Chiefgroover Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I hope this thread helps some members aviod some extra repair bills. Its all too easy to overlook some of the non service book fluids that we think never need changed. 15 years old PAS fluid is done. Well and truly. It will bite you in the ass if you track the car, all those high RPM'S while you are steering will boil it up. This can initially manifest itself by some oil coming out of the reservoir into the engine bay, sometimes not. It will then at some point damage the rack or pump. I had the experience of small fragments of a hard plastic type material entering the rack and jamming it so I could not turn left as I re entered the pits of the Nurbergring!!, this could cost you your life. Some other tell tale signs are resistance from the rack when trying to turn the steering in either direction very quickly at low speeds. I recently encountered this problem with my 350Z. The car had done 8 track days in 2008, and had turned 37,000 miles. The steering had started to shake from left to right over harsh bumps in an exaggerated manner. I started to wonder was the rack loose, but no it was fine. I tried the fast left to right turns with the engine at low revs and there was resistance, suggesting there wasn't enough pressure in the rack. I showed it to two mechanics, both of who said, either new rack or pump needed. Nissan said it was the tyres are they were low on thread, changed the wheels over to a set from another car, and insisted new tyres would cure it. Instead I flushed 2.5 ltrs of pas fluid through the system, and the steering is back to normal. No expensive repairs, just some needed TLC. When your driving in a straight line your pas is in idle, so long high speed motorway journeys dont stress it too much, track days and 5K plus RPM all day will shorten its life more than you may think. IF in doubt, change it, it doesn't cost much and saves a fortune. I have never witnesses a PAS rack or pump that failed with fresh fluid in it. Usually its going to be over 3 years before the pump or rack my go, so I can see why car manufacturers don't list it for service. Maybe its time they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Thanks for that Luckily for me my PAS pump let go spectacularly thus necessitating in a full fluid change a couple of years back, as the fluid was no longer in or anywhere near the car -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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