How to Check Fluids on 1988-98 GMC Sierra
Created on: 2016-10-03
How to check and refill the power steering, brake, and washer fluid, coolant, and engine oil on the 96 GMC Sierra
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step 1 :Checking the Washer Fluid
- Open the washer fluid reservoir cap
- Fill the reservoir to the top with washer fluid
- Snap on the washer fluid cap
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step 2 :Checking the Brake Fluid
- Check that the fluid is above the minimum line
- Pull off the brake fluid reservoir cap
- Pull out the brake fluid diaphragm
- Check that the fluid is the color of green tea
- If the fluid is dark or has debris flush and replace the fluid
- Put the brake fluid diaphragm into place
- Put on the brake fluid cap
- Bleed the brake system of air
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step 3 :Checking the Power Steering Fluid
- Twist off the steering fluid cap
- Clean the steering dipstick
- Reinsert the dipstick
- Pull out the dipstick
- Check that the fluid level is up to the full/cold line
- Check that the fluid is clear
- If the fluid is dark or smells burnt, flush it and replace it
- Twist on the steering fluid cap
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step 4 :Checking the Engine Oil
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Clean the dipstick with a rag
- Reinstall the dipstick
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Check that the fluid is up to the hashmarks on the fluid level
- Twist off the oil fill cap
- Add oil as needed
- Twist on the oil cap
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step 5 :Checking the Coolant
- Make sure the engine is cool
- Twist the radiator cap clockwise and off
- Check that the fluid is up to the bottom of the filler neck
- Add fluid as necessary
- Twist on the radiator cap
- Twist off the overflow bottle cap
- Add coolant to the overflow bottle as needed
- Twist on the overflow bottle cap
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step 6 :Checking the Transmission Fluid
- Start the engine
- Shift the transmission through all the gears for 5 seconds each
- Leave the vehicle running in park
- Remove the transmission dipstick
- Clean the transmission dipstick
- Reinsert the transmission dipstick
- Check that the transmission fluid level is up to the hashmatks
- Add fluid through a funnel as needed
- Shift the transmission through all the gears for 5 seconds each
- Check the fluid level again
- Repeat as necessary
Tools needed
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Funnel
Flashlight
Cloth Rags
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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks!
In this video, we're going to be working with our 1996 GMC Sierra K1500 5.7L V8. We're going to show you how to inspect the condition and level of all your under hood fluids. This is crucial to ensuring the longevity and good condition of your vehicle as a whole.
Your washer fluid reservoir is located at the front of the engine bay on the driver's side. We'll open the cap up. Tuck it out of the way to make sure it doesn't fold up and make our washer fluid splash everywhere. This one you just fill to capacity.
Our brake fluid level is located here on the reservoir, on the driver's side of the reservoir, on top of our master cylinder up against the fire wall. The minimum/maximum gauge is located here. We'll inspect this to make sure it's above the minimum line. You never want to top off your brake fluid, unless you just replaced your front pads and rotors. This vehicle has rear drum brakes. As your front brake pads wear in the caliper's piston sits farther and farther out to keep the pads nice and close to the rotor. As that fills out, the void behind it is filled with more fluid. This can sometimes bring the fluid all the way down to the minimum line when your pads are completely worn out. However, when you compress the caliper to install your new pads the level will come back up. Only top it off after you've compressed the brake calipers and installed new pads and rotors.
The other thing we want to check with this fluid is the condition of the fluid itself. This little rubber diaphragm would normally stay inside of the lid. Ours is a little loose there. Now, your fluid should be like the color of green tea. The clearer the better. Ours is pitch black, very gritty. We have some very heavily contaminated fluid here. This is going to lower the boiling point of the fluid meaning that under normal braking we can likely overheat this and create brake fade or brake failure. It's not going to be a proper hydraulic fluid, and it's going to make our brake pedal feel soft and low, which is a very clear symptom when driving this truck. The only way to correct this is to drain the fluid out of the reservoir, fill it with a clean, new fluid, and then bleed out all the brake lines until clear fluids starts coming out of those as well. Our vehicle is going to need a brake flush to correct the very, very poor condition of this fluid.
Power steering reservoir is located on the back of the power steering pump here at the front of the motor on the driver's side. We'll remove this cap. Wipe off the dipstick. You can see here full/cold. Fully reinstall the cap and remove it again the same way you would checking the oil. Our fluid's just about up where it needs to be. However, you can see that our fluid is very dark and has a burnt smell to it meaning that there's likely an issue with our power steering system. The fluid, itself, has been filled with contaminants or it has been burned. That's why we have this dark color and the burnt smell. We'll want to figure out where the resistance is in our power steering making this fluid burn, flush it, and replace it.
Our oil fill cap is located here about 3/4 of the way forward on the motor on the driver's side. If you have to top off your fluid simply push down, spin it counter clockwise until it comes off, use a funnel and some 5W30 fluid to top it up, spin it back on nice and tight.
We check our oil level; from the passenger side. Remove the oil dipstick and wipe it with a clean paper towel. Reinstall it fully, remove it, and check the level. These hash marks here designate one quart. The top of which being our engines full and the bottom, where our fluid is here, shows that our engine oil is about a quart low. We'll want to open up that oil cap and recheck the dipstick, but we'll hold off in this vehicle because it's due for an oil change anyway.
Our radiator cap is located on the passenger side of the engine bay at the front just before the battery. Make sure the vehicle is cool when you remove this cap. We'll push down and turn counter clockwise, two clicks, and remove our cap. Normally, the coolant should be just at the bottom of this filler neck. If you can see down in there, our radiator is only about half full, so we'll need to fill our radiator back up with a funnel and some GM approved coolant mixed 50/50 with distilled water. When you finish topping off your fluid, put the hooks on the radiator cap into these slots, push down, and turn it clockwise until it stops. Then, you'll want to open the cap here at the back passenger side of our engine bay for our coolant overflow and fill that to the fill line with the same coolant.
With the vehicle running and at operating temperature, you want to cycle the transmission through each gear and hold it there for five seconds. This ensures that the transmission fluid circulates through the transmission fully to make sure we get an accurate reading when we check our dipstick. Now, we'll leave the vehicle running and in park. The dipstick is located at the back of the engine on the passenger side with our vehicle running and in park, we'll open the lock and remove the dipstick wiping it down, much like we did with our oil. Reinstall it fully. Take it back out and inspect the level. There is almost no transmission fluid on our dipstick. Normally, the bottom of these hash marks would signify we were down a quart with the engine hot, which is why we warmed the engine up here. We're down about two quarts of transmission fluid, which can cause a slipping transmission and a pretty severe loss of power. We'll use a thin transmission funnel and the dipstick tube to add transmission fluid. Cycle the gears again and check it until it's back up to its normal level.
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