It appears a lot of guys have various experiences so I thought I would post something that's giving me fits.
I have my son's 2000 Mercury Sable 90% reassembled after an encounter with a tree that required replacing everything from the block forward. Core support, radiator, bumper bar, bumper skin etc. I left the front bumper skin and fender liners etc off in case there were problems/leaks. I indeed have a problem/leak but it's nothing I replaced.
It started right up last night with no drama or CELs so I drove it down the driveway to the barn, about 100 feet all told. Shifts were a little delayed and the power steering was not working. I saw a finned cooler up front that had to be disassembled and leaked ATF when I took it apart, now I know what that was for, the power steering system. I replaced the radiator so I expected to be down some ATF for the automatic.
I've added ATF and the tranny is good now but I am having a hell of a time bleeding the PS circuit. On my truck, I just added PS fluid to the reservoir and worked the wheel back and forth while adding fluid and that was what it took to bleed it out. I don't think that one was completely dry because it only had problems when cold.
On the Sable, it is popping off one of the lines to the cooler when I try to steer it, even after letting it run a bit and topping off the reservoir until it stopped bubbling. There is no doubt the circuit is completely dry so I have air in there. The line popping off has a spring clamp so it's not a pressure line. What I think is happening is the air in the line under pressure when I turn the wheels is stronger than the spring clamp and the last time I felt the line pop off, I jumped out and the ATF coming out was very foamy so I no doubt have air in there.
I guess my question is how do I purge the air on this kind of PS circuit? I've checked the web and tried raising the front end and moving the wheels by hand back and forth with the engine off and the engine on, this does not bleed the circuit judging by the reservoir level and lack of consistent bubbles. I only get a few bubbles and then it stops.
I've gone through three or four quarts of MERCON ATF trying to sort this out and I am now to the point where I have my son start the car as I am pouring ATF into the PS circuit so I am sure it is not going dry and the same line pops off 5 seconds later with lots of foam in the ATF. So the time between starting the car and popping the line has decreased from a few minutes to 5 seconds.
The cap is off the PS reservoir so it can vent and everything is back together properly, I took photos before it came apart and the diameters of the lines into and out of the cooler are error proofed. I checked and there is ATF at all four lines into the cooler so nothing in the cooler assembly is blocked.
The car drove down the driveway just fine after it hit the tree, just had a radiator leak I had to address and the core support is fiberglas so it cracked.
Any suggestions? I can post photos if anyone is interested.
TIA
Joe