What causes power steering fluid to turn black?
Dirt, heat, moisture and time. SOunds like you need a change. I would disconnect the low pressure return line( the one coming back from the steering box) and drain as much as you can. You can also buy a plastic type syringe at Walmart and draw the old fluid out of the resevoir. Reconnect the hose and refill it with some Lucas power steering addative and some power steering fluid. This might buy you some time on your power steering pump. The old fluid has probably lost some of it’s additives and lubricants by now and the seals in your pump are not being protected as they would with new fluid. It’s a simple and inexpensive do it yourself and it may save you a couple of hundred in a P/S replacement.
