power steering fluid (try #2)

[danb5w]

(looks like my first post was lost - what did I do wrong....)

I need to fill up the power fluid reservoir (CDN 99 1.8T Wagon).
- Bentley sais to use G 002 000 type fluid
- on the reservoir a warning sais: "mineral only"
- my import car parts store sold me some "febi bilstein S 6161" synthetic fluid

Is "S 6161" compatible/mixable with G 002 000?

tia
Dan

[m24ng]

Buy from the stealership. Using the wrong fluid may mess up the power steering pump.

[Black-Magic]

I second m24ng's comment. That stuff is expensive too. Somewhere around $10 for like 12oz. or something like that. I had to buy it a couple of years ago and was shocked at how expensive VW is on their fuilds, which are all special types that you can't find at your local parts store. Wait till you go to do the transmission for a Tip

[vuvision]

Buy from the stealership. Using the wrong fluid may mess up the power steering pump.

What he^ said ... and to the tune of $19 for a small bottle. I just dropped by the dealer last week and assumed the ankle grabbing position and forked over the bend-over price

[Chris30vB5.5]

:roll: This comes up every two weeks, but better for you to ask then to put death-fluid in your PS system.

Always use VW/Audi approved fluid. Take that other stuff back to the parts store and get your money back. Using the wrong fluid WILL eventually cause premature failure of system rubber components (seals).

[99blackmagic]

i bought the quart size for 25 bux :shock:

[Ooinn99]

i bought the quart size for 25 bux :shock:

Me too! Especially, since at the time, I had the crummy OEM zip clamps on my hoses, which allow the fittings to leak horribly!

Listen to these guys, they are providing solid advice. I do not care what wonderful things the synthetic bottle says, our German friends built a system that is unforgiving if you use the wrong fluid.

[Kiyoshi]

*sorry for reviving a dead topic, but I didn't feel the need to make a new thread*

Does everyone's power steering make a horrible noise when there isn't enough fluid in it? Cuz my car has started making the noise twice. The first time around my dad put the wrong fluid in and ended up having to pay for a $300 flush. Now the car is making the noise again and we're guessing it's a leak, but we haven't noticed any drips.

Is there a possibility it's dripping onto something hot and evaporating/burning? We put in more G002 PS fluid an hour ago, and drove it around, and parked it in the garage, and now it smells funny and we think it could possibly be burning somewhere. Any suggestions?

[KillerBee]

My 1999 passat is making some weird noises when I turn the wheel.
Especially harder turns and at slow speeds. I think my power sterring fluid my be low. But I am not sure I am checking the right reservoir.
The one I am looking in is between the windshield washer reservoir
and the right front headlight and calls for hydrolic fluid only. But does
not mention what that reservoir is for and the manual for my car
does not say what it is either.

Can somebody tell me if that is where I would be replacement
steering fluid. Is there any other places beyond VW/Audi to get
it? From what I have read on the back of the bottles of standard
stuff that VW/Audi and Honda/Acura's require a special blend.

Would the Honda/Acura blend be similar to the VW one? I did see
that in the shops here. But no VW hydrolic PS fluid.

Thanks

[Ooinn99]

Kiyoshi,

How many miles on your car? How are you checking your power steering fluid? The car should be on a flat surface. If the car has been driven and is at normal operating temperature, the level should be at the “max� mark. If the car is cold, it should be at the “min� mark. Note: the max and min marks are very near the bottom of the dip stick. I am not trying to be condescending; I have seen people take many erroneous readings from not following these directions. If you have overfilled the system, you could possibly get a burning smell.

If you remove the plastic belly pan, you will be able to determine if or where the leak is originating. If the power steering system is leaking, you will have gooey (that’s a technical term :wink: ) residue collecting on your plastic belly pan. The mineral oil, power steering fluid, becomes very tacky when exposed to air for long periods (and is very good at collecting dirt). Dropping the belly pan takes about 20 minutes if you have ramps (9 90 degree lock bolts and one 10 mm nut). The residue will obviously be on the driver’s side. You can follow the residue up the hoses to the source of the leak(s). In my case, it was the faulty OEM zip clamps on the hoses. It was a $5.00 repair.

