Danny Weikel

I have 2002 S6 Avant and have a very noisy power steering pump. I checked the fluid levels and they aren't low but there is a lot of air bubbles in the fluid that is the reservoir. Does this mean my power steering pump is going bad and needs to be replaced?? I thought about trying to do a flush and put new fluid in the system but fear it won't make anything any quieter. Any experience with power steering pumps acting up like this???

kickstand80

Here is a link on how to change your oil. You have a filter built into the power steering reservoir that is not removable. I drained my reservoir and blew backward thru the filter and used some degreaser to help flush out the junk, or just buy a new reservoir. Make sure you get all of the degreaser out of the reservoir before you reinstal the tank.

Remember that Audi Power Steering fluid is special. It is a mineral oil. If you put reqular fluid into your system it will kill your rack seals, then you are in for a bill!!!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ch&um=1&itbs=1

Danny Weikel

That looks pretty easy. I will try that and see how it is after flushing it out. My fear is that if I flush the system my pump will let air back in the system and will end up being the same in no time. Thanks for the link and will let you know the outcome.
Thanks, Danny

uberwgn

Danny, do you know how many miles are on this car?

IME, I would strongly suggest suctioning out the old fluid and putting fresh in assuming it's never been changed. You must use the correct Pentosin fluid as noted above.

Danny Weikel

I'm at 104k. I have 2 cans of the correct Audi fluid and scheduled for a oil change tomorrow so if I need more it will be waiting for me. The real concern I have is what is causing there to be air in my fluid?

Danny Weikel

Well I followed what that link told me to do and must have something wrong or let more air into my system cause now it is very loud and isn't working properly. Gonna just have to drop it at the shop and have it flushed correctly.

Danny Weikel

What I failed to do was while the car was running turn the wheel all the way to the left and all the way to the right continuously to work all the air out of the system. Once I started to this it emptied all the fluids in the reservoir and pushed it thru the system. I kept adding new fluids and continued to work the steering wheel back and forth. I decided to remove some more fluids with a baster and continued to add fresh fluid and worked it thru the system until the fluid was all fresh and green like it is supposed to be. After driving it to the shop it is actually quiet like it is supposed to be. Thanks for all the tips. D

uberwgn

Yep, this is one of those rare (and predictable) miracles. It's also an AudiWorld Top-Tip of the week: It's a real good idea to change this fluid by 100k miles or earlier.

I just do the turkey baster (extractor) routine, drive around the block, drain, drive around the block and keep doing this 'til I've expended the full litre can. I'm not keen on opening up those lines.

I'm very confident one can purchase this magic elixir (Pentosin CHF11S) at the local NAPA store under the Pentosin name. It's probably in the $25 - $30/Litre range nowadays. It's also going to be available at many of the Euro car dealerships since it's widely used.

Barry Arsenault

Have had this air problem in power steering for months and finally after exhausting all of the fix recommendations I finally found a post that solved

my problem. Turns out there is a screen/filter in the bottom of the power steering tank that through **** poor engineering can dislocate causing much turmoil in the fluid in the tank and the air is being made right in the tank. Kind of like a frothing process. Easy way to see if your screen has dislocated is to remove the cap while running and if there is a geyser like action in tank it has come off. I removed tank and after 20 minutes or so I finally got it locked back in place and replaced the tank. Problem solved. Now this screen is installed before the top half of tank is assembles so the screen is larger than the fill cap hole so get ready to spend some time fishing tools down the hole to get it back in place. It probably would have been easier to just buy a new tank but I am cheap so I took the hard route. I was just getting ready to buy a new pump so I am really glad I found the post from another person about this fix. I wonder how many racks and pumps have been replaced because of this assinine issue that Audi could fix just by plastiwelding this screen in place.