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97 steering rack bleed

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Old Mar 29, 2025 | 07:28 PM
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Default 97 steering rack bleed

took the rack off back in December for a balancer replacement. just slid it over to passenger side. fluid leaked out over the last two months. starting to reassemble everything and started to bleed the rack. spent about 20 minutes going back and forth and got nothing. reservoir still full and nothing going into the clear bottle. everything hooked up right. put a connector in the return line and ran clear tubing to a clear bottle. I think i'm missing something. advice? thanks
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Old Mar 29, 2025 | 11:50 PM
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Do you have the front wheels off the ground and are turning the wheels stop to stop? Don’t mean to insult you, but had to ask…
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 08:32 AM
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yes front wheels off the ground and going stop to stop. everything worked good before balancer replacement. not sure on how to use the mighty-vac but it looks like i'll have to have an adaptor cap to pull a vacuum. lines went on good with the regular cussing. i'll go out today and see if i can pull a vacuum from the return line as i have it by the front going into a clear bottle. the rack was off since December so maybe had a bunch of air in it. thanks for the reply. Denny
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 11:23 AM
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ok vette4fl I put the might-vac on the return line and started getting fluid out. went stop to stop and getting the old fluid out. have gone through a quart of new so far and it's starting to look pretty clear now. I used the return line cause it's an easy pic right now. I think I'll go through about another half quart before starting it up and doing the stop to stop again with engine running. does this sound like l'm on the right track? thanks again
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 11:23 AM
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The way you did it is the way i did it and just by turning the wheels from stop to stop was all I needed to bleed my system.
Maybe you have some air or dirt in the system?
I wonder if you can shoot some some LOW pressure air into the return line, then try bleeding again.
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by cdw
ok vette4fl I put the might-vac on the return line and started getting fluid out. went stop to stop and getting the old fluid out. have gone through a quart of new so far and it's starting to look pretty clear now. I used the return line cause it's an easy pic right now. I think I'll go through about another half quart before starting it up and doing the stop to stop again with engine running. does this sound like l'm on the right track? thanks again
Seems like you’re good. It may not ever get completely clear, so close should be good. If the power steering doesn’t feel like it’s working sufficiently, or if it intermittently gets hard to turn, get up on the freeway and run it in a lower gear at 5000 rpm for a stretch and that will remove any remaining air pockets. That technique rescued me the last time around.
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 12:12 PM
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i'll go out after the ball games today and shoot some low pressure in it. i'll get a couple more quarts to cover that. getting close. thanks for the reply and advice.
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 12:15 PM
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No, it’s working, leave it alone.
just do your regular bleeding now.

i mentioned that if you were clogged.

i think you are good to go
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 12:18 PM
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thanks for the advice and I'll use it if needed. I'll bleed a little more and get ready for the first start up this year. got in a little hurry and reused the little O rings. I hope they are all right as getting in there to replace them is a pain as you know. thanks again
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 12:23 PM
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ok. i'll finish the bleed and hook up the return line. I'll do the start up and check for leaks. pretty wet and soft here so it'll be a couple weeks before I get it on the road. it's my fair weather retirement car. thanks again
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 04:36 PM
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Originally Posted by cdw
ok. i'll finish the bleed and hook up the return line. I'll do the start up and check for leaks. pretty wet and soft here so it'll be a couple weeks before I get it on the road. it's my fair weather retirement car. thanks again
I am at a loss why you have the return line disconnected? The service manual procedure is very simple, and requires everything to be connected.
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 05:11 PM
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He’s flushing the system.
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 05:39 PM
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return line goes into a clear bottle so i can watch the old fluid come out and stop when it looks cleaner with the new fluid added which i completed. my service manual is this forum and it's never let me down. should have been a little clearer on the service line. it's disconnected from the reservoir and reservoir inlet plugged and the line is going to the bottle. will reverse that Monday. anyway thanks for the reply Lucky,everything has been very helpful. Denny
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Old Mar 31, 2025 | 08:25 AM
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Originally Posted by cdw
..... my service manual is this forum .....
I see. Noted.
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Old Apr 1, 2025 | 04:20 PM
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OK, you were turning the wheel back and forth without the engine running and not getting any fluid flow?

If so, that is normal. You do that with the engine running to flush the fluid or bleed out air.
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Old Apr 1, 2025 | 05:01 PM
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Originally Posted by lionelhutz
OK, you were turning the wheel back and forth without the engine running and not getting any fluid flow?

If so, that is normal. You do that with the engine running to flush the fluid or bleed out air.
I flushed and bled mine without the engine running. Worked fine. In fact, don’t quote me, the manual states not to run the engine without all the lines hooked up. Be nice if someone could paste that section up.

I’m a hack, so let’s see…😎
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Old Apr 1, 2025 | 08:30 PM
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Originally Posted by vette4fl
In fact, don’t quote me, the manual states not to run the engine without all the lines hooked up.
Nope, it doesn't. GM made the procedure so easy, they probably did not think anyone would try to bleed the system with an open line and the engine running.

But hey, you didn't follow any procedure...and it worked out for you.
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