I have a 2007 auto TD4 with only 29,000 miles on the clock which developed heavy steering at low speed and a constant whine from the steering pump. I determined from other posts that this is a common problem so I replaced the reservoir and flushed and refilled the fluid and all now seems to be sorted. Well at least it has been perfect for 400 miles or so. I have put together a summary of how to do this as it is relatively easy for DIY and saves many hundreds of pounds for those of us out of warranty.

Heavy steering (possibly accompanied by a whine from the power steering pump)

Symptoms

Heavy steering at low speeds i.e. parking and a very annoying whine from the power steering pump which at one point I thought was the turbo. My FL2 is Sept 2007 and 30k miles so out of warranty.

Land Rover - Power steering bulletin.

No.LTB00272 November 24 2009. Vin Range H000001-H150000

1st - If there is internal knocking noise from the centre of the steering gear, cause weld splatter contamination in gear tube, change rack power steering reservoir after flushing system.

2nd - If rack is ok flush system and fit new reservoir only.

The cause.

Some early vehicles were fitted with steering racks contaminated with weld spatter which is picked up in the fluid and collects on the filter in the reservoir and ultimately restricts the supply of fluid to the pump. The filter cannot be removed and cleaned as it is an integral part of the reservoir and is impossible to see well from above. The power steering fluid in my reservoir was grey and dirty.

Solution

If caught early enough this can be rectified by replacing the reservoir and flushing the system and replacing with new PAS fluid. Here is how I did it for about £30 and a couple of hours own labour.

What you will need:

• PAS fluid (green) - 2 litres (I could have just about done it with one) - Land Rover Part No. LR003401, which costs about £8.83 a litre (inc VAT). You can use an alternative Pentosin CHF202 hydraulic fluid.. Saab stock it but my local dealer charges about £17 a litre. Don’t use standard off-the-shelf fluid as I believe it will not mix.

• New reservoir and cap – Land Rover part number LR000578. Cost me £11.56 (inc VAT).

• Fuel hand primer bulb - £4.70 from internet.(see notes below- avoids mess and can also be used to prime the fuel filter, after cleaning)

• Trolley jack and 2 axle stands.

• 2 metres of clear pipe.


What you need to do:

Raise the front wheels off the ground to make turning the wheels easier without the engine powering the PAS. Trolley jack is helpful here and a couple of axle stands.

Cover the auxiliary drive belt and the area around and under the reservoir and pipes to avoid contamination, which is difficult to remove.(don’t forget to remove these before you start the engine later on)

Remove the PAS fluid from the reservoir by sucking it out with a fuel hand primer bulb which has a one-way valve. They are cheap to buy on the internet (I got one for £4.70 + postage) and makes the job a lot cleaner. If you don’t have a bulb place a receptacle under the reservoir of at least the capacity of the reservoir to catch old fluid that will poor out of the reservoir – very messy!

It is useful to lift the reservoir from its mounting bracket to gain better access to the pipes underneath.

Remove the ‘supply to pump’ pipe (the larger of the two pipes fitting straight onto the reservoir stub pipe to one side of the base of the reservoir) by decompressing the spring clip. Very messy here if you have not pumped out the reservoir! Removing this one first from the reservoir makes access to the ‘return to reservoir’ pipe much easier as its connector can be awkward.

Remove the ‘return to reservoir’ pipe by depressing the button on the 90 degree elbow connector at the end of the pipe and pull it to release it from the lip on the pipe stub. My connector was a bit stubborn but a bit of jiggling sorted it out.

Remove the old reservoir.

Plug the ‘return to reservoir’ pipe connector on the new reservoir ( the one in the middle – I used insulation tape as no fluid pressure) and connect the ‘supply to pump’ pipe to the new reservoir.

Put a long clear hose in or on the free ‘return to reservoir’ pipe and run it into a container to catch the old fluid (sufficient for the volume of fluid being used). Ideally use a clear hose so that you can see the colour change of the new fluid. I cut off the pipe connector stub on the old reservoir with a hacksaw to ensure a good fit in the connector (needs to be cleaned after cutting to avoid contamination) and attached the clear hose into the cut off stub and sealed with insulation tape. This needs to be done quite well to avoid it being pushed out by the pressure of the fluid being forced through. When you are removing it later on, the stub may come away from the tube and stay in the elbow connector so long nose pliers may be needed to extract the stub from the pipe clip of the connector. It may be easier for you to remove the elbow connector from the pipe and connect the return pipe directly to your clear pipe – I could not do this as I could not separate the elbow from the pipe.

If your clear pipe is long enough, say 2 metres, it is useful to extend it to a large receptacle placed about 3 feet from the front offside wheel so you can turn the steering wheel, see the reservoir and the collecting receptacle or at least the clear pipe all at the same time so it is a one-man job and the wife doesn’t get oily and cross.

