Hello all,

Need help with this one. Probably caused by cold weather.

Symptoms: Bubbles in fluid, Squeeling, Louder than normal hiss from Hydroboost, jumpy steering, weak brakes. Pwer Steering pump or Hydro boost?

Just went thru a cold spell and believe something froze. Where should I start? What fluid will prevent cold WX Issues? I don't have the option of taking it to a mechanic.

 

Drain the fluid and switch over to synthetic.

 

The hardware might/should be okay. Purging the system of the old fluid and replacing with a synthetic like Royal Purple will likely help a lot. If you haven't made a habit of emptying and refilling the reservoir annually, the stuff that's in there is probably pretty ugly. Syphon out what you can. If it's really gross, I wouldn't bother with synthetic right away. I'd refill with conventional power steering fluid and cycle the steering an brakes a lot. I've read (here) other people recommend doing the syphon out/refill cycle 3 or more times. It would be nice to find a way to really drain the system and refill just once.

 

If you pull off one of the return lines to the reservoir, start the engine and work the steering back and forth most of the fluid will drain out rather fast.

 

Yep! I've down that when I replaced my hydroboost. I drained it into a container by removing the return hose and temporarily adding another hose long enough to reach my container on the ground. Then reattach the return long. If you get air in the system (and you probably will) it takes a lot of wheel turning and refilling to get the air out.

 

I just had the same thing with my truck and today I drained it and put redline synthetic in problem gone

 

THANKS FOR THE HELP GUYS!!

Found the problem. It was ice in the return line which caused the pump to puke fluid. Thankfully I caught it in time. quickly bleed the system and Hydro Boost (THANKS INFIDEL), replaced fluid, will be converting to Royal Purple. That dodge fluid doesn't like the cold!!!!