power steering problems

[tedclark]

Hello,
I'm new to this forum. I found out about it by googling "Power steering problems".
I parked my 2000 Explorer Sport on a hill facing downhill for 5 hours today.
My fuel light had been on before I parked it. When I cranked it it shuttered,sputtered, and acted like it was about out of gas. I turned it off , put it in nuetral, and turned the wheel to the left to go around the car parked in front of me.( I was in someone's driveway) I coasted about 1 car length to a level spot. Waited about a minute and it started fine. When I backed out and turned the wheel to the left it shuddered. At the four way stop I made a right and it shddered for a second. This happened each time I made a turn on the mile ride back to my house.
I had my oil change last week and they always check all fluid levels and top them off if needed.
When I got home I opened the hood and I saw power steerimg fluid had leaked out and was coming out of that little hole on the cap. I opened it up and it was full to the top. It was brown. My daughter needed a ride to a friend's(about 10 miles roundtrip) It shuddered once again at every turn. When I got back home, I checked the fluid and it was still full to the top but red with bubbles. What's up? Will it hurt to drive it? Thanks Ted

 

[mwking]

By turning the wheel with the engine off you have got some air into the fluid as evidenced by the bubbles your seeing. It won't hurt to drive it, take it to an empty parking lot and make some turns back and forth and the air will work it's way out.

 

[99SportX]

I have turned the wheels when the truck was off also in my sport with the OHV V6. Fluid sprayed out the hole in the cap just as you described. It soaked the liner on my hood pretty good. lol If you have a jack, set the emergency brake, lift up the front end, start it up, and turn the wheels back and forth all the way a good number of times. That should get the air out of the system. Then check the fluid level once you are done just to be sure. If you don't have one, just driving it around will allow the air to work itself out also as mwking said.

The explorer fuel pickup being in the back of the tank kinda sucks sometimes. I had my dads 99 mountaineer almost die on me after being parked on an incline once also. When you are getting low on fuel, it is best to avoid parking on steep inclines so you don't get stranded, or at least have a path open to roll it out as you did.