Coolant reservoir AND Power steering

[98SF19]

Hope I don't jam too much into this thread. I'm trying to incorporate as much from other posts relating to these topics as I can, for future searchers.

1) Been getting Low Coolant light recently, and topping off every few days. Then I realized that the level was staying at a low point but yet not leaking anymore, thus the motor never got hot. Still, I needed to resolve the leak. Took it to a shop to have it pressure tested and found a leak on the outboard side. I contend that it was caused by a heavy jarring when I hit a speed bump too fast (hey, it was unpainted and it was raining at the time!) but the mechanic said no way. Hmmm, a 13 year old plastic tank, in Florida, whatever . . . so they want me to pay over $150 to put in a new reservoir. I read an older link about an "upgraded" one, Dorman? Said it was from autozone, but I could find nothing from autozone for 98 SHO coolant reservoirs. Then I read that they use the same part as the Duratecs. The mechanic said the part was SHO-specific. Nice. So, can somebody point me in the right direction where I can pick up a new coolant reservoir? Thanks!

2) Steering's been REAL tight, squeaky, jittery, whiney, etc. from a start for the past couple months. After a few minutes of driving and turning, it becomes much smoother. Same shop tonight, the guy says the pump is leaking. The problem I have with that is that I haven't put new fluid in it in years , and the oil changes haven't reported low levels. I did the front brakes recently and when the car was up with tires off, I started the motor (to pump pistons back to engage pads). I then turned the wheels left and right and they moved smooth as silk. So if the pump's leaking, how is there still fluid after all this time and why does the steering smooth out after warm-up? (I think I know --> needs fluid changed). Does anybody disagree with my assessment? Could these symptoms indicate a leaking pump? I read up on v8sho.com where to disconnect for draining the PS fluid, but not completely sure about which hoses (http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/psflush.htm). Murdock says driver's side, but Nimz says passenger side. Hmmm . . . Here's a diagram:



Does anybody have pics of this? I changed O2 sensors a few months ago and could have done this since I had the radiator splash shield down. Just a matter of fighting all those little screws. I wasn't being proactive at the time I guess.

Sorry for the rant!
:thankyou:

 

[SHOZ123]

The PS sounds more like a rack problem. The pump internally is very simple and unless a bearing is bad probably not the problem. Obviously if you are not adding fluid it's not leaking. It only holds a pint or so of fluid.

To drain the fluid just unhook one of the PS cooler lines. No need to have the motor run as you cannot fill it fast enough. If the fluid is dark and dirty then just suck out the fluid from the reservoir and refill with cheap ATX. Keep doing this until it stays clean. It may take a few weeks of changing for this to happen. Once clean then drain and refill with quality ATX fluid.

The better, newer tanks from Ford don't have the black top. $150 is crazy for changing this. New tanks are around $40 and there are two nuts holding it down.

 

[98SF19]

Thanks Paul.

I'd read from other posts here and on v8sho that the ZF rack in our cars is TOUGH and that it was usually not the problem. These posts may have been from years ago and may have been true up to that time. But all things fail eventually. I was planning on having a second shop look at things, so I'll be sure to mention this to them.

As for the coolant reservoir, I can't find the specific part on Rockauto. I went through the directory for a 98 SHO (shown in the first attached image). Where am I going wrong? The second attached image shows some items that I found under the "Extras" tab, but they are obviously not designed for the Gen3.

Yes, I thought $150 was quite outlandish. He also wanted $76 to replace EACH HOOD STRUT. The scary thing is that he wouldn't be asking that if enough people around here weren't willing to pay it. This is further supported by the fact that there are three (3) auto repair shops adjacent to each other, literally all within about 500 feet of each other, and another one about a quarter mile away.

 

[SHOZ123]

The coolant tank for the SHO is the same as the Duratec V6. It has three small hose ******* whereas the Vulcan tank only has two. This is a very common part. Look under the DOHC 3.0L motor. You can either get the one with the sensor or without.

The hood struts take about 10 minutes to change. Easy as pie.

 

[98SF19]

I'm an idiot

I can't rightly say "Rock Auto should just copy that item to the 3.4L SHO item list" when I mention in my original post that the tank is the same for another motor.

