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Do I dare ask if you guys would trust Firestone to do this job? They have spent the last 8 years taking care of this car (as per the previous owners service records) and they also did my alignment, front rotors and oil change recently. I generally trust them, but I like to be very cautious when it comes to things like the transmission, power steering system, and the likes.
If you can verify firsthand that they are using the correct fluid -- or if you bring them the fluid yourself -- then sure. It's not much of a mechanical task to do this.
What do you guys think about the old turkey baster method? I think I might do it that way since I don't really have any tools at the moment, or anywhere to work at. I don't really want to entrust any indy to do it, and Mercedes will want my first born.
How much PS fluid does the car hold? I know I won't get all of the old fluid out, but I think doing it maybe once or twice in the coming days should net a nice amount of it.
What do you guys think about the old turkey baster method? I think I might do it that way since I don't really have any tools at the moment, or anywhere to work at. I don't really want to entrust any indy to do it, and Mercedes will want my first born.
How much PS fluid does the car hold? I know I won't get all of the old fluid out, but I think doing it maybe once or twice in the coming days should net a nice amount of it.
Reservoir drain-and-fill is perfectly fine -- it just doesn't do as good a job of removing the old fluid, and you can end up using a lot more fluid to get the percentage of fluid replaced close to 100%.
From what I can tell the reservoir holds around 30-40% of a quart, and overall the system holds maybe 3/4 of a quart.
Comparing the two methods:
* Hose drain-and-fill ... one shot, you get > 90% of the fluid, including a lot of what's in the rack chambers.
* Reservoir drain-and-fill ... you get 50% fluid change, leaving 50% old fluid. Repeat a second time and reduce your old fluid percentage to half again, so now 25% old fluid remains. Do it again, you're down to 12.5%. A fourth time, 6.25%.
So, in my calculations it will take four reservoir drain-and-fills to provide the same fluid change percentage as a single hose drain-and-fill. This also means you'll need 2 qts vs 1 qt of new fluid.
If you are okay with the cost of 2 qts of fluid and a piece of flexible tubing (I would recommend siphoning out with tubing vs turkey baster ... will be easier and you will probably get more fluid out), then this is a perfectly good option for you.
Reservoir drain-and-fill is perfectly fine -- it just doesn't do as good a job of removing the old fluid, and you can end up using a lot more fluid to get the percentage of fluid replaced close to 100%.
From what I can tell the reservoir holds around 30-40% of a quart, and overall the system holds maybe 3/4 of a quart.
Comparing the two methods:
* Hose drain-and-fill ... one shot, you get > 90% of the fluid, including a lot of what's in the rack chambers.
* Reservoir drain-and-fill ... you get 50% fluid change, leaving 50% old fluid. Repeat a second time and reduce your old fluid percentage to half again, so now 25% old fluid remains. Do it again, you're down to 12.5%. A fourth time, 6.25%.
So, in my calculations it will take four reservoir drain-and-fills to provide the same fluid change percentage as a single hose drain-and-fill. This also means you'll need 2 qts vs 1 qt of new fluid.
If you are okay with the cost of 2 qts of fluid and a piece of flexible tubing (I would recommend siphoning out with tubing vs turkey baster ... will be easier and you will probably get more fluid out), then this is a perfectly good option for you.
So it was finally nice enough outside to tackle this. I did what is (for me) the simpler way, since my old ramps and jacks all went in the trunk of my Charger when I sold it.
It took about 30-45 mins to do the whole job. The old fluid was a dark red/pink color, almost almond color. The new fluid looks like blue powerade. I use a large turkey baster that took out about 1.5oz per squeeze. I took out as much as I could with the baster, then refilled with new fluid (got it from MB themselves).
I then drove around the block, turned the wheel lock to lock a few times, and repeated the process. By the 2nd time, fluid was a lighter shade of red.
Another few turns of the wheel and another squeeze of fluid and the color was now more closely resembling the blue that came in the can. By the 4th time I squeeze out fluid, it was much cleaner, but still not 100% blue.
I will revisit it in a few days with another bottle of fluid to finish it off. I have yet to give it a full drive, but hopefully things are smoother.
Hey everyone, Im gettign ready to do this on the weekend and I had a couple of questions.
1. Is there a way to flush out the old power steering fluid while I crank the car without actually starting it? I remember when I did this job to my old jeep I disconnected the power cable going to the distributer. The jeep just cranked with out starting and was able to flush it out.
1. Is there a way to flush out the old power steering fluid while I crank the car without actually starting it? I remember when I did this job to my old jeep I disconnected the power cable going to the distributer. The jeep just cranked with out starting and was able to flush it out.
I'm sure it's technically possible ... but the return hose isn't anywhere near as easily accessible as on our Honda and Toyota. If you are able to do it, though, please take lots of pics
Originally Posted by Benzomatic76
2. How much fluid do I need? 1 liter or 2?
The system seems to hold less than a quart. So if you do a drain from the bottom hose and only one refill, just one quart. However if you do repeated reservoir drain-and-fills then you might want to get a second quart.
C230 Sport Coup + 2006 W164 ML350 + 99 Ford Escort RIP
I periodically do the turkey baster method for both power steering and brake fluid. Pentosin per the owners manual and dot 4+ directly from the dealer and nary a problem with either in 222k miles.
C230SportCoupe is on to a good alternative strategy ... if you keep a can of fluid on hand and do a drain and fill of your PS reservoir every time you change the oil, you are likely never going to have to flush the PS system.
I'm sure it's technically possible ... but the return hose isn't anywhere near as easily accessible as on our Honda and Toyota. If you are able to do it, though, please take lots of pics
The system seems to hold less than a quart. So if you do a drain from the bottom hose and only one refill, just one quart. However if you do repeated reservoir drain-and-fills then you might want to get a second quart.
