How to Add & Install a Power Steering Cooler on Any Rack and Pinion Power Steering System

Basics of Installing an aftermarket power steering cooler. 

The Cheap And Easy Way To Add A Power Steering Cooler To Any Car

Why add a power steering cooler? 

Some motorsports put a high amount of strain on the power steering system, and drifting is the perfect example. The constant steering required in drifting meant the power steering pump and rack are constantly working and constantly creating heat. 

Much like brake fluid, power steering fluid can boil and reduce overall efficiency in the system by creating air pockets. Usually, this just means cleaning up the fluid that boiled over, but at the wrong time, this loss of control could be extremely dangerous.

How to Add & Install the Cooler

Luckily, adding a cooler to a power steering system is only a 3 step process and we will explain each one. (1) Identify the low-pressure power steering fluid return line. (2) Find a mounting location for your cooler. (3) Bleed the system.

What to Buy

To install a cooler on a Power steering system you will need:

• An oil Cooler (transmission oil cooler recommended)
• Oil safe Hose (depends on which fluid your system uses)
• Hose clamps
• Mounting materials (Bracket or Radiator zip ties)
• Power steering fluid (consult vehicle information to determine which fluid to use

Recommendations: Transmission oil coolers cost significantly less than power steering coolers and work just as efficiently. They are also sold in kits, often by the manufacturer "Hayden," which come with most everything required to install the cooler. 

Step 1: Identify the low-pressure fluid return line for the power steering

Any rack and pinion power steering system will have 3 hoses involved. In the diagram provided, you can see that the 3 lines run in a triangle, with the power steering pump, reservoir, and rack and pinion being the 3 corners of that triangle. If you dont have a separate pump and reservoir, then the second diagram will look more like your system. You will be able to identify the high vs. low-pressure lines by how they look. The high-pressure line is meant to handle over 1000psi and is therefore much larger in diameter, and usually partially made of hardline. The low-pressure line will often be a normal rubber hose.







The low-pressure line will normally run between the reservoir and the rack and pinion and will look like an average rubber hose. This is the line that will need to be bisected to install the cooler. Sometimes this line is mostly hard line, which means you should avoid cutting if possible and instead install the cooler hoses somewhere where a rubber line can be accessed.

Step 2: Find a good place to mount the cooler

For the cooler to be effective you will need to find a place with "some" airflow where you will still be able to service the cooler when necessary. Modern oil coolers are very efficient, to the point where they will still cool oil by about 30F with no airflow. Power steering fluid is hard to boil in general, and this means you don't need to position it in the direct path of airflow for it to be effective. Use this to your advantage, and try mounting it somewhere more accessible for easy servicing, or somewhere more tucked away for a cleaner look. You can see I decided to mount my cooler in front of the radiator to keep it tucked out of the way.

Step 3: Bleed the power steering system

To avoid losing steering capabilities while driving this is an important last step. After mounting the cooler and hooking up the hoses you will need to fill up the power steering fluid reservoir and start the car.
There will be a huge air pocket in the system where the new cooler is, and where fluid has leaked out. Removing the air is as simple as turning the wheel from full left to full right while keeping fluid in the reservoir. Since the system is pressurized, this will force the air pocket to bleed out through the reservoir as more fluid is pulled in. This is easily done alone but a friend to top off the reservoir will speed things up.
Once the wheel is turning from lock-to-lock while feeling consistent, the air is gone and you are ready to roll!

Check out the full video below!