Good luck,

[Ooinn99]

My 1999 passat is making some weird noises when I turn the wheel.
Especially harder turns and at slow speeds. I think my power sterring fluid my be low. But I am not sure I am checking the right reservoir.
The one I am looking in is between the windshield washer reservoir
and the right front headlight and calls for hydrolic fluid only. But does
not mention what that reservoir is for and the manual for my car
does not say what it is either.

Can somebody tell me if that is where I would be replacement
steering fluid. Is there any other places beyond VW/Audi to get
it? From what I have read on the back of the bottles of standard
stuff that VW/Audi and Honda/Acura's require a special blend.

Would the Honda/Acura blend be similar to the VW one? I did see
that in the shops here. But no VW hydrolic PS fluid.

Thanks

Yes, that should be the location. The cap should be a light/lime green. Read my post located just above to make sure you are checking the level properly. If it is low, I recommend using only the VW mineral oil. It is expensive, but you will have fewer headaches in the end.

I also have a '99. Have you replaced the crummy zip clamps on the hoses? They may be the source of your leaks. For $5.00 and one hour of your time, you will solve the problem.

BTW, how many miles on your B5? Have you changed the timing belt and tensioner? Our model year has a faulty OEM tensioner. I almost lost my engine. Believe it or not, you may be hearing your timing belt tensioner, if it is not your power steering system. You hear a whining when the engine loads, i.e. when turning your wheels.

Good luck,

[Kiyoshi]

Thanks for the big reply!

I've only got 35K on my Passat, and I didn't check it on a level surface (slanted driveway) but after jumping the car this morning, I opened up the PS fluid reservoir and we could see that there was barely anything in it. I put a bunch more fluid in (bought from dealer) and then moved the steering wheel around to get the air out of the system, and then it stopped making its noise. Obviously, it's not the kind of weather out here that you want to do work on the car in, so I think we'll just keep putting in more fluid until it gets warmer or we can get someone to take a look at it for very little $$$

[KillerBee]

The steering fluid was about 1/4 inch below the low
line.

The sound I hear is not only when I am driving. I can
be parked in the driveway and turn the wheel each way
and when I get to the far sides of each turn radius it
starts making a sound. Almost a grinding/dry type
sound.

After topping up the steering fluid. How long should it
take before everything gets lubed up if that was what
was causing the sound?

Thanks,
KB

[mtimmy]

Have someone to check if there is bubble in your system.... this might be one of the reason causing the sound.

[Kiyoshi]

Yeah I had the same noise as you, so I put in the PS fluid, moved the wheel around a bit to get the fluid into the system, and once all the air got out and was replaced with the fluid, the noise went away. Now figuring out if there was a leak is another problem.....

[KillerBee]

I am having the shop look at it in case
it is the power steering pump (if such a thing)
or something else. Fluid is topped up but the
sound is actually getting worse

[wxman5]

After topping up the steering fluid. How long should it
take before everything gets lubed up if that was what
was causing the sound?

Thanks,
KB

My Passat was making the same noise, but the fluid level was perfect. I come to find out when they put new tires on at Goodyear, they topped off the system with standard PS fluid and not the VW stuff. I had to flush the system out and replace the contaminated fluid with VW stuff. After I did this, it took about a week before the noise went away. To date, I've had no more noise. A VW tech actually diagnosed it for me, and suggested I do the flushing myself because it'd save me a heck of a lot of money.

[sirwired]

ECS tuning sells the Febi/Bilstein as a substitute for the Pentosin that VW uses. I am going to expect that ECS tuning knows their stuff. It should work just fine.

SirWired

[KillerBee]

I will let you know what they say when they come back
with the diagnosis/fix.

Thanks for the pointers. Hoping it is as simple as a fluid
problem.

[wchp]

Pentosin CHF7.1 is the standard
CHF11 was the replacement in 91
mixed responses on mixing them though.
If I had Mineral in the system I would stick with the CHF7.1
available from:
http://www.rapidparts.com/Pages/vwc002f.html

Other strange oils: http://www.importautoberdoo.com/hsmo.html

[KillerBee]

The sound has gone away since the temperature warmed up.

