Diagnosing a Power Steering Leak 2007-13 Chevy Silverado
Created on: 2018-12-06
How to diagnose a power steering leak on 08 Chevy Silverado.
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step 1 :Checking the Power Steering
- Start the truck and turn the wheel to test whether the power steering is working
- If you hear what sounds like a moaning noise while you're turning the wheel, it's likely there's low fluid in the power steering pump
- Turn off the truck
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step 2 :Checking the Power Steering Fluid
- Pull the lever near the footrest to pop the hood
- Push the lever under the hood toward the driver's side to raise the hood
- Remove the power steering fluid reservoir cap
- Use a rag to wipe off the dipstick
- Reinsert the dipstick and then pull it back out
- If the dipstick doesn't have any fluid on it, there could be a leak
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step 3 :Topping off the Power Steering Fluid
- Use a funnel to add the appropriate fluid
- Reinsert the dipstick and then pull it back out to check the amount of fluid
- If there is enough fluid, replace the reservoir cap
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step 4 :Rechecking the Power Steering
- Start the truck and let it idle for about a minute
- Turn the wheel
- If the power steering is working again, you'll know the power steering pump is working and that there is likely a leak
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step 5 :Checking for Leaks
- Check the area of the vehicle where you find a leak
- Use a jack and jack stands to raise the truck and locate the leak
- In this case, the leak is coming from a rotted power steering cooler
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step 6 :Confirming the Power Steering Cooler has Rotted
- Look through the grille of the truck to locate the cooler
- In this case, the leak is also visible from this angle
- Based on where you purchased your truck, this issue could be more common (such as in New England)
Tools needed
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Funnel
Jack Stands
Cloth Rags
Floor Jack
Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.
What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. Today, I'm going to be diagnosing a power steering problem with this 2008 Chevy Silverado two-wheel drive. If you need any parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.
Alright. First we're going to start the vehicle and see what our power steering's doing. Let it stabilize. There's no power steering assist and you can hear a lot of moaning noise, right there. That's the pump that's moaning. It sounds like it's low on fluid, so we're going to shut it off and check the fluid.
We'll pop the hood, right here, near the footrest. Pull that lever to release the hood and just push the lever towards the driver's side. Lift up on the hood. The power steering reservoir is right here. It's actually attached to the pump on this vehicle. So, we'll just pull the cap off. We're just going to wipe it down. The dipstick is attached to the cap. Reinsert the dipstick and pull it out again. And you can see, there's actually no fluid on the dipstick at all, which is not good. So, we must have a leak somewhere. Before we get into finding the leak, I'm actually going to top off the fluid and make sure the pump is actually working.
So, I'm going to take a funnel and I'm going to take the appropriate power steering fluid for the vehicle. You can generally check it in your owner's manual—see what kind of fluid it takes. Pour a little of it in there—actually, I can see down in there. It's actually very frothy. I can see it, even after topping it off. So, we'll put the cap back on. You can recheck the level. And there's a good amount of power steering fluid, so now we can at least start the vehicle and see if we have any power steering assist back.
Alright. Now I'm going to start the vehicle again. I'm just going to let it idle for a minute or two. And I'm going to take and try turning the wheel. And actually, the power steering actually came back. So, the assist is working. So, at that point, that just tells us our pump is working, and the rack is doing its job, which is good. So, now we're going to want to raise the vehicle up and check for leaks.
Before we even raise the vehicle, we notice underneath the vehicle, there's actually a puddle of some type of fluid. It looks to be power steering fluid, so we're going to check this general area. If it was further back, then we'd want to check something further back, but it seems pretty close to the front of the vehicle. That gives us a good idea of where to look.
Now I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. We're using a two-post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands. With the vehicle raised, we notice in the front of the vehicle, where we saw the puddle, there is a lot of fluid in this general area, right here.
So, now I'm going to talk about how the power steering system actually works. What we have is—we have our power steering pump, which is belt-driven in this vehicle. It's a hydraulic system. And it is going to pump the fluid through a line. That line is going to come down here, and it's actually going into the steering rack itself. If you come over on this side, this is the steering rack. Now, when you turn the wheel back and forth, it senses the direction you want to go and gives you the assist in that direction. And then from the steering rack, it sends hydraulic fluid back out this steering line, right here. There's a hose, and it goes to the front—which, there is actually a power steering cooler, and that cools the fluid down so that it will last longer. And then from the cooler, it will send it back to the power steering pump. So, the cooler being in this area—I believe we have a power steering cooler that has rotted away, and that's where our fluid leak is.
So, we've lowered the vehicle a little bit so we could see the cooler a little better. And if you look through the grill, the cooler is right here. And actually, right there, in that location, is where our fluid is coming out. So, this line is rotted off. This truck is from New England, and we get a lot of rust on vehicles. So, it's a pretty common problem with these vehicles—is the power steering cooler rotting away and causing a power steering leak, which will give you lack of power steering.
Now we're going to go ahead and replace that power steering cooler. If you want to watch that video, click the link in the description.
Thanks for watching. Visit us at 1aauto.com for quality auto parts, fast and free shipping and the best customer service in the industry.
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