Factory power steering cooler? 1991 Suburba

1991 V2500 Suburban, TBI 350 with 4l80E Trans, for reference.

There is what appears to be a power steering fluid cooler/coil mounted underneath the radiator (See photos).

Does not have hydroboost. I can't find any diagrams or anything similar to this anywhere online. The hoses connecting it are crimped/banjo'd onto the cooler, so it's all one piece. Hose fittings are starting to leak so wanted to replace or repair. Was this a factory option?

Thinking I could take it to Napa and have them replace the soft lines and fittings.

Yes, it's factory. I've seen them on 90 and 91 Suburbans (both had vacuum brakes) and my old 91 crew cab had one (hydroboost). Oddly, my 91 Blazer (originally loaded) does not have one.

My 91 burb doesn't but it was originally a half ton. Maybe an option or just not 1/2 tons?

Jawzjeep said:

My 91 burb doesn't but it was originally a half ton. Maybe an option or just not 1/2 tons?

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Good point, both of the Subs that I saw with the coolers were (light duty) 3/4 tons.

my 1990 v1500 suburban has that power steering cooler. it also has the extra oil and transmission coolers. it might have been associated with the towing package? about the only option available at the time, that my suburban does not seem to have, is the rear auxillary heater.

My '89 V2500 has one. Nothing specific in the rpo codes for it, unless it was bundled in with the "KC4 Cooling system, H.D. engine oil" which is the plate-style oil cooler.

i just bought a sub and it's having the same problem i can't fine that cooler anywhere, did you find a solution?

EADN20 said:

i just bought a sub and it's having the same problem i can't fine that cooler anywhere, did you find a solution?

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Well, I took mine off, cut The crimps off on each side, broke them apart pulled the hose off grinded down the tack weld so that the ends could be separated far enough apart to be put in a hose crimp machine had my local hydraulic hose shop put new crimps on and new hoses (the blue hose is MSHA certified and that’s what my local shop had for chemical resistant hose) Had a welder at my work Tack them back in place note it is aluminum, so make sure you can have someone weld aluminum or braise it without popping a hole through the line…… But if that is not an option for you, you can cut the crimps off with a small Dremel make sure to not go threw the hose. They are pretty fragile so you do not need to worry about cutting 100% of the crimps you can spread it apart very easily with a flat tip screwdriver. There will be two flares on each line the in and the out and you could clamp a hose onto it with a hose clamp it won’t look as clean, but it should function just fine

My 89 v1500 suburban has the same cooler and had a oil cooler. No secondary transmission cooler which I thought was wierd. I ditched the oil cooler on mine.

On the lines I don't trust any lines that come from a store these days and just take them to my hydrualics shop and they do ten times better then remans.

I recently added a double pass small cooler to my ‘91 as it was missing and the pump would scream when hot. Doesn’t seem to get much air flow down there as my temp gun shows about the same entry as exit temps on the pump. Anyone try mounting the cooler behind the grill like a trans cooler?

I have that setup on my 1989 R2500 - it has the optional oil cooler in front of the rad as well but no external trans cooler (just the heat transfer coil in the radiator tank). So far its hanging on OK - my oil cooler was broken away from all the original brackets and cheerfully zip-tied in place (despite all the original brackets still being in place) but the steering fluid cooling thing is unmolested.

The OBS trucks use this kind of power steering cooler too, but there is a better option. The later ones with HD towing package, and the big blocks and all 3500s got a finned version. I thought I had a pic of it, but I'll have to get it tomorrow (part is out at the shop building 10 miles away).

Looks like I’ll be trying it out in front of the radiator after all. I notice my 18 month old B & M super cooler is leaking from the bottom corner. Holley said to suck it, 12 month warranty and no discount code either to buy a new one. Done spending money with those clowns, they’ve gotten too corporate.

Will report back if it makes a difference.

I repurposed a factory engine oil cooler as my p/s cooler.

HotWheelsBurban said:

The OBS trucks use this kind of power steering cooler too, but there is a better option. The later ones with HD towing package, and the big blocks and all 3500s got a finned version. I thought I had a pic of it, but I'll have to get it tomorrow (part is out at the shop building 10 miles away).

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This is the style I am talking about. I got this off an OBS dually, but my Crew cab has one as well. It's kinda tucked under the edge of the grille opening so difficult to get a picture of it installed.
These are apparently unpainted from the factory. Rust on this looks like surface rust, I got it to put on my burb.