QUIKAG

Anyone else have a problem of power steering fluid puking out of the reservoir cap in the engine bay? I had noticed it over the last several track events and then the last one I was hearing a noise that sounded like a racing transmission (straight cut gears (sp?)) at Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend. The sound would echo off the walls.

Well, driving home gently, no noise. Yesterday I clean the car up, put the street wheels/tires back on, swap brake pads, etc. and cruise out to Starbucks. No noise. Meet up with some buddy's and on the way back I drive in a very spirited manner. I exit a highway and downshift through 4-3-2 rev matching and swing into a parking lot and I hear the noise again. Then, I hear a groaning type noise and park the car. Afterward dinner, I drive home and no noise at all, but I'm driving gently.

This morning, I open the power steering cap and it's basically bone dry in there. Nice. I go and buy some NAPA power steering fluid and I hope that fixes the problem and I didn't damage my power steering pump. Anyone else have this problem?

AU N EGL

Boiling over.

Do you have the Z51 option with PS cooler? If not you may wish to add the PS cooler for reasons you found out.

Good Luck

QUIKAG

Yes, I do have the Z51 with PS cooler and it obviously isn't helping too much....

ErnieN85

Switch to redline fluid and make sure it isn't overfilled.
unless your using bigger than stock front tire it should work fine.
If that fails a bigger cooler or a turnone pump.

darrahc

I've had the same problem on my Z.

I replaced the hose clamp which was a source of fluid spewing every where as well as it boiling. When I put fluid in, I put enough in so that it's just touching the tip of the dipstick.

QUIKAG

Thanks, guys. I'm running 275/305 R888 tires on the track, which I don't think are excessive sizes at all. I'd prefer much bigger tires. I will try the redline fluid and the hose clamp, but I'm not entirely sure about the hose clamp? The fluid seems to be coming through the cap when it's really hot, not through a hose clamp? Can you clarify the hose clamp issue?

I hope the normal NAPA power steering fluid is okay as that is what I put it in to bring it back to the full level on the dipstick. It took maybe 6 ounces or so of the 12 ounce bottle I bought.

I guess I need to research how to 'flush' a power steering system to put Redline in it. I've never had this problem before. Only issues I've had so far are the high oil temps (factory oil cooler isn't too good there either), a burned out O2 sensor (probably due to running very rich for a while with long-tubes before tuning), and going through brake pads like crazy. I'm on my 5th set of pads with 8,500 miles.

QUIKAG

So, does anyone know why the power steering fluid barfs out of the cap on an '08 Z51 with a power steering cooler? Is the power steering cooler that deficient?

ErnieN85

Could be........I don't know if my 09 has a bigger cooler or not, but I don't seem to have the problem (yet).
one of the things which causes the problem is high revs. so it's possible that it is your driving style? have you checked for blockage? maybe the cooler collected some trash?

QUIKAG

I do drive very aggressively on the track, so maybe I'm just pushing the car harder than the engineers expected of majority of Vette drivers. I guess in addition to upgrading the factory oil cooler (I saw 307F with an extra quart of oil at this track event last weekend), I may need to look at upgrading the power steering cooler too.

stano

I have the same problem. I was told that the -3 camber up front is causing the pump to work harder. I went with a different fluid and lower level. Seemed to work better.

shifter77

TOO MUCH CASTER

QUIKAG

Someone on a different forum recommended and underdrive pulley to keep the PS pump from spinning too hard. They also said I could modify the pump itself at a few different shots to gear it down for consistent high rpm running.

My front camber is around -2, so not sure that's the problem. I didn't have this issue with my '01 C5, so I'm surprised I'm having it with my '08 Z51.