My steering gets worse as the waether gets colder, parking is a real pain, if im under 5mph i gotta strong arm it. I want to change the fluid but im not sure how to purge all the old brown goo out so I can put new stuff in, also what kind of oil do you recomend? Thanks, Matt

 

go with synthetic.. as far as draining I've heard of turkey basters or the way I'm going to do mine (found method here) take low pressure hose off place in bucket start truck and drain and refill till it comes out clean put hose back on and top off..... you will need a helper to do this turn steering wheel back and forth ect. Nate

 

NAPA may have Royal Purple synthetic PS fluid. I have one of those manual suction pumps that looks like a grease gun that I purchased at Fleet Farm. I just purge as much fluid out of the resovoir as I can, then drive at bit, and purge again until I can get the entire new quart in. I know it isn't getting all of the old stuff out, but it works.

 

I also had to fight it in order to turn the wheels. I found that the power steering fluid in my 2001.5 would freeze in the winter due to an excess of condensation in the pump. This is a very easy task to accomplish. Go to wallyworld or the Dollar Store and get a $2 turkey baster or grab one from the kitchen. Pick up a synthetic or a PS fluid of your choice at an auto parts store. I use Valvoline PS fluid from NAPA with great results;however,that may not be available to you. If you want to gowith a full synthetic, Amsoil and Redline have power steering fluids available.

Using the turkey baster, extract as much of the fluid out of the reservoir as you can. At that time refill the pump with fresh fluid. Start the truck and turn the steering wheel lock to lock several times to bleed the air out. Top off the fluid and replace the cap. Next day or so do the same thing. At this point, you will have changed out a large percentage of the fluid. Just make sure the turkey baster does not make it's way back into the kitchen or the Thanksgiving turkey will taste awful.

 

local parts store should have cheap fluid exchanger.
http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductL...egoryCode=3487
or even harbor freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=66418

 

Getting ready to do mine. Going to use Amsoil ATF.

 

we are using Mobil 1 full synthetic. Hard to find others Ed

 

Just so everyone is aware,the 2nd gens use power steering fluid. The use of ATF may cause damage the power steering system.

ATF is recommended for '03 and newer.

 

That I didn't know!