 

[98SF19]

UPDATE (coolant reservoir and flush): Got the coolant tank from RockAuto ~ $40. Went in easy once I realized I could pull the large hose at the bottom toward the rear of the car to get some slack so I could remove the clamp (I had already disconnected down below to flush the coolant, so it was free to move through the conduit). I didn't blow the old coolant through the water pump as instructed by Mr. Nimz, just refilled with tap water, reconnected, let it run a while, shut it off, let it sit, flushed that out, then did the same thing with 100% distilled water before finally filling again with distilled water. Let that run in the car for a few days before throwing a bone to the local shop to do a coolant flush (I gave them my word I'd give them some business and they were running a valvoline special at the time).

(power steering flush) Did the power steering flush per Paul's post in the v8sho link above. Must not have put in enough fluid before going out for a test drive and with steering VERY difficult at times, I kept hearing a sound like nuts and bolts rattling in a tin can every 4 or 5 seconds. Back home, topped it off, sound went away. That was about two weeks ago and steering is MUCH better, and maybe most importantly, FLUID LEVELS HAVE REMAINED THE SAME. I'll be doing the turkey baster suctioning of fluid from the reservoir method for the next couple months to try and thin out the remaining bad stuff that was in there, then it'll be another full flush with good ATF.

Pulling the hoses apart for both jobs after undoing hose clamps was a B**CH.

 

[BamSHO]

great to here, glad its running good.

Brian Michael
98 silver Gen3

 

[Liquid_force]

The coolant tank for the SHO is the same as the Duratec V6. It has three small hose ******* whereas the Vulcan tank only has two. This is a very common part. Look under the DOHC 3.0L motor. You can either get the one with the sensor or without.

Wish I had known that sooner. I would have replaced mine months ago.
Even Dorman doesn't list it as an SHO part. Strange.
But if you put the ford part number in Dorman's search you get it. 3F1Z8A080EA = 603-201
http://www.dormanproducts.com/gsearch.aspx?type=oesearch&OE=1&q=3F1Z8A080EA

Another concern about getting the right part. You mention 2 ******* for the OHV, 3 for the DOHC/3.4.

I see 2 on ours. Did you mean 1 and 2?

Vulcan:

Duratec/SHO:

 

[SHOZ123]

It's the bottom picture.

 

[Liquid_force]

I see no reason they can't just sell the sensor. It pops out of the bottom of the reservoir and could easily be replaced.

As usual -- What seems like it should be a half hour job took me 2. It's tricky working around the a/c lines to get the main radiator hose on and off the tank.
The Dorman bottle didn't fit very well. The sensor connection extends much further below the bottle than the original bottle so you either have to jam it down into the fender to get the bolts to line up (placing a lot of force on the sensor) or you have to open up the bolt slot on the front side of the bottle -- probably both.
Anyway, I made it work. No more low coolant light, but I hope it doesn't spring a leak around the sensor seal.

Oh - my other concern. The new lid with the dorman tank doesn't get very tight at all before the clicker thingy won't let it tighten any more. Yes, I said "clicker thingy". I hung onto the old lid just in case.

 

[98SF19]

2 hours

That's why I put in a previous post (in this thread) to disconnect down below so you can pull some of that large hose up and to the rear of the car at an angle to give you more working room. Then when you reconnect down below, just pull it back to retrieve the bit you pulled up.

As far as the sensor extending further down than the OEM, I didn't notice it, and the Dorman fit in pretty nicely it seemed. It's so nice being able to see the coolant level without needing to put a flashlight behind the reservoir at night.

 

[Liquid_force]

Yeah, did that. Even moved the PS res so I could pull the coolant tank back further.
That OEM hose clamp that you have to get pliers on to remove about had me throwing tools. The a/c line is in exactly the wrong place.
Skinny hands would help. Not having a broken bone in one of them would have helped too.

 

[SHOZ123]

Wait till you have to deal with the ABS pump if you think the coolant tank is bad.

 

[Liquid_force]

It was a simple job, just tricky getting my hands/tools where they needed to be.

Over the years driving cheap, high mileage cars I've found that I can manage about any repair, but I have a way of making about anything difficult. Even changing oil.
No, seriously.
I once slid under my wife's Montero to drain the oil and had the trans plug out before I realized what I'd done. SPIII ATF isn't easily or quickly found.