Ok, i recently got my boys 06 SRT Maggie in for a full flush/swap to QB at 83k miles. We did everything exactly the same as i had done to mine. So, this time i took the most important pix for those wanting to know why your having steering issues and what to do. What most don't know is that there is a filter trap inside the power steering tank. what happens over time, the rubber hose starts to break down and you get the debris from the hose trapped in your tank. this will eventually make it down to your steering system and will cause issues in the long run. so you should flush out the power steering fluid. pull the tank out and clean the inside thoroughly with a brake cleaner and air compressor. fill back with fluid and use QB Power Steering Catalyst to help protect your steering system. pic of power steering line to drain fully. once line is disconnected, start motor for a few minutes to cycle out system. pic of inside power steering tank. when cleaning, besure to blow air from the underside up and continue to soak with cleaner to drip most of the debris. the next part to eliminating steering noise that most don't know about. you get the fluid flushed, cleaned, replaced and added the QB catalyst. now you will most likely still have some steering noise and it's not your steering fluid that's the cause. from underneath the motor, locate the steering rod coming from the fire wall. you'll see a black boot covering the end of the steering rod, before it goes into the firewall. push back the black protector boot and you'll see a brownish rubber ring, that's the culprit for steering noise. from the factory it's lightly greased, but of course, over time it starts to build up with dirt and makes noise when turning. here is a pic of steering rod with black boot. pull back the boot and you'll see the brownish rubber ring. you wanna wipe the old dirty grease off and re-grease it lightly, i used BND's ACES all purpose grease, which works perfectly. i even used it to eliminate the noise from my hotchkis front sway bushing. hope this helps the family... take care! Jimmy PART 2 (interior steering column lube) it's been hot as shit with the humidity, but toughed it out, sweating bullets and here are the pix on how to for the interior steering column lube. what you need to lube. i used Liquid Wrench White Lithium Grease, because hand grease is too difficult to reach and spread. the spray grease is much easier to work with. you have the option to remove the off white panel, located beneathe the steering wheel. i chose to remove it, because it allows you to see more of what your doing. this is optional. to remove the panel, first remove the side trim piece on the side of the dash, it pops out. you need to remove two screws, 1) from the side trim piece you just removed and 2) underneath the dash, by the hood pull lever. 1) 2) this is what it will look like once removed. btw, unclip the rear trunk opener button and set a side. don't try to disconnect the hood latch, not worth the trouble. if you chose not to remove the panel, it's fine. regardless you need to remove the insulation carpet piece that is underneathe the drivers dash. there are two gromets that have to be removed, 1) is just about the e-brake pedal and 2) is beside 2nd screw to remove lower panel. 1) 2) pic of carpet that needs to be removed to gain access to the steering column. before removing, remember how it's placed, better to take a pic, so you know how to put it back exactly the way it was. not to difficult to figure out otherwise. once you have the carpet and optional panel removed, this is what you should see. you may want to remove the carpet, if you have sensitive skin like me. now i hope you have a good shop lamp or flash light or in a well lighted area. looking behind the metal shield, you'll see the elbows for the steering column and they go into a big black rubber boot. the boot helps protect the steering column and interior from getting water in and damaging components. you wanna push back the rubber boot to expose the white protector cup. this is optional as well, because you could always spray into the opening of the boot, which will still drip into the white cup, which surrounds the steering column bottom. it just makes it easier to see what your doing if you do push the black boot back. here is a pic with the boot pushed back. this is where you wanna spray the lubricant into. once that's done, this is what it should look like. after you've lubricated, do steps in reverse. make sure that you pull the black rubber boot back up and over the white cup for protection. after i did this, the slight steering noise i was hearing from the interior was gone. now this will be different for all, depending on how many miles you have. i'm at 52k, which is why i been going crazy with ALL flushes, lubricating, readjusting pedal points, etc...................... once again, i hope this helps the family out and keep me posted. thank you! jimmy
I don't disagree that you should flush your power steering as regular maintenance, but I'm confused how the rubber hose material makes it past the filter and down into the rack. Isn't the filter there to stop exactly that?
you have your out and return hose, with pressure and heat the fluid cycles through the system and pushes into the tank from the return. you get a build up of rubber particles on the trap, which over time will build up and disrupt flow. once that happens you'll be getting steering wine and issues. i was told under certain conditions, that there is a way for the debris to make its way back into the out and into the steering system. if i'm mistaken, then it's all good, as long as members take the extra steps to take care of they're steering system.
thanks! was going to post up a pic of the interior, but was to freaken hot to step in the garage or outside.
i just updated part 2 of lubricating steering column, so go to post #1 for update on interior steering column lube.