Fit the new reservoir into the bracket in the engine bay.

Still with the engine off pour new fluid in to the plugged reservoir.

Turn the steering wheel back and forth, from lock to lock to force the fluid in the rack out of the tube. Keep the tank topped up to avoid drawing in air and keep turning the steering wheel back and forth.

After a few tanks full clean fluid should come out. About one litre of PAS fluid should be enough to flush most of the old fluid out but have two litres to flush a bit more and have enough to top up at the end. My old fluid was a mucky grey so obviously full of swarf from the rack.

When the fluid is flowing clean, make the tank nearly empty by turning the steering wheel back and forth so that there is limited spillage when the return to reservoir hose is reconnected to the reservoir. Reconnect it quickly and there should be limited spillage.

Refill the reservoir.

Turn the steering wheel from lock to lock quickly several times to bleed the air from the lines, then look into the tank and see if there are any air bubbles.

Remove all the rags you used to cover the auxiliary belt etc.

Start the engine and turn the wheels back and forth to circulate the fluid.

Turn off the engine and repeat this step until no more air bubbles appear but make sure the fluid level in the reservoir does not get too low.

Check the fluid level with the road wheels in the straight on position.

This procedure cured my whining steering pump and heavy steering at low speed. The filter in my reservoir was heavily blocked so it must have been starving the pump. It is now like new and hopefully I caught it before the pump and rack failed which would have cost several hundred pounds and made me very cross!

Time taken - About two and a half hours taking it methodically including the ubiquitous tea break and fending off “helpful” neighbours so it probably can be done a lot quicker – it’s a good job I don’t work for a LR dealer. - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

Last edited by freedieselauto on 14th Jul 2012 8:58 am. Edited 3 times in total

Brilliant post sir (although I hope I never need to use it...!)

Fantastic information and very concise. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.

Nice one

Can you let my local dealer know this procedure... I've had a right game with mine resulting in a new rack first... then after a week of whining they replaced the resevoir and now i'v had a new pump!

I still dont think it is right though, i think the new rack itself is'nt brilliant...

The irony of it all, it was never realy a major problem before and the noise that i thought i heard could not have been the pump as it still does it  Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

many thanks just carried out above procedure and worked a treat 2006 hse 50,000 miles whole job completed in 1 hour

not had this problem, but interesting reading and much appreciated.

Iain

Yes spot on.
This has been a common design fault on early models due to the mesh size " 15 microns " in the sealed power steering resivour.
Mine had the same problem and was done under warranty. They told me that they had never heard of this fault so I produced a technical bulliten from landrover which I down loaded, that soon took the smile off their faces.
I was bloody angry with their none caring attitued and fob off lines.
There about as usefull as a chocolate fire guard

spot on post
has more than likely solved my problem, i have noticed the steering seems heavy at times and there is a noise that i thought was the turbo when turning left or right from junctions and roundabouts.

i suppose a tell tale sign will be the colour of the fluid ?? mines got approved warranty so will check out the fluid and get it booked in if needed

thanks for the informative post  TO DARE IS TO DO

Heres a quick check you can do to see if your filter is blocked.
While the engine is ticking over undo the resivour cap of the power steering tank, as you look inside you should see a nice calm flow of oil in a kind of dome shape.
There should be NO bubles, if you see lots of bubles and erratic disturbance then the pump is struggling to pump the oil round the system due to the filter being part blocked.
Remedy, replace filter and oil as discribed in earlier posts on this topic

Great information

What size/diameter pipe did you use for the run-off to the external container? 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Excellent write up, thank you for this! Replaced mine this morning and it feels 100% better! No more noises or heavy steering at low speeds.

for the LR Part numbers, got them from my local LR dealership without any hassles.

Had a look inside the old reservoir and could see the dirt and muck in there.

Hopefully caught it in time.

Thanks again!

Certainly a common problem... mine replaced under warranty on Wednesday, no quibble. So much quieter. Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

excellent post, well done. My oil has gone black and power steering has started making a noise since my trip to France so may be the next job on the list to do !
I reckon these FL2's are as high maintenance as old MGB's !

oldgeezer, dont leave it as you will permantly damage your steering pump too

Cheers superspark. I have only done 170 miles since it spent a week at the dealer having new dash + EGR valve + sensore and that was only 3 weeks after it spent 10 days in the dealer for a list of previous faults !
I just cannot use this heap without something going wrong everytime I use it. Its only just broken 20,000 miles a few days ago! Its only 6 weeks out of warranty and its been so much hassle I really don't have any confidence to use it at all. To be honest its getting a joke now and its what will go wrong when I get it out the garage! I,m just not using it at the moment whilst I am following up some advice ! And the PAS is just another thing to add to 5 pages of.A4 paper of problems and faults !