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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / December 2007Power Steering Fluid Contamination
A routine check of the power steering fluid in my 1999, 66k mile-Camaro was surprising. The reservoir was full, but the fluid was medium brown and a little frothy with a warm engine. There were no obvious clues. After five cycles of suctioning out the reservoir, refilling, running the engine and loading the system by turning the steering, the fluid appeared clear and proper colored. Obviously some sort of contamination, but what? Finally, I remember cases of jet fuel with bacteria. A friend reported that he had experienced bacteria in aircraft hydraulic fluid. Hmmm Maybe! For the next few weeks, I checked the fluid and all was well. But, after 3,000 mile, the fluid is brown once again. I don’t have access to a good microscope or spectrographic analysis so the bacteria explanation is still only a guess. My question is, has anybody else seen this? Any ideas on how to verify that it is bacteria? And, the real big question, how to fix it? Totaling dismantling the system would be painful. Pet store antibiotic might cause more trouble!! Jan Howell jhowell2297@aol.com If its working ok i would just leave it. If you put antibiotics in the power steering pump we will have sent off to sunny vale. > A routine check of the power steering fluid in my 1999, 66k mile-Camaro was > surprising. The reservoir was full, but the fluid was medium brown and a little [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Jan Howell > jhowell2297@aol.com My 2001 Trans Am has a power steering cooler that mounts in the upper rad hose. Does your Camaro have the same thing? If so, maybe you're leaking coolant into the PS and vise versa. Coolant into motor oil turns it into a chocolate milkshake, so that could be it. Worst case, pull the pump and reservoir and lines all off the car and clean them all out and reinstall them. Yes, that's work, but other than a couple bucks worth of power steering fluid and time, it shouldn't cost much. Ray > Obviously some sort of contamination, but what? Finally, I remember cases > of > jet fuel with bacteria. A friend reported that he had experienced bacteria > in > aircraft hydraulic fluid. Hmmm Maybe! That's a kind of toadstool. > My question is, has anybody else seen this? Any ideas on how to verify > that it > is bacteria? And, the real big question, how to fix it? Totaling > dismantling > the system would be painful. Pet store antibiotic might cause more > trouble!! In this case, remove to demount every part for cleaning, replace hoses and gaskets. Regards, Ralf >A routine check of the power steering fluid in my 1999, 66k mile-Camaro was >surprising. The reservoir was full, but the fluid was medium brown and a little >frothy with a warm engine. There were no obvious clues. After five cycles of >suctioning out the reservoir, refilling, running the engine and loading the >system by turning the steering, the fluid appeared clear and proper colored. Somebody put ATF into the power steering reservoir, along with the nice clear power steering fluid. A mix of the two is medium brown, but will work just fine. >Obviously some sort of contamination, but what? Finally, I remember cases of >jet fuel with bacteria. A friend reported that he had experienced bacteria in >aircraft hydraulic fluid. Hmmm Maybe! This happens although most lubricating oils have stuff in them to kill bacteria. Molds also can be a problem. >For the next few weeks, I checked the fluid and all was well. But, after 3,000 >mile, the fluid is brown once again. I don’t have access to a good microscope [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >is bacteria? And, the real big question, how to fix it? Totaling dismantling >the system would be painful. Pet store antibiotic might cause more trouble!! I'm not sure it's really a problem.... but send it in for an oil analysis and let the lab guys tell you. Look in the yellow pages for oil analysts. --scott  Signature"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." On Dec 27, 6:52 pm, jhowell2...@aol.com wrote: > A routine check of the power steering fluid in my 1999, 66k mile-Camaro was > surprising. The reservoir was full, but the fluid was medium brown and a little [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Jan Howell > jhowell2...@aol.com Is it leaking? Is there evidence of rust on the inside of the power steering reservoir? Was the car in some kind of flood? >A routine check of the power steering fluid in my 1999, 66k mile-Camaro was >surprising. The reservoir was full, but the fluid was medium brown and a little [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >Jan Howell >jhowell2297@aol.com Every vehicle I've ever owned has fluid that looks like that after it's got some miles on it. I don't think it's anything to worry about esp since you did the RR on what's in the reservoir. |
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