4.8is Power Steering Fluid Change Pics

[tmv]

Originally Posted by JCL

Yes, but isn't it a little like changing engine oil one litre at a time? Why not just drain it properly, get all the crap out of the bottom where it is sitting in the steering gear, and put fresh fluid in? Do it by disconnecting the return line. It can be messy, but at least you change all the fluid.

Can you force yourself to drain just one liter of engine oil while you are doing an oil change? I am sure if changing PS fluid is just as easy as engine oil, then everyone would be doing it the way you describe here. PS fluid is not as critical as engine oil.

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by tmv

Doing it three or four times at the reservoir would replace most of it, as he did.

+1

This is the method Bavarian Autosport recommends in this video about changing the PS filter and reservoir. They had new fluid in the E53 they use, but rec just let the new fluid circulate for about 3-4 mins and remove until what you draw is nice and clean.

YouTube link


I think I will do this method on my 4.8is this week. Not bc of miles (22K), but years- coming up on 8. Wow. 8 years old. Still looks and drives like new!

[JCL]

Originally Posted by tmv

Can you force yourself to drain just one liter of engine oil while you are doing an oil change? I am sure if changing PS fluid is just as easy as engine oil, then everyone would be doing it the way you describe here. PS fluid is not as critical as engine oil.

It isn't as easy as changing engine oil, as there is no single point drain plug. However, you can remove a single return line and drain it from there. It is that easy. All those who want to remove 20% of it at a time with a turkey baster just want to avoid getting their hands dirty, IMO. No, it isn't as critical as engine oil, but if you are going to the trouble to change it why not do the job properly?

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by JCL

but if you are going to the trouble to change it why not do the job properly?

I don't see how just doing what they do in the video doesn't accomplish the same thing. Seems to me it would also keep from starving the pump- however momentarily as air is pushed around with fluid chasing after. This is pretty much how you bleed brakes, too. Just wait for the nice, clean fluid to show at each caliper.

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by JCL

It isn't as easy as changing engine oil, as there is no single point drain plug. However, you can remove a single return line and drain it from there. It is that easy. All those who want to remove 20% of it at a time with a turkey baster just want to avoid getting their hands dirty, IMO. No, it isn't as critical as engine oil, but if you are going to the trouble to change it why not do the job properly?

Yea sure, but it's not even as easy as that. When you have a chance, please post instruction on what else one would need to remove before getting that line unhooked. And then think of the 4.8is, and with the loads of space in the engine bay.

Then think of other issues that might arise from one removing the line. Like a broken connector, broken clamp, oil all over the place, taking off the under ride protection, loosing some screws, braking some fastener, braking a clip, raising the car, lowering the car.....

Yea that exactly the process I want to go through, by myself in my clean tiled garage.

Oh, and it is much easier with a pump. Turkey baster would be a tedious pain, for me at least.

By the time you get that line off, or even drive to a shop to get it done "right", I will be drinking a beer and hosing my floor off, just because I have the time to burn.

Wait, hold on there one sec, how about I just unscrew one cap, and pump out the old oil 5 times, and call it a day.

And who is to say that this is not the proper way of doing this. Bav Auto, thinks it is. Why would I do something that is infinitely more complex and dirty, when I can just pop the hood, and open one cap?

The only easier thing to do here, is not change it at all.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

Yea sure, but it's not even as easy as that. When you have a chance, please post instruction on what else one would need to remove before getting that line unhooked. And then think of the 4.8is, and with the loads of space in the engine bay.

Then think of other issues that might arise from one removing the line. Like a broken connector, broken clamp, oil all over the place, taking off the under ride protection, loosing some screws, braking some fastener, braking a clip, raising the car, lowering the car.....

Yea that exactly the process I want to go through, by myself in my clean tiled garage.

Oh, and it is much easier with a pump. Turkey baster would be a tedious pain, for me at least.

By the time you get that line off, or even drive to a shop to get it done "right", I will be drinking a beer and hosing my floor off, just because I have the time to burn.

