156 power steering

[colcol]

Now that i am an expert * on power steering, after reading up on it on the webby thing, it is recomended that the power steering fluid be replaced when it becomes dirty, with the power steering reservoir made of black plastic on the 156, it is hard to tell if its dirty or not, so i decided it was time to do a fluid change, jacking up the car and removing the undertray, i found the lowest pipe on the power steering on the 156, was under the oil cooler on the right hand side, there is a rubber hose connecting the oil cooler to a pipe, and it had the Alfa Romeo 'tamper proof' hose clamps which meant i had to cut it off, so with the hose clamp off, i pulled the hose off the oil cooler and drained the fluid, i rotated the steering wheel, to get as much fluid as i could out of the rack, and let it drain overnight, next day i had about 1 litre drained out, but while it didn't look too dirty, it smelt a bit burnt, like what you get out of a clapped out Auto gearbox, i put back the hose and a new Tridon stainless steel hose clamp, topped the reservoir up, started the car, and as the reservoir fell, i topped it up, when it stopped dropping, i took the car for a drive, and it felt no different, but it had clean fluid, * x = unknown quality, spert = drip under pressure, Colin.

[colcol]

And i forgot to mention, that the 156 has a pretty good power steering oil cooler, on the right hand side, and a vent to the right of the fog light to direct air to the cooler, good stuff Alfa!, Colin.