Power Steering Cooling Line Above Front Bumper

[Year1chevy]

Hello everyone! My first post here however have enjoyed the info here for many years. My question regards the Power Steering Cooler Line that runs above the front bumper area. It has started to leak at the factory crimped connection and appears to be a tough area to access. Has anyone replaced this line before and what was the procedure for accessing it? I have ordered the new line from GM as auto parts stores don't seem to carry it. Thanks for your input, Jeff

[Corsemoto]

Pretty straightforward to replace, disconnect the line from the steering gear and p/s pump and replace. You might have to remove the radiator shroud for access. Might consider adding a p/s filter to the rubber line while you're doing it and use some decent stainless fuel injection hose clamps.

The new Gates 365509 power steering cooler return line kit, a whopping $18 from Amazon.



The cooler mounts under the bottom radiator shroud and bumper cover. Before removing the return hose at pump, I removed one of the crimp connectors on the cooler hose and separated to try and drain as much fluid as possible.



Cooler line exits the steering gear.



After cooling, the line returns to power steering pump at the blue spring clamp.



Old cooler line and new cooler line - should be easy enough to rebuild the old cooler line for a spare by removing the crimps and using new power steering hose with fuel-injection hose clamps. Considering the new Gates return line is only $18, it may not even be worth messing with.



I added a p/s filter when I replace the pump and lines. Filled with fresh p/s fluid and bleeding was a bit difficult until I went back and read that should prime the Hydroboost system by starting van and pumping brake pedal 10-15 times, then bleeding p/s system became much more effective

[Year1chevy]

would the filter go onto this line? I believe this line is part of the hi-pressure side.

[Coaster]

that line is low pressure. its where i have my filter as its last before the pump return.

on the new cooler, cut the dang crimps off first thing and use FUEL INJECTION CLAMPS, two per side. do it now or do it within a year from now, ask me how i know.

[Corsemoto]

I updated my previous post from when I installed mine.

Coaster said it, use high quality stainless fuel injection hose clamps, you'll appreciate it down the road. Lube the o-rings too.

[Year1chevy]

Too Sweet!! Wish I would have waited on ordering my GM replacement @ $43.00. Hope to get another 100K out of the next one! LOL Thanks for your expertise!!

[Silver99]

I'm trying to replace the power steering cooling line under the radiator support on my 1999 RWD Astro.

I've successfully released it from the clips near the crimps (see Corsemoto's second photo at the beginning of this thread) and move the cooler side to side, but I haven't figured out how to slide it far enough to the driver's side to disengage it from the plastic loop on the passenger side.

The FSM is no help at all -- all it says is "remove the power steering cooler pipe from the air baffle."

What's the trick?

[Coaster]

its been a while but i think you have to pull the rubber lines out from the engine compartment towards the front, then slip it whole thing out the drivers side.

its really easy if you just cut the crimps off.

cut the crimps off. they are coming off at some point

[Silver99]

Thank you for your response!

The rubber hoses are not the issue -- the width of the hard line from the left hand loop to the right hand loop prevents me from moving the whole assembly to the driver's side enough to clear the plastic loop in the air baffle.

I see in Corsemoto's photos he has a lot better access. At first I thought it was because he has AWD vs my RWD, but I'm going to see if removing the bumper cover gives me a better view of what's holding things up.

[dramey]

Both the bumper cover and the metal bumper under the bumper cover are real easy to remove once you remove the grille. The bumper uses 4 bolts to hold the bumper to the bumper mounts. The bumper cover is held on to the top of the bumper with 5 plastic rivets and 2 bolts to the bumper cover support rods at each end of the bumper cover.

[Silver99]

A few minutes after posting my previous message I went out and looked at the front bumper cover -- it looked easy to remove and it also looked like I could possibly slide the cooler out the front, just like Coaster said.

Yes, the trick was to remove the front bumper cover. Once I did that everything was easy -- just pop the driver's side loop forward and under the bumper, then I was able to slide the hard line further toward the driver's side and extract the passenger side of the hard lines from the plastic loop in the air baffle.

I should have taken off the front bumper cover before even trying to disengage the hard lines from the clip shown in Corsemoto's second photo -- it is much more accessible from the top than trying to sneak my hand in between the bumper and the antisway bar.

As for the crimp bands on the hoses holding the rubber lines onto the hard lines, you are entirely correct. I am quite peeved, because I thought if I paid the premium amount and got AC Delco's so-called OEM lines they would be the same substantial ferrule crimps as are on the original hose. Not so -- they are the same ridiculous little bands as used for holding a dust boot, and one hose was so loose that it twisted on the hard line without any effort at all.

Grumble grumble mutter mutter...

Take a look at this photo from RockAuto to see what they are using
http://www.rockauto.com/info/358/36-365 ... __ra_p.jpg

While ordering I had looked at the photos as well as those for the Edelmann cooler lines -- they looked the same. I thought RockAuto had inadvertantly duplicated the Edelmann photos to the AC Delco entry, so forged ahead secure in the belief that the AC Delco lines would be better than what was shown. Not so -- they are identical to what's shown and also, as best I can tell, identical to the Edelmann lines. I paid the premium amount of $16.23 for what I could have bought for $10.02!

More grumbling and muttering...

[97cargocrawler]

Cut those stupid bands off and use some fuel injection hose clamps. Even more upsetting is that you could have just repaired what you have for less than $10.

[Silver99]

Oh yes 97cargocrawler, I did replace the "stupid bands" with proper clamps! I'm not totally daft.

I just wanted others to know that AC Delco is selling the same stuff as others but at a premium price.

As for your comment that I could have fixed the problem for even less than the $10 for the Edelmann cooler, I wanted to replace the whole cooler because my power steering pump had shredded itself and left debris everywhere. Yes, I tried flushing, but it's not 100% effective, and yes, I did install a filter, but I didn't want there to be so much junk left that the filter would plug, then bypass the remainder directly to my new pump. Also, all the hoses were 18 years old, and I wanted the hoses attached to the hard pipe cooler with proper crimps which I expected to get -- but didn't.

I hope others will learn from my mistake.

[Mmusicman]

How "effective" a simple single looped "tube cooler" is might be debatable too. Sure can't hurt!
Either way... they're certainly cheap enough!

My 92 didn't come with a cooler... guess it wasn't that important back then...

[Leeann_93]

Really? My '93 has one

[chevymaher]

My 94 doesn't have one. Guess they were hit and miss. The Z and W vin differences.

[AstroWill]

Some had them, some didn't, just varied by year and rwd vs awd.