I was told my power steering needed to be flushed. Figured this was something I could do myself but I can't seem to find how much ATF fluid I'll need for a 2003 F-150.

Anyone know?

 

How do you plan on flushing it? What I do is suck the fluid out of the reservoir with a turkey baster, refill it, then repeat in 2 weeks. 1 quart would be plenty to do it that way, just repeat every 2 weeks till the fluid is gone.

 

I had watched this video, but my neighbor was a BMW mechanic and I asked if he'd keep an eye on me to make sure I don't jack anything up so I'm not sure if he has a better method of doing this.


I bought 2 qts but I can't seem to verify how much I'll need.

 

Just refill it until it's between the min. and max. lines. The main thing is not to over think it.

 

The video procedure is for a vehicle with a rack. The 2003 F150 has the old fashioned steering box or my 02 does.

 

I'm at a loss here as I'm not familiar with what you are talking about.

 

Most vehicles nowadays have rack and pinion steering even the F150's from 2004 up. The older trucks have steering boxes on the end of the steering column that have a pitman arm to turn the steering. I may be wrong but i don't think moving the steering wheel back and forth will push the fluid out of the box but like i said, I may be wrong.

 

Uh oh! If that's the case how would one drain the entire system? Pull the return hose and turn the engine on?

 

That will certainly empty it and create a heck of a mess. DON'T DO THAT, running the pump dry could damage it. I believe glc's suggestion would be your simplest choice, it appears to be exactly what the video you posted shows as well.
Just my two cents, Gene

 

You might could empty the system by removing the high pressure hose at the steering box and running the pump. I wouldn't do it but that might empty the whole system.

I plan to suck out the pump reservoir and replace with mercon a couple of times like was recommended. Sort of the same thing I do with the trans. i drop the pan every 20k miles and refill with about 4 1/2 qts. The system holds 12 qts total. And I drain my radiator every so often and refill to freshen up the coolant. I haven't even looked at the block coolant drain plugs so I don't know if I could remove them. The only car I remember that I could remove those plugs was an old Buick V8 that had brass plugs. All the chevys in the past had steel plugs and they would rust in place making it impossible to remove.

 

Don't worry about getting every drop out the first time... Just suck out what you can and refill. Repeat until the fluid starts to look 'red' again.

Taking a hose off will only risk leaking and you'll get air in the lines and that will take some effort to work thru too.. Just not worth it.

I do the same as Roadie for fluid changes.. For my '13, I use a vacuum pump to suck the trans fluid out of the fill hole (my 13 has no trans conventional dip stick.. You gotta crawl underneath it and remove a plug....) I get about 4 qts out of it. My '13 has no power steering fluid anymore..

Good luck!

Mitch

 

If just the reservoir is drained how much is actually being replaced?

 

Figure about 1/3 or so.

 

Thanks for the replies. I have more to consider now as I wasn't aware of what I was planning on getting into.

I must admit I'd prefer to do a good enough job the first time, and so don't care much for the idea of replacing small portions at a time, but then I'm at a loss for a better way.

 

Is it that your truck is a 4 wheel drive and different than my 2 wheel drive? My friend seems to think so.