Blazer been sitting for a long time. Does it damage the steering pump to run it with old fluid

[Overlander]

Would you recommend flushing it before running the vehicle or will it do no damage if the fluid is old?

Also, if I flush it, which hose should I drain from -

https://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/medium/nvb/n731-2237_lang.jpg

 

[Bent77]

It’ll be fine for initial start up. I’d probably consider changing to new fluid once you are working the bugs out

 

[Overlander]

Thanks!

 

[Wes Harden]

Only if it has water or something nasty, if looks like trans fluid or light hyd oil your good to go

 

[diesel4me]

Ditto...as long as the fluid looks OK and isn't contaminated,I'd not worry about it..
My van has not been driven on road since late 2003 and I've started it up every so often to move it or just keep the engine free and hopefully keep seals from drying up and leaking...the P/S has never made a peep and works fine every time I've gotten it running..
Had the same experience on many cars we got running at the junkyard that sat "forever"..

GM says you can use "power steering fluid" which is usually a light amber color and you can see thru it--or Dexron II ATF,which is red,and will look like a strawberry milk shake if water gets mixed with it..
I've used both with no issues ,and topped off P/S with P/S fluid when it had Dexron in it and never noticed any ill effects..
Some claim the typical "power steering fluid" is just Dexron without the red dye in it,but to me it smells more like hydraulic fluid ..

 

[mrk5]

My 73 C10 daily driver has the same fluid that was in it when I bought it. Unless the pump went bad at some point, it's probably the same fluid that's been in it from the factory. I think new stuff they are recommending a 100,000 mile flush.

My preference is to run power steering fluid. Seems like any time I've had a problem with leaks or failure, it was running transmission fluid. But I know there are lots of people that say it works just fine with trans fluid.

 

[diesel4me]

I've run one or the other,or a mixture of both in my P/S pumps and plow pumps (Fisher,which uses the exact same pump guts as a GM car or truck)...only time I've used one fluid exclusively was when I had to drain everything and refill it from empty--even then I likely added the alternative to top it off later on ..

I've been pretty lucky with P/S and plow pumps,only had a few leak a little,nothing topping it off every couple months wouldn't cure..only had a few pumps I had to change and I'm thinking that was only because I put a hole in the "canned ham" fluid tank by prying against it to tighten the belt..don't recall having one fail by a gusher leak or not putting out enough pressure..