2004 grand caravan 3.3 with 93k miles purchased used about a month ago. Had the power steering whine, was never really bad, fluid level was fine. Just the other day found a puddle of tranny fluid under driver's side engine compartment. Found everything there coated in tranny fluid. Found lots of people here and there talking about replacing the power steering reservoir to fix the whine and decided to start there thinking perhaps it was cracked. I removed my reservoir and found that the fat supply line was empty and the skinny return line was full. Brown fluid in the reservoir. I am not even sure it was ATF, might have been a mixture if the previous owner added regular power steering fluid. Anyhow, filled it with very soapy water and sloshed it around in a small bucket, also full of very soapy water and let it soak. More sloshing and soaking and drained. Boy was there nasty stuff coming out. I then noticed a slight rattle when shaking it. I sprayed lots of carb cleaner in all holes and sloshed around. Now I saw lots of tiny black specks coming out. Probably screen stuck material. More carb cleaner and no more specks. Back to soapy water sloshing and rinsed. Was convinced I got everything out, only now there is a LOT of rattling when I shake it. Perhaps some check valve, but I can blow and suck into all tubes (sorry) unrestricted. Faucet water filling from the top comes out unrestricted at both tubes. I hung it over a propane heater to dry, occasionally shaking it to make sure all water beads have a chance to move to a hot spot and dry. I reattach the supply hose and taped up the return port and ran the return line to an empty peanut butter jar and wedged it into the engine compartment. Filled with ATF +4 and started it up. Immediately heard a nasty puking noise and saw nasty brown diarrhea-like junk coming out the return hose. maybe halfway filling the peanut butter jar, it started coming out nice kool-aid red, so I shut it off and reattached the return line and filled to proper level with ATF. I wrapped the return line with about 2 feet of aluminum foil to see if it was the return line that was leaking all along. Drove around to smoke off all the previous spillage last night and this morning. No more leaking and the aluminum foil is clean. I don't know what was leaking. Maybe it was the return hose, but I'll have to bend it around when on to see if it is a positional thing that makes it leak. Anyway, I noticed that when the van is running, the power steering fluid level jumps up like 3/4 of an inch and immediately drops back down when off. So I have two questions. What is rattling inside the clean empty reservoir? and Why would the fluid level rise when on? I would imagine the return will only put back what was taken by the supply. I will go to autozone and take a dorman reservoir and see if that rattles as well, so I will know if my first question indicates a problem.

 

just replaced one on a 260k '03. The hose above the screen on the right above coil is return and the big hose on the back blocking the bottom 10mm bolt is out.

People usually punch the screens open as a free way to fix them(FYI this WILL destroy the pump relatively quickly and cost you $60.00 plus a lot of labor). The one I fixed was like that so I just bought new. I used like 1/30 Valvoline Max Life PS fluid with leak stop or noise stop or something, and Coastal/Autozone certified ATF+4 the rest.

I think a new aftermarket/improved reservoir was $20-$30 without a core rebate option..

Anyway, I actually ran this with return going to a drain pan a while with the reservoir full of new fluid and turning the wheel. The reservoir will get dry quick so don't run too long but don't expect to catch it. The pump still makes a little noise but not squealing, probably from the punched screen wearing internals out..

P/S is a super-simple sub-system, but the pump is a nightmare to replace on a V6. I've never actually had to replace the column assembly on any vehicle and I've dealt with a lot of high-mileage junkers..

 

thanks....called a local stealership, they said the reservoir is $20 but they won't have it till tomorrow. Not soon enough for me when I get in the mood to do something, so I went to autozone and got the dorman one. It too has a rattle in it. Then I called another dealership farther away, they also had the oem for $20 plus tax but they had it in stock. Funny how the aftermarket dorman is $23 plus tax and the OEM is $20. Drove out there, made some idle chit chat with the guy and got the oem one for $19.xx out the door....returned the dorman one on the way back. Dorman part is made in China, reason enough for me to return it. The oem one is made here in the U.S. OEM reservoir also rattles. Took a look inside. Only now did I plainly see the fine filter screen holes in the new one. My old one just looked like a plastic sheet, I didn't even know you could see the filter screen from the fill hole. Perhaps the screen material in the old one swells up in time. Anyhow, did another flush of my power steering as described above. I can tell you that when the van is on, the level does rise, but I believe it is deceptive, because with this new container, I see waves running around inside. Apparently it is circulating like how a toilet flushes, so the level probably dips in the middle. I saw no such waves with my old one even though the casing was almost as clear to see through as this new one. In my old one I just saw the level rise as one level body of fluid. I don't know how the return channels into the reservoir to create those waves, but I certainly did not have such action in my old one even after cleaning it. I can also tell you that after cleaning my old reservoir, about 1/3 of the whine was gone. That is a good estimate. After putting in this new reservoir, with no psychological overestimate....a good 80% of the whine is gone. Very satisfied. I would recommend not bothering trying to clean the old one if anyone feels the need. $19.xx is not worth the effort and mess and you'll always end up wondering if your screen is as clean as it can be. Thanks.

 

I find Dorman and other part-house makers almost always fix OEM design flaws in stuff. That's why I never hunt down Mopar stuff unless it's body or block..

I maintain equal loyalty and consideration for all things. Neither source cares if I eat tonight, one sales me an equal or better product cheaper.. Besides my tax dollars have probably already bought the Mopar part and I wouldn't sale bread to someone who I borrowed the money to buy it from..

 

Hahaha! Very well spoken...agreed...although in this case OEM American was cheaper. I'll take an American part over a Chinese copy any day of the year, and will pay some extra for it too. Neither one cares if I eat, yes...but the American part is probably superior in quality.

 

Weird, no whine at all when idling and turning the steering wheel, but whine returned while driving home this evening. Not at previous level, but right at about the same level as when I cleaned out my old reservoir. bummer, thought I nicked that problem earlier. Oh well, no leaks, moderate reduction in whine is good enough for me.

 

Although I had no other issues after replacing my P/S res, others have posted of a hose breaking down internally. If that happened on yours , then the whine is due to the screen getting plugged up again with hose particulate matter. And that might also explain why the color of the fluid was brown.

 

I've heard of internal breakdown happening a lot. I ignore the pump and hoses only because it costs about $200.00 to do it all.

I've seen entire kits(pulley, pump, reservoir, and all three hoses) for like $150.00 on mopar part sites.. Again though, the pump is a PITA on the V6, even more so than water pump..