Power Steering Issues

[Da Dark Jedi]

I own a 97 Q45 non-touring edition and over the last 5 months the PS motor would wine and knock. On Thanksgiving day I had a errand to make, as I walked to the car I notice a puddle of oil under the passenger side. I drove the car with no problems until I arrived at the store, now this is when all my troubles start.

As I pulled in the lot the steering went dead on me, almost put me on the curb. I park the car lifted the hood to see fluid coming out supply bottle thru the cap. I get home put it up on jacks, start engine, turn from left to right and add fluid. The noise that was coming from the PS stopped for a couple of days and the steering was fine to a degree. Fast forward to last week, it starts again so I get under the car to determine where the leak was coming from. Hard to tell but it was forcing air back up.

So Friday I take it in to the dealership for a conclusive answer. Their report was "too much oil to tell you'll need to replace the PS pump and two hoses, then well know if the rack is bad". They did say that they bleed as much air as they could, but I need to address those issues first. The car drove as well as to be expected, just a little stiff at times and the noise reduced. Now it's back, it happened tonight, right at the beginning of a work week.

I'll be ordering a junk yard PS unit and two hoses first. The car has 86627 miles on her, now I have a couple of questions to ask.

1) What is the correct way to bleed the power steering system, if it's in the FSM what page?

2) Should I wait to get a new PS pump or get a salvage pump?

3) Infiniti says 4-6 hrs labor, is this correct?

The charge for this knowledge came in at $123.00.

[Infinitiguy19]

The pump is $411.05 plus labor and fluid.

See page ST-8 in the 1998 Q45 Service Manual for the correct way to remove air from the system.

[Towncivilian]

After bleeding air, use synthetic automatic transmission fluid to refill. Synthetic ATF will lower operating temperatures and is better for cold weather performance.

[OwnerCS]

If it were mine, I would get a Fenco pump from AdvanceAuto with a lifetime warranty for about $118 ($40 core exchange). PS pumps are simple devices.. I've had NO issues with my Fenco pumps.. There is also a $30 off online orders sale at AdvanceAuto right now..