Power steering boiling on the track

[ElDiablo Viper]

Last time at Mid-Ohio my power steering fluid would boil and spill on to headers. After talking to Bill P he told me to put a straw and a catch canister for it. That worked but is there a better way to fix this problem?

 

[K Adelberg]

You can get a power steering cooler. I use that, but still have a catch can for an overflow. Also change the power steering fluid to a higher temperature one for racing. Red Line make a decent fluid. Check with some of the tuners for the cooler. I got mine from Dave Jenkins in Irvine, CA.

 

[Wing King]

I got tired of those ps problems too, so I picked up a little kit from Dan Cragin which included a nice cooler, a slight underdrive pulley (off a truck I think), and the new serpentine belt. That was more than two years and a bunch of track events ago. Never even THINK about the ps fluid anymore, except to change it before every track weekend. Thanks Dan.

 

[GTS Dean]

1) Keep the heat shielding on the headers and find or make one for between the reservoir and the header.
2) Use MoPar power steering fluid.
3) (maybe the most important) Don't saw at the wheel! Pick a line - the RIGHT line thru the corner - and drive smoothly.

I've lost 1 PS hose on each of my two Vipers in 9 years. The first was due to a bad belt tensioner on my '93. The second was radiant heat damage of the hose (by the manifold) on my GTS.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

GTS Dean is right. Mopar (and GM) cold climate power steering fluid is a synthetic blend, so excellent for high temperature operation also.

 

[Jay Lopez]

I use Redline Power Steering Fluid. . I also added Sean Roe's Power Steering Cooler . Since the changes, I have not boiled the fluid.

 

[Henry Cone]

You might try the Red Line power steering fluid first before adding a cooler. We run our 2 '96 coupes in Viper Days Super Stock class and use Red Line fluid in both of them. We have found with frequent fluid changes that we have not had any fluid boiling issues. I had actually bought a larger power steering cooler for my car but never installed it after we started using the Red Line fluid. I finally sold it