Wait, hold on there one sec, how about I just unscrew one cap, and pump out the old oil 5 times, and call it a day.

And who is to say that this is not the proper way of doing this. Bav Auto, thinks it is. Why would I do something that is infinitely more complex and dirty, when I can just pop the hood, and open one cap?

The only easier thing to do here, is not change it at all.

TRUTH!

[JCL]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

I don't see how just doing what they do in the video doesn't accomplish the same thing. Seems to me it would also keep from starving the pump- however momentarily as air is pushed around with fluid chasing after. This is pretty much how you bleed brakes, too. Just wait for the nice, clean fluid to show at each caliper.

And for Slick, and Ricky Bobby as well...

Using a turkey baster in your power steering reservoir is not the same as how you bleed brakes. If it was, then you could use a turkey baster to bleed brakes. Just extract some fluid, and put new fluid in to the same reservoir. Easy, no need to get under the vehicle. Trouble is, you haven't got the crap out of the bottom (low point) where it collects.

When you bleed brakes, you add fluid in the top, and drain from the bottom. That is exactly what I suggest with removing the return hose to flush out the old fluid. The power steering system contains dead ends, the fluid doesn't all circulate. If it did, it would be reasonable to do it from the top.

Using a turkey baster simply isn't the right way to do it, whether or not an internet parts source not affilated with BMW thinks it is.

No, I haven't done it on a 4.8si. I am pretty sure it is tight in there. That doesn't make it less worthwhile though.

[JCL]

For those that would like to read about three alternate ways of changing the fluid, this was a good write up. From my E46 days, but the concepts are all the same. Not surprisingly, the author has concerns about the turkey baster method.

Doug's Domain :: DIY Power Steering Flush

The article also mentions the filter screen that is built into the reservoir. The reservoir is designed to be replaced in order to change the filter, it is not a removable filter. Changing the oil and leaving a dirty filter doesn't seem like a complete job.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

And who is to say that this is not the proper way of doing this. Bav Auto, thinks it is.

Bavarian Auto. Apparently a good source for inexpensive and often non-original parts. But at the same time, home of the recommendations for annual air filter change, annual brake fluid change, the opportunity to use non-synthetic engine oil, and so on. Wonder who is selling fluids and parts here, as opposed to offering sound technical advice? Not the first time their maintenance guide has come up on the jukebox here.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...nce-guide.html

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by JCL

For those that would like to read about three alternate ways of changing the fluid, this was a good write up. From my E46 days, but the concepts are all the same. Not surprisingly, the author has concerns about the turkey baster method.

I think you're the one who first mentioned a baster.

The OP used a pump- just as in the second method in the link you posted. He also does not say that the method started by the OP- and then taken a step further by the rest- is any more than 'theoretically' less effective than the ''optimal' method.

The downside to this method is that the reservoir only holds about 1/4 of a quart of fluid. Mixing new fluid with old dramatically increases the number of flush cycles and the amount of fluid required to complete the task as the percentage of old fluid gradually approaches (but theoretically never reaches) zero.

Further, to insist that a second source that is also not affiliated with BMW lends any more credit than another is simply not up to task. If anything, the people who have made a business out of offering service and OEM BMW parts to BMW's customers since the 2002 was rolling off the line are inherently more trustworthy than some guy who writes a Bimmer blog- at least to me and thousands of others. They even closely follow the 'Old school maintenance' plan issued by a well known Roundel author- who is not out to sell anyone anything. Hard to argue with that lack of bias.

Besides, the very last people I would believe in ANY of this fluid exchange issue is BMW. In the name of saving a buck, these idiots have the world believing in "BMW lifetime fluids" and oil that can make it for 18K miles without needing a change.

I think the bottom line is that changing your PS fluid can be made easy or it can be made hard. The very likely scenario will be that the hoses will weaken enough over time that they will seep and you'll have to replace the reservoir anyway. You can choose either method to keep your pump better lubricated over doing nothing at all. And that's why so many of us have trouble with our second hand X5's. Because the original owners believe when BMW says they can survive by doing nothing.