnn ose.
2. Connect a hose of suitable diameter to the disconnected
return hose, and put the hose end in a suitable
container.
CAUTION: Take care not to spill tho fluid on the
body and parts. Wipe off any spilled fluid at once
3. Start the engine, let it run at idle, and turn the steering
wheel from lock-to-lock several times When
fluid stops running out of the hose, shut off the
engine, Discard the fluid.
4. Reinstall the return hose on the reservoir'
5. Fill the reservoir to the upper level line.
6. Start the engine and run it at fast idle, then turn the
steering wheel from lock-to-lock several times to bleed air
from the system.
7. Recheck the fluid level and add some if necessary.
CAUTION: Do not fill the reservoir beyond the
upper level line.

(Sorry about typos, linux acroread is buggy on c&p)

So, anyone confirm or deny that this procedure is the same as on our vics? Need to know soon, as I don't want to pay $129 for a psf flush when it looks like the earlier procedure is fairly idiot-proof. Also doing my brakes soon and would like to get everythin done at once.

TIA!

yes that is the same way according to my manual from honda on the 01-02 civics. But according to some techs at my work they dont recommend doing it that way because you can damage the PS pump by going lock to lock. I dont know if it is true though.

Thanks for the reply man. I figured that it would be risky to trn lock to lock because of the PS pump having a history of that kind of thing... how do they do it then? Does turning the wheen 90% from lock to lock get all the fluid out, just takes longer? or is there still some left in the system if you don't turn it full rotations. Hmm.. guess it's time for a con-job phone call to the local stealership service department to see what their procedure actually is...

I am pretty sure the dealership uses a vacuum method to flush it. Just like alot of shops do it with radiator flushes and tranny flushes. They have a machine that removes all the fluid.

ok, I am bringing back this thread because I am again curious about this. Like I mentioned before, I too wanted to flush the power steering fluid, but have wondered about the method honda recommends? I have always heard going from lock to lock will possibly damage the pump. And that is what the manaul recommends, and they even say to do it untill no fluid comes out. What is everyones take on this. Or anyone who has experience with power steering systems.

The method I like that I found on toyotanation.com was to remove the return hose and run it to a container and then plug off the resovoir and remove the old fluid from the resovoir and add with new and then start the car and turn the wheel to both sides while adding new fluid to the system and stopping when new fluid comes out the return hose, then hook it back up. But just seeing if the other method would be acceptable?

I'm an eager beaver too.... if it was bad to turn your wheel lock to lock for an extended period of time...then how would you perform 3-point turns?

why would you need to change it?

Because overtime the fluid is subjected to harsh tempetures leading to fluid breaking down. Also as it flows through the system, it picks up wear material from the pump and material from the hoses and seals. Its something that the dealer really doesnt mention much of, but it is something that I believe should be done. Its just like oil breaking down. But PS fluid breaks down over a longer period of time.

I changed mine, I didn't flush it. I sucked it out with Justin's (boilermaker) big syringe, then added more. He turned the car on the turned the wheel back and forth. I did that 3-4 times and called it a day.

^^^^ it works well. It comes out doody brown, once it turns honey clear again, for all intents and purposes, its clean/flushed. Takes about 2 bottles of Honda PSF to do it.

I have also done it that way, but thought just about flushing it and wondered which way was best.

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Thanks Simon, always good to know someone else cares. I'm glad the thread got revived. I am highly tempted o go out tomorrow and do the poor man's flush with the turkey baster + whole load of fluid method, unless I hear differently.

Originally I asked because a goodyear shop said "Your PSF needs flushing"

at 30K miles... when i called honda they said "Bullshit, that's a common up-sell." I didn't hear any problems and have let it go so far, but that old saying about a watched pot is getting to me and I'm dying to try it. About time to change my air filter and posibly plugs.. about 52K miles so far.

Thanks for responses... if anyone has the official way to do it from a dealership, let me know. I'll probably drive downt here after a traffic ticket court date tomorrow (****ers)

has anyone tried this syringe PSF flush?

i guess i'll try it next year. seems easy you just get a cheap siphon kit and pump out whats in the reservoir. then add new upto line and drive the car around then repeat that until you use up two bottles worth.

the shop i use to work for did the same thing for all the mercedes and bmw and w/e else. they would just use a cheap siphon pump and pump out the old brake fluid or power steering fluid and add some new stuff

Manual says holding the steering wheel in the lock position could damage the ps pump. I don't thing going lock to lock would damage anything as long as you don't hold the steering in the lock position for a long time.

ya a few secs is okay remember most of us do that anyway while making sharp turns. all i did was empty the reservoir and fill it back up. at least there is some new fluid in there and no damage to anything.

DIY Power Steering Flush Procedure
 

Did the syringe method PS flush a couple months ago, using 5 bottles worth of PS fluid.

Supplies:

4-6 12 oz. Bottles of Honda PSF. $5 a pop for instant gratification at the stealership, handa-accessories.com has them for $2.50 plus shipping if you can wait. How many bottles you will use is dependent on what you are satisfied with as far as fluid color. The more new PS fluid you run through the system, the closer to "clean" you can get. Hence, 4 bottles will get noticeably cleaner fluid than 3 bottles, but I think it starts to be diminishing returns after probably 5-6 pints.

