The most important thing you will need for the power steering flush is fluid. You are going to want more power steering fluid than your vehicle manufacturer recommends due to completely emptying what is in your current system and utilizing new fluid to clean out the old dirty components.  It’s very important that you use the correct fluid for your vehicle.  It would be a big mistake to perform the power steering flush and fill the system with fluid that is incompatible with your vehicle.  You would go through all the effort of performing the power steering fluid flush,butreceive none of the benefits, and, in fact, possibly cause more damage than leaving the old power steering fluid in the vehicle would have caused.

In addition to the power steering fluid, you will also need some sort of drain pan or bucket to catch the fluid being emptied. Power steering flushes can be performed by yourself, but it is in your best interest to perform the flush with ahelper.  This provides you the opportunity to watch the fluid coming out of the system and determine when it is time to stop by verifying the fluid is coming out clean.

Very few tools are necessary to perform a power steering fluid flush.  You may need a set of pliers to remove hose clamps, and possibly a screw driver to aid in removing the hose from the ports. You will also need some sort of cap to put over the return port on the fluid reservoir. There are power steering flush kits you can purchase that will contain the cap for the reservoir and a clear hose so you can closely monitor fluidcolor when the new fluid starts to make its way through the system.

Should you have questions on your power steering cooling system, please reach out to the technicians in the Ask the Experts forum.