Power steering res. pressurizing, and milky fluid??

rota92 · 07-29-2007, 02:07 PM

Hey guys,

I have a little over 15k on my truck, and last night I hooked my trailer up to the truck and pulled it forward about 20 feet to back the race car out.

The truck is sitting at a small incline facing downhill, wheel going straight.

There was a puddle under the truck today, about 16 hours later. And I saw it must have been PS fluid...

Well I look at the res. cap and BAM its dripping out the cap lol

I go to open it slowly with a towel and it acts like a rad. cap when the car is hot...and spewed out.

After sitting it was almost level with the top of the res.

When I went to turn the truck on, and turn the wheel it was notchy and noisy for a little while but it quieted down.

But then I went and checked the fluid again and it was around normal level, but was pretty milky and had air bubbles in it pretty hardcore.

I have to tow the car to my tuner mon. or tues. and have a race this weekend lol

So I would rather not take it to the dealer this week, or at all seeing as I have a race in Indy a week and a half later. So I can't rely on them to get it back to me lol

I have a suburban and an open trailer I can use if need be. But it would look really non-professional.

Any thoughts, or similar experiences?

Thanks guys!
-Ryan

rota92 · 07-29-2007, 04:19 PM

I backed the trailer back up, and it was really hard to move to the left. then all of a sudden it would free up a bit.

After that I checked the cap, and it was pressurized a bit again.

Took it for a drive, going right is fine but going left feels rougher and like it has some 'rough' spots in the range of motion.

Had my dad drive it to make sure I wasnt nuts and he felt the same.

Looks like its going in tomorrow or tuesday, can't afford to lose control with passengers and the trailer loaded.

06LBZ · 07-31-2007, 04:43 PM

you havent overfilled it or messed with it at all? if not i would defin. take it in. seems very odd.

rota92 · 07-31-2007, 04:51 PM

Nah, havent touched it one bit.

I brought it in monday morning, they couldnt make it do it again. So after 3 tries they said come get it. I called Chevy to tell them and see if there was a service alert at all out.

No luck there...not too pleased but I'm going to put the truck in the same spot and try to replicate it lol

**Tow Master** · 07-31-2007, 09:59 PM

When you say pressuring the pump wasnt pressurizing it was "pumping" the pump pushes fluid in and out of the gear box and sometimes it takes more fluid to go from one side to the other. The pump runs off the serpentine belt so the faster the motor the faster the pump turns therefore when its running all the extra fluid will go into the resivoir. There is usually a relief valve to make sure it doesnt pump to fast. That could of went bad as well.

Id keep a eye on it and get worried if you look in and all the fluid is gone.

Heres a diagram I found
Howstuffworks "How Car Steering Works"

rota92 · 08-01-2007, 07:15 AM

The res. is what was pressurized, it made a big mess of the truck, I know the pump just pumps lol

I was thinking there had to be a check valve in it or something that was causing this but the dealer gave me the run-around on that.

If this happened while driving or something I wouldnt be as stupified. But the truck was sitting, wheels straight, for over a day lol

Hooking trailer up to it in a few, but overnight it didnt do anything and its sitting like it was when it did do it!

The steering feels fine now though...but was def. rough right after this happened.