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Would love to hear thoughts from others on my situation...
1990 900 Turbo with 125K miles
I recently started experiencing a power steering groan so tonight I decided to check the level in the reservoir and thought I'd use a turkey baster to inspect the condition of the fluid since it has never been changed since I've owned the car for the last 10 years. It has been checked (level and condition) and noted as "good" multiple times over the past 10 years during other maintenance at the dealer and a very good indy. So I thought all was good. I've had no problems (other than a recent reservoir leak and groan) but have only driven the car about 15K miles in the last 10 years. I doubt the reservoir leak is related to the fluid type.
So, I was quite surprised when the fluid in the turkey baster came out looking very RED... like ATF fluid which apparently is a big NO NO in this power steering system. The level itself was indeed low, and it appears to have a small leak near the bottom of the reservoir which is slowly seeping into the fender and down the passenger side mud flap. I filled it up a bit with some "Lucas power steering fluid and conditioner" which is correct GM spec and the groan went away immediately and steering is working perfectly fine.
So my concerns/questions are:
1. could there be such a thing as red power steering fluid (I've never seen it)
2. The stuff that came out was red but also quite cloudy/dirty so I want to flush it anyway. Is it ok to completely flush it and go back with the proper spec steering fluid?
3. Should I stick to ATF at this point?
Although, it is also possible that someone through the years just topped it off with some ATF which gave it the red tint and the majority of the fluid in the system may be correct. Who knows?
4. what kind of damage could have been done if it was in fact filled with ATF?
I am planning to unbolt the reservoir and to inspect/find the minor leak which hopefully is just the hose clamp at the bottom. Any help/thoughts/tips would be most appreciated!
posted by 70.192.0...
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