Hi Guys
Okay, so I am very keen to do this as my fluid is now a browny looking muck. Have done a heap of research over the forums - thank you very much for all the info on here.
My thoughts are that the best option, also the most difficult/time consuming is as below but would really appreciate any concerns/thoughts/improvements any one may have.
Pros: Should remove all fluid in the system entirely and ensure no air enters the system - hopefully not damage anything!
Cons: a mission to do.
Basically, remove air intake and silencer. Release tension on belt and remove belt. Remove as much fluid as possible from PS reservoir. Fill reservoir with new fluid. Remove return line for power steering fluid. Extend line into basin. Ensure that you have reservoir kept permanently full as a assistant manually turns pump in correct direction (not sure yet - will check) until all fluid coming out of return is clean. Replace return pipe on reservoir - top off fluid if necessary. Turn wheels lock to lock 5 to 30 times to bleed any air that may have entered the system. Top up again if necessary.
Anyways, this is not a big deal for me as I have to replace Alternator bearing in the next week or so anyway so belt etc will be off...
Your plan sounds perfectly reasonable ... I think the main criteria would be convenience. If you can get to that return hose without extraordinary effort then I would assume this is the best way to flush out the system with the least amount of fluid.
One suggestion -- on your last pump-through, let the reservoir drain past the inlet pipe of the return hose so you don't end up with a gusher of fluid coming out of the reservoir when you put the return hose back on. Then refill the reservoir and do your cycling to remove air bubbles.
I have a 2007 with 225k miles that I need to do a PS flush, as my fluid is brown and there are creaky noises from the rack. The OP pictures are missing and by reading the description, I think I have a different steering rack, as there are no obvious places on the rack you can access to disconnect any hoses. They seem to be factory terminated hoses, not ones that can be pulled off and replaced using standard hose clamps. The only place the hose seems to be removable is on the side of the reservoir. Does anyone have links to a 2007 W203 C230 steering flush DIY?
What bummer that the pictures were deleted! Quite often there is a video on youtube that will explain it but I couldn't find one. There is also a site called installuniversity.com that has explains several DIY projects, but they only explain how to top up the fulid. I could'nt I find anything nearly as good as the DIY the OP posted (even if he did call a hose a cable! )
I was sure that Glyn had said somewhere that it was acceptable to suck out the fluid in the reservoir and replace it, and that's what I did when I replaced mine - but I can't find that post. I think if you do that, you probably should make your flushes more frequent (which, unfortunately, I have not).
That "factory" clamp on the left side of the hose is a Clic-R clamp. You can buy Clic-R pliers on eBay for under $15, and might be able to find them in the auto stores as well. Even though I ripped my clamps off and replaced with regular screw-on clamps before I realized what these were, evidently they are very easy to unclamp and reclamp.
Otherwise, if you are concerned about not picking the right hose to unclamp, you're going to get 90% of the benefit from just doing several drain-and-fills from the reservoir. I suggest you buy two quarts of replacement fluid for this.
Either way, the sooner you replace the fluid with fresh stuff the less long-term damage you will cause to your steering system.
Unfortunately that is not the kind of hose clamp I have on my car. I do have a set of Clic-R pliers that I use reasonably often. See below for the factory crimped hoses on the 07 model. In the end, I just sucked all the fluid out of the reservoir 3 times, once per day and then drove it 20 miles or so in between to enable the old fluid to disperse out of the rack a bit more.
This is the hose clamp that goes to my steering rack from the power steering fluid reservoir
Close up of the hose clamp that goes to my steering rack from the power steering fluid reservoir
You are correct ... that end of the hose is not detachable ... it's the other end I'm talking about. Also, I believe you are pointing to the supply hose which is not the one you want to disconnect.
I've marked up your photo with a green circle to indicate where I think you should be looking to detach the hose -- on the front side of the return hose.
In any case, repeated drain-and-fill of the reservoir is a perfectly acceptable way to replace the fluid, although it uses much more fluid because you're playing a half'ing game mixing new fluid with old each time. For this method I suggest running through at least two quarts of new fluid and plan to do at least 4 drain-and-fills in order to get 90% new fluid into the system.
1. Remove Splash shield on the lower side of the car.. 6 Screws
Put it to the side..
2. Open hood remove plastic from the right hand side attached to air filter box
3. Open Power steering Tank cap and start sucking out fluid
Here is the color of my fluid that was in my car
4. After Sucking out the fluid from the tank. Time to go under the car and disconnect the cable coming from the Power steering rack. Like this
Place cable in a bowl
Let the fluid drain Keep cable inside the bowl now head to the top of the car
5. disconnect this cable
After disconnecting this cable i hooked another cable the same size to it.. And blew out the rest of the nasty power steering fluid.
^ ( You don't have to do number 5 but just to make sure everything is out )
6. ( Make sure you now plug back in cable number 5 ) Now Start Flushing out the old fluid by Pouring new fluid inside the tank.
7. Look through the motor area and look at the cable below that you disconnected before.. You will see old fluid starting to come out.. Keep pouring until you see new fluid ( Green ) pouring out.. THEN STOP
Should look like this
Nice and clean
8. Reconnect the cable under the car after all the nasty fluid is out..
9. ( Tricky Part ) Fill up the power steering tank.. Put cap on. Start the car for (three seconds ONLY) . Shut the car off.. Fill Tank back up. Do this 5 Times.
10. ( I had to do step 9 ) 5 times until my tank had no more air in the system or lines. I did have to suck a little fluid out because i had to much in.
Car steering is so much smoother..
The color of my old fluid VS my new fluid is just amazing..
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