haha.. are you serious? powersteering fluid is made to work in power steering systems, why'd you drain it? dont worry about it haha.

 

I pulled up at an auto-X and it was leaking, so I had to drain it. The repair manual and many other sources say to use automatic transmission fluid for this system. I've read that ps fluid is bad on the system.

 

In a 240 you use powersteering fluid. Honda/acuras are the imports that use something different

 

what? how?

 

Im pretty sure that most japanese cars were made to use ATF in the PS. PS fluid may not be the right viscosity and could cause some problems.

I can only assume that you ^^ are kidding...

 

I'm just curious, the manuals say to use ATF but I've yet to find out for sure why. Your answer sounds plausible though.

 

Well I dont know what to say except Ive been using ps fluid forever and it has worked like it is supposed to.

 

Here a page right out of the S13 CA18DET FSM, and it has been sited in at least the Z32 FSMs.

 

^all the FSMs say ATF fluid "Dexron" type. since i went to nissan to get the power steering fluid, i am starting to think that the Power Steering fluid is also ATF fluid! maybe it is maybe it isn't. i went to nissan and they gave me what i needed and its been working fine. no matter what if you get ATF fluid or PS fluid, just make sure its DEXRON type (whatever that is).

 

Its fine if they gave you that and it still works, but that doesnt mean that you are supposed to continuously use it. You could put water in your PS resvoir and it may work for a minute...


Dexron is specifically Automatic Transmission Fluid, so would you put power steering fluid in a Auto Tranny?

If the manufacturers call for ATF, then you should probably use it, I guarantee its properties are far from the same.

 

Well, I'm just happy to have my power steering back period and I haven't had any more problems so I think I'll just leave well enough alone...for now.

 

I would say to get that power steering fluid out of your system, jack the front of the car up, undo the power steering lines from the back of the rack and crank the steering wheel back and forth lock to lock with the front of the car in the air. It will drain just about everything right out on to your driveway. Perfect. Then reconnect the lines, put the car down, fill it back up and then crank the wheel again back and forth slowly with the car running then top it off.

BTW, the reason you may not be able to use power steering fluid in place of that ATF could be a compatibility problem with the material of the seals in the rack OR the tolerances of the hydraulics in the rack. ATF is thinner than power steering fluid. Hope some of this helps.

 

EDIT: Okay, I was wrong. Keep the PS fluid in there, it doesn't break down as easy under pressure as ATF. Leading to less failures if you keep it in there.

 

Well I went ahead and bled my PS system of the power steering fluid and replaced it with automatic transmission fluid with Dexron. I thought, better safe than sorry since that's what the repair manuals call for. I removed the return hose for the resevoir, the small pressure hose for the pump and the hardline going into the rack and bled the fluid into a bottle. By the way, the ATF fluid is not as thick as the PSF.

 

Dude, bad mistake. The FSM is steering us in the wrong direction(no pun intended). Sure, you can use the ATF like the FSM says to but its not as good as powersteering fluid. Read:

Under NO conditions is ATF to be used in power steering systems. The pressure in a power steering system on hard turns is much higher than that in an automatic transmission under load. ATF will become very hot under loads and start to break down causing electrochemical degradation, this also happens with power steering fluid but not as fast was with ATF. Once this process starts, your power steering pump and rack & pinion begin to clog with sludge and varnish deposits. The sludge and varnish can cause stiffness, leaks, or complete system failures.

I have been using PS fluid in my car for over a year no problems. No whines or leaks and I have never lost power steering during drifting or such.