power steering cooler

[shoman247]

Ok. Well my fuel pump went out...and after we got it fixed it has sat for a mere 3 months or so. Well a few weeks ago i drove it for the first time since i replaced the fuel pump and while i was driving my p/s got hard. Well i got home and it was leaking....badly. i crawled underneath it and come to find out it was the cooler. Well i finally got it off after ripping and bending and unbolting alot of stuff. My question is....where can i can find...and what should i get?

[Guest Greg Ross]

If you are not concerned with keeping the car 100% stock/ original there is another option;

That P/S Cooler is on the return/ low pressure side of the circuit I believe and as you've found out the car is pretty much built around it. Am I correct that it's the aluminum tubing that's leaking, not just the from/ to hose? If that's the case you can finish ripping out the aluminum cooler tubing and just replace it with a aftermarket transmission cooler. You'd need to extend the hose from both sides and locate the cooler anywhere in the front of the radiator. Short lengths of tubing (steel) with hose clamps will make up your splice joints.

[padgett]

Another option if you do not drive in snowbanks or park everyday in a too-small parallel place is to just bypass the cooler. Most cars including my 88 do not have a power steering cooler.

[Guest Greg Ross]

Padgett,

Look again, I think you'll find a piece of aluminum tubing running across in front of the radiator. If they bothered to put one on a Reatta for delivery in Canada I suspect you're blessed with one/ two!

[Guest maybe2fast]

I had my P/S cooler go out and a new one was like 45.00 from the dealer with my 25% discount. try GM PARTS DIRECT (get the part # from your friendly GM dealer)

A trans cooler maybe to big!

[tc11003]

i think the 88s had no cooler but there must have been a reason to have one on the 89s . my 89 had one , it leaked and i replaced it with a tranny cooler.

[padgett]

OK 88 has a pipe that runs in front of the radiator. 89 and later seem to have a real finned cooler mounted in the same place. Can see both on page 6-38 of the Illustrations section of the 1993 P&A (online).

Would expect you would need more in Canada since most comon cause of overheating a P/S is trying to unstick a car from a snowpile.

[shoman247]

ok so then what would u people suggest i get then. A OEM p/s cooler or a tranny cooler or a after marktet p/s cooler (providing they make one)

[Shelby]

I would just put a small peice of tubing where the cooler was with 2 clamps on each end. And call it good.

Flush the system while you are at it.

[sahein]

The oil seals will fail if the oil gets overheated.

[padgett]

Yes, and you will blow the head gaskets if you overheat the engine enough. The question is whether the oil will get overheated. Our 1990 Bonneville ("C" 3800) has no power steering cooler. Of course it also has considerably more open space between the engine and the firewall.

First time I saw a PS cooler was on a 4800 lb 67 Cadillac Fleetwood and it was just a loop but back then the p/s components were in front of the engine.

Where you get into trouble is going lock to lock many times quickly particularly at low/no speed since that is when the power steering system is loaded heavily and the pressure rises dramatically. Normally it is just a circulating pump. This is common when trying to get in/out of a tight parking place or a snowbank (or in autocrossing but doubt that it applies).

Now this is one of the things helped by running the engine a bit cooler than normal like I do (180F thermostat and fans reprogrammed to match). I also tend to be gentle on cars (remnant of endurance racing) where I can so YMMV.

[Barney Eaton]

I have owned several GM cars with the 3800 engine. For some unknown reason, some have a exhaust shield between the pipe that goes from the exhaust manifold to the converter, and the steering rack. At road speeds this pipe can get very hot and transfer heat to the steering rack and heat the fluid.

So on the Reatta, I add a shield if there is not one. They can be made from scrap steel or aluminum and attached to the front roll bar with a stainless hose clamp. Hopefully this will prolong the life of the steering.

[Shelby]

I base this on my experience with 2 Olds Toronados that I put 300,000 miles on. They just had the long tubing, About 12 feet.

A trans cooler in front of the Radiator would never get warm in the winter.

Hydraulic things like Warm (Not to cold not Hot) Clean Fluid.

If your powersteering fluid smells funny and look brown and gucky. It is time to Change it.