We own a turus and noticed steam from the grill, found out it was powersteering fluid.Is it a problem?

Question

The fluid was on the cap, but i'm not leaking any fluids.And lately i've noticed a "burning" or burnt smell coming from the front, and when I popped the hood, it seems to be coming from near the area where the oil dipstick is.

Answer 1

If it's from your grill it's probably not Power steering fluid.  It's probably transmission fluid as there is a transmission cooler below your radiator.

Stop immediately and take to a garage to check this out.  You don't want to drive the car when the tranny is low on fluid.

It could be power steering fluid and a line squirting on the radiator but get that looked at asap as well as you don't want the steering pump running dry either and cars are really hard to drive when power steering goes. If you're in traffic this could be dangerous.

Good Luck

RoyG

KC

Answer 2

You didn't mention the year or engine size but starting in the late 1990s, the Taurus had a new power steering design and it had a fault. The p/s system could get an air bubble in it and "burp" p/s fluid thru the cap. Since the air bubble is pushing its way up through the fluid,it is also pushing the fluid up too causing the p/s fluid to appear to be full. Check your power steering fluid level with the engine running. If the fluid is low with the engine running, this is your problem but if you add fluid and then shut the engine off, it will burp out the fluid again. The fix is to apply a vacuum pump to the power steering resovoir to suck out the air and then top off the fluid.

Answer 3

Busted power steering hose, my guess