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Will I Damage My Avensis If I Drive Without P/s Fluid?


lestermester
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Hi

The power steering fluid in my Avensis Verso has leaked out of the system (again) and now I need to get it to the garage.

I have some p/s fluid at home. I guess I could fill it to 'max' level and try and drive to the garage 3 miles away and hope it doesn't all leaked out before I get there.

What damage might be done to the car if it's driven with low levels of p/s fluid?

Cheers

Maz.

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Hi Maz,

The power steering pump will be damaged if the fluid runs dry.

It depends on how bad the leak is. If topped up and the route is easy without too much stop start and turns, you should be fine. Top up just before you drive.

If the fluid leak is very bad, do not drive the car, as damage to the power steering pump will be likely and expensive. It would be better to get the car towed.

The other option is to remove the power steering pump belt if the engine is non-vvti petrol and early diesel, which are seperate. The steering will be very heavy, and it may not be advisable to drive. There is no option with serpentine belts.

You need to judge the amount of fluid loss, and minimize the expense of the steering system repair.

Konrad

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Konrad,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

An update...the p/s reservoir LOOKED empty but only took about 100ml to fill it to the 'max' marker (I simply don't understand that...trapped air bubble?). I drove it to the garage, no idea what damage that's done. I'll let you know what was wrong with it when I find out. Thanks Maz

p.s. The car is an Avensis Verso, petrol vvti.

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Maz,

Hopefully you have not done any further damage. When you got to the garage, did you check to see what was left in the reservoir?

When you topped up the fluid, the 100ml may be enough to fill the reservoir, and so long there is fluid in the rest of the system. If the system has lost a bit if fluid, the pump will take fluid from the reservoir when you drive and steer.

Hopefully your car will only need the original problem fixed.

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PAS pumps can be surprisingly resilient. An ex of mine drove her car for around 6 months or more with little or no fluid in the PAS. Only when she complained one day of very heavy steering did I investigate and found a very slow fluid leak and an empty reservoir. With the leak fixed and the fluid topped up the PAS was fine for the rest of the years she owned the car.

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Maz,

Hopefully you have not done any further damage. When you got to the garage, did you check to see what was left in the reservoir?

When you topped up the fluid, the 100ml may be enough to fill the reservoir, and so long there is fluid in the rest of the system. If the system has lost a bit if fluid, the pump will take fluid from the reservoir when you drive and steer.

Hopefully your car will only need the original problem fixed.

I did. Surprisingly, the fluid was just still within limits. Fingers-crossed, the damage will be minimal (including on the wallet). Cheers, Maz.

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High pressure hosepipe was at fault. Now replaced. Thanks

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Maz,

Much cheaper and quicker than the whole rack.

Great news.

Konrad

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I had a power steering leak in my old van, I used Lucas power steering stop leak fluid and that did the job, cost around £10.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I drove my 2.8 Capri around for months without realising it was out of power steering fluid. I should add driven very vigourously and also at high speed down minor country roads yet it never did it any harm.

The maddest thing being I never felt there was any issues with the steering. The Capri wasn't normally power assisted so when I bought it I wasn't surprised the steering was heavy around town and parking speeds, all Capris are lol

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I drove my 2.8 Capri around for months without realising it was out of power steering fluid. I should add driven very vigourously and also at high speed down minor country roads yet it never did it any harm.

The maddest thing being I never felt there was any issues with the steering. The Capri wasn't normally power assisted so when I bought it I wasn't surprised the steering was heavy around town and parking speeds, all Capris had heavy steering at slow speeds so it didn't feel out of the ordinary.

My first Capri was a mk2 '76 1.6 GL that some bright spark thought fit to replace the steering wheel with a 10 inch mini style one that were popular at one time. You needed tohave arms like a weight lifter to get round Tescos car park..well would have been Safeway or Prestos back then lol

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