I was told by the dealership I got the car from that the issue
is with the bushings and that in extreme cold temps they harden
and make this noise. Does this make sense? They say saabs have
similar issues. They told me my bushings were fine during inspection
of them and the streering rack is fine.

Just wanted to know if that made sense as I am not a mechanic.

Thanks,
KB

[baileyedition]

Ok, well I'm a victim of poor knowledge. The past couple of months my v6 passat 01' has driven me into the ground with repairs. Luckily I have been able to tackle things on my own. Everything from cam shaft tensioner pads and gaskets, trans mounts, qxlea, shocks, heater core, water pump, timing kit, breather tubes, abs module and more, now the power steering pump.

When I did the cam chain tensioners I had put the car in service mode which required disconnecting the pwr str lines, the fluid was saved but at jobs end was topped up with reg fluid. Never made a bad sound but a few weeks and probably 4000 miles later the front bearing on the pump blew apart.

I replaced the pump and filled it with the wrong fluid. It made a terrible sound as if it wasn't getting fluid. I found this forum and the fluid issue. I flushed it and now have the right fluid but still sounds the same. I read above that one persona car took a week for noise to go away. I imagine this for all of the air to get out. I have jacked up the car and turned the wheels left and right lightly bumping the stops to purge the air but can still see foaming occuring when running. Is it possible this is due to a bubble somewhere, if so how does one get this out. Or was the pump bad to begin with. I have gotten a new axle which had a bad inner joint before. Any help will be very appreciated. I'm now in the very poor house with this car both mentally and physically.

[JayTheSnork]

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you have likely ruined the new pump, as well as the steering rack.

[baileyedition]

Oh, a couple things to note, the car has 158,000 miles. Problems other than abs module started at around 142000. I can't complain to Mich as the parts that are going are all wear and tear parts but they have all decided to go at the same time.

The temps outside here are around 16 degrees f. I am not leaking any ps fluid. I understand that the wrong fluid can damage seals over time but I wouldn't think it would fail to lubricate parts enough to cause this noise unless the viscosity was miles apart. I do see a little wetness around the joints on the ps pressure line located above passenger side valve cover- would this allow air into system.

Thing is all of this was as is when original pump was working flawlessly. So I'm thinking air or bad pump.

Also I'm typing all this with my phone as I needed a new pump before internet so please forgive any typos.

Thanks.

[Dr No]

The foaming in the power steering reservior is air in the system. I replaced the fluid in the power steering pump when I changed the timing belt. Made a horrible noise until the air was bled out of the system. It took about 15 minutes. The foaming was gone when the noise was gone. So the question is do you still have air in the system or is there a bad seal somewhere in the system. Probably the later since you have been trying to bleed the system for a while. Probably the pump if it is still making a horrible noise.

[PZ]

A loose clamp or small hole in the intake hose to the pump will suck in air. That's how my pump fried.

[baileyedition]

Thanks for the responses guys, i guess ill be searching for anywhere air may be entering into the system.

Jay what would the reasoning behind thinking the rack would be toast. It doesn't leak or make noise at times the system sounds almost normal less the faint buzz from the pump.

Come to think of it even with the wrong oil in whilst in new York and the temp was in the 50s it was at its best.

[baileyedition]

Ok, been awhile since I could get to a connection bit the day after the lasy post i thought it would absolutely have to be air. It was great before the pumps bearing blew apart so a new pump should have been all it needed. I thought back to the pump replacement and the two hoses that were disconnected. I had also removed the res. To clean the filter. The return line from the pump I had remembered was fairly hard and when removing it had split about an 1/8 inch. The clamp was well after this so I figured it was fine. To check if these were leaking at the joints I applied a bit of black rtv silicone prior to first morning startup and it instantly solved it. No now for over a thousand miles. ill need to replace some hose and clamps at some point but if your in a bind or need to buy some time or just eliminating possible causes for air entry into the system this has proven itself to be an effective method.

Note: obviously accessing the pump will be much easier if you unbolt the coil pack mounting bracket (on v6 ) pull the plug wires off 1,2 and 3 cylinders and set up on top or engine. leave wires connected to coil pack.
Thanks again fellas for working through this with me.