power steering trouble

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donteus

New Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
24
Location
slough
Car
C270 CDI
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hi, me again. more problems.

ok, My wife has a c class 270CDI, w203, 52 plate.

recently she said it sounded funny when turning the steering, and this got worse over a few days, and also had the pulsing left and right slightly issue when on long sweeping bends.
was due a service so off I went. changed the oil, all good. listened to the engine and could hear something not good, and it got worse when the steering was turned. got a wooden stick on the PS pump, and you could really hear something was not good.
so I got another pump from a well known auction site, and changed it over. steering fluid in the old one was a yellowish colour, but I got new stuff from MB and it was green. topped it up, and away I went, off the drive, then straight back on again. god, what a horrendous noise!! very noisy now, and steering is very hard to turn.
checked fluid in reservoir and it was full of bubbles, like washing up liquid!
I realised did not bleed correctly before driving and was far too gung-ho. but this aside, the lovely green power steering fluid I put in is now a horrid grey / green colour.
also got fluid dripping from underneath now, passenger side of the rack, near one of the big unions on the front of the rack
help please, as I am near the end of my tether with this car, and cannot afford to spend much more money on it before it gets scrapped.

cheers
Andy
 
If you syphon-out the ATF from the PAS reservoir, then replace it with fresh fluid, you will need to do this several time to replace most of the fluid. Otherwise you'll need to properly drain the system by removing one of lowest hoses.

Once done, bleeding is by turning the steering wheel side to side full lock several times.
 
Hi Mark

thanks for the prompt reply. I have now been under the car some more and have removed the metal plate thingy fro under the steering rack. I have had a poke around checking that the pipes are still intact, and all looks ok.
now, I did notice a glistening around the big joints on the front of the rack (the solid pipes that come from the neck of the rack. these seem to be part of the rack itself and not car to rack connections.
anyway, I noticed the glistening changing reflection as I pushed on the pipe, so I tried to tighten it (big torx socket) and low an behold, it tightened about 1/3 of a turn!!
so, I have now loosened off the joint again and I am letting all the old oil drain out, as I think this is probably the lowest point of the system.
once done will refill with MB fluid and bleed as recommended.
so now I am thinking
1: the air bubbles were due to this joint being loose.
2: the excessive noise was the air bubble in the system
3: the new MB fluid has not mixed well with the old fluid causing it to look like coca cola!!

does this seem fair?
 

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