Power Steering Pump Filter

[ericdude]

I recently flushed the power steering fluid (by yanking the return hose),
and noticed that the filter inside the pump reservoir has a lot of gunk
on it that I couldn't get out. (I don't built ships in a bottle as a hobby.)
Is there any way to get it out without removing the PS pump itself?

Also, I had thought that the flow rate of the pump would depend upon
the wheel position (less flow when wheels are centered), but even
with the rack centered, the fluid drained out faster than I could pour
new quarts into the reservoir with a funnel. I shut the car off quickly,
but I thinking maybe I should've pulled spark plug wires. Hmm.

[freakinbox]

there is a filter? I had no idea lol

[jmaz87]

haha yea i pulled the pump but then decided to not put it back.. who needs PS right?

anyway if should have been filling up the hoses and such so thats prob normal unless the pump is making wierd noises like it's failing.

[eage8]

Originally Posted by jmaz87

haha yea i pulled the pump but then decided to not put it back.. who needs PS right?

anyway if should have been filling up the hoses and such so thats prob normal unless the pump is making wierd noises like it's failing.

do you have a manual rack now? if not I recommend doing something like this:

http://forum.teamfc3s.org/showthread.php?t=54847

blocked off power racks and manual racks are quite different. I ran my car with a cut belt for a while and ended up putting it back on because I didn't like it much. but I love steering on my fiancee's manual rack CRX and my old Manual rack miata.

I'll be doing ^that mod^ on my FC as soon as I find a spare rack to do it on.

as far as the filter, I have no idea, sorry

[Tire Shredder]

The screen in the bottom of the reservoir is pressed in when it's made. Unfortunately the only way to properly clean this is to remove the reservoir, drain the fluid and clean it manually. I had to do this on my supra. It was clogged so bad that the pump would occasionally be starved for fluid. I removed mine, plugged the holes, filled with engine degreaser and let it soak. I gave it a good shake and then back flowed it with hot water. Sometimes scraping the screen with a long screwdriver can help. I then repeated the process until it was nice and clean. Make sure to blow all the air out/let it dry thoroughly before putting it back in the car.

[ericdude]

Originally Posted by Tire Shredder

Sometimes scraping the screen with a long screwdriver can help.

I thought about doing that, but the screen looked similar to the one I replaced
in the transmission which was REALLY thin. If I put a hole in that thing I'm
doing a lot more harm than not cleaning it.

Maybe some sort of mini shop vac might work? When drilling concrete with a
hammer drill, I've often sucked the debris out by coupling a straw to the
vacuum hose with my hand and that was enough suction to get the job done.
Maybe I should rent a shop (wet/dry) vac?

[ericdude]

Just an update on what happened. But I thought I'd syphon out the
reservoir today just for shits & grins--this was the PS system I flushed
on Saturday. I found the fluid in the reservoir was already nasty and
I got lots of little visible chunks of debris as I sucked it out.

This leads tp a few questions:

* What's going on here? Did the new fluid dissolve a bunch of junk that was
stuck to the walls of the system? Why did the new fluid go dark so fast.

* How many flushes (or reservoir drains) are required to *completely* get the
crap out of the system. I knew that it would take many reservoir drains to do
it, which is why I did the flush. I put two quarts of fluid through the system.