Suction device:

For cheap bastards like me - go to a drugstore and ask them for a syringe used to dispense small amounts of med to infants. it doesn't accept a needle, and they give them to you for FREE. Trouble is, they are only about 10 mL, but they fit perfectly to the bottom of the PS reservoir. If you are lucky and have horses / ranches around you, go to a vet supply house and they have these in larger sizes for horse meds and such. A turkey baster might work, but it won't reach in or down far enough to the reservoir without a hose or something on it.

If you have a harbor freight tools nearby, they sell a vacuum brake bleeder kit for 17 bucks that works really well for these kinds of applications. I would recommend using a different rubber hose if you are sucking PS fluid vs. sucking brake fluid. Exact same kind of hose, but I wouldn't want to cross-contaminate.

Procedure:

1: Note the level of PS fluid in the reservoir with the car off. If it is low, check for leaks around the pump, rack bellows, hose connections, etc. If you find yourself adding fluid one day, then a week later it is low but there are mysteriously no drips, the seals in the rack are probably going and the fluid is getting trapped in the "bellows" dust covers.

2: Jack the front of the car up to make it easier to turn the wheels and less stressful on the pump. Your arms will thank you.

2: Crack open a new bottle of PS fluid, and take a syringe full into a CLEAN syringe. Note the color of the fluid. Hold it to the light and look at what it looks like. This is your "ideal" for how the fluid should look near the end of procedure. Because we don't have a fancy machine, nor are we disconnecting the PS return hose, we can't get the fluid 100% like this. The more new PS fluid you run through the system, the closer to this perfect ideal you can get. Its up to you to figure out how picky you want to be.

3: WITH THE CAR OFF - Use the syringe / pump / whatever to get as much old fluid out of the PS reservoir as possible. Empty that sucker right till you cant get any more of it out. Note the color of your crappy old fluid. Thats bad times, right there... Dispose of fluid properly, please. I scuba dive and don't want to have that crap in my ocean, thank you very much. Pepboys / CSK / Autozone will take it in the same container as your used oil, for free.

4: Now, to add some clean fluid. DON'T fill the reservoir to the "max" line with the clean fluid. I would say about 1/3 of the way up past the "min" mark. At this point, we basically are going to cycle the fluid through the system and get the "crap" fluid out. If we could, we would suck the garbage out without wasting any new fluid, but since the PS pump gets damaged when its just pumping air, we have to give it something to put through the system. No use diluting the garbage with good stuff any more than necessary when your ratio of clean to dirty still is bad.

5: Start the car. Turn the steering wheel from lock to lock 5-10 times. DON'T hold the wheel at the locks, just hit the locks enough so you see / hear the PS lines and fluid cycling through the system.

6: Go back and do steps 3-5 until you have used up about 2 bottles of the new PS fluid.

7: Now that your ratio of good stuff to crap is a bit better, go through steps 3-5 some more, but this time fill the reservoir through to the "MAX" mark with clean new fluid on each pass. When you suck the old stuff out, still get as much out as possible, but you should notice the color getting quite a bit lighter.

8: IMPORTANT - Make sure you have enough fluid left after your last suction run to fill the reservoir up to "MAX" again :-) It's good to want to get the fluid as clan as possible, but make sure your budget supports "Just one more cycle..."

9: Lower the car and top off the PS fluid level.

Hope that helps. My fluid at the end of 4 pints looked almost like the new stuff, and after 5 I couldn't really see much improvement. YMMV. Nominate me for a DIY if you want, but this was fairly easy. Looking back, it probably doesn't matter if you fill the res to "max" from the get-go or not, but for whatever reason I feel better getting the nasty fluid out as concentrated as possible so I feel the good stuff is not wasted as much.

If anyone does this, do me a favor and send / post a few pics of the fluid color for clean fluid, totally dirty fluid, after one bottle, 2 bottles, etc so we can all see it. I won't be doing this for another few months..

Re: Power Steering Flush Procedure?
 

nice good work.

Re: Power Steering Flush Procedure?
 

Just wanted to bump this thread cause it helped alot.
I used the "syringe" method using a product called "The MixMiser" which I used to put differential fluid on my Evo. Works pretty well. I had both front tires up in the air and did the lock to lock (10 times) for about 2 bottles worth of flushing.

I only used 3 bottles of Honda oem PSF and basically felt that the fluid was clean enough once the 3rd bottle was dropped in. Much cleaner than was it was after the 86K miles of use before I bought it. :) And I did feel a difference after it was done. I thought it would have been a pain in the azz but it was actually pretty easy. Just take your time.:sweet:

Re: Power Steering Flush Procedure?
 

i just changed whatever was in the reservoir haha. it really didnt need changing anyway tho.

Re: Power Steering Flush Procedure?
 

Sounds like you're describing the procedure used in this youtube video:

Is there any danger to the pump when doing this procedure?