2001 T&C bad rack?

Absolutely, it happens all the time to people who never flush their power steering fluid at the recommended interval, or who use transmission fluid to fill their power steering resivors.

If something inside the rack fragmented, or the vehicle is close to 100K miles, they should replace the PS pump also. And of course, if there's a fluid leak they should replace the PS pump if that is leaking and any hoses that are leaking.

Ted

I like your name, it's mine too.

Never saw any fluids pooling under the car.

Car has about 66k miles on it.

And no, I have never flushed those fluids, I wonder if they have to when the replace the rack?

Do you think it common that with that mileage we could have fragmented a rack?

Covered under warranty. Nice. $50 deduct. Nice.

If not, I was looking at about $800+

I haven't seen a recommendation in either the owner's manual or the FSM to periodically change the power steering fluid. Where is that recommendation and what is the interval?

Matt

And still laughing Ted, Chrysler Recommends ATF4 for Power steering fluid

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

It isnt Matt, just another way for the independent shop to make money for uneeded repairs

Made sense. They aligned the vehicle too. Oh, the power steering fluid and the transmission fluid are the same distillation? Hmmm.

Whatever. The electric door was sticking when it got real cold out too.

I think this is the last Chrysler Minivan for me. Operative word *think*.

I think only on the new vehicles. For the older ones they definitely recommend against ATF +4.

Ted

Glenn,

"In all pumps add fluid as necessary, use only Mopar Power Steering Fluid, or equivalent. DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID."

The caps are theirs.

Ted

There is also no recommendation in the maintainence schedule that I can see for flushing the brake fluid. I guess you are Glenn are going to tell me never to do this, either. Or is the hydraulic fluid in the brake lines somehow different than the hydraulic fluid in the power steering?

Ted

I dont tell anyone to do anything. By the way Ted, brake fluid abosrbs moisture

Your first post.....

Absolutely, it happens all the time to people who never flush their power steering fluid at the recommended interval, or who use transmission fluid to fill their power steering resivors.

It doesnt say a particular year Ted. Your post implies that all Chrysler vehicles are not supposed to use ATF. isnt that what you said Ted?

My reply...And still laughing Ted, Chrysler Recommends ATF4 for Power steering fluid

The problem is that you can't go by what the manuals say. The later TSB's *contradict* and supercede what the manuals say. My '99 LH car FSM has a very similar warning (p. 19-18): "CAUTION: Do not use automatic transmission fluid. Use only the proper Mopar Power Steering Fluid or equivalent when filling the power steering fluid reservoir." Yet, looking at the latest TSB No. 19-005-03, all 2nd gen ('98+) LH's are listed for ATF+4 as the recommended p.s. service fluid.

You happen to be correct in the case of the '95 T&C - the '96 is the first year listed for the T&C as being able to use ATF+4 for p.s. You lucked out in this case by using the '95 as an example. If you had happened to have used a '96 (whose FSM no doubt has an identical or similar warning) for your example, you would have illustrated the problem without my having to use the LH (or the '96 T&C) as an example.

Again the point is you can't go by the manuals - you have to go by the TSB's.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Yes, it is generally quite different. Most power steering systems use a pertroleum based fluid. Most brake systems use a glycol ether based fluid (DOT 3, 4 or 5.1) which will absorb the small amounts of moisture that find their way into the system to avoid water pooling at low spots in the steel brake lines and rusting their way through causing brake failure.

If the brake system is in good shape, it can take a long time to absorb enough water to darken the fluid and require a change. And even with no change, most brake systems will last the life of the car. That is one reason that new cars typically have a transparent brake fluid resevoir so you can check the level without removing the cap and letting more moisture into the system. In the old days, every time you pulled off the master cylinder cover to check the fluid level, you also further contaminated the fluid thus requiring more frequent fluid changes. In modern systems, the fluid can take many years to gather enough moisture through the seals to warrant a full change.

Some brake systems use silicon based fluid (DOT5). This is a whole different animal and used mostly by the military, for reasons I don't know. It is also used by some show cars as a spill won't ruin a very expensive paint finish.

Matt

keep up the good work

ATF +3 was factory fill on your 1998 LH car's transmission, and MS-5931 or MS9933 factory fill in the power steering. When ATF +4 came out Chrysler claimed it was completely compatible with ATF +3. Except it was incompatible for the older minivans. Until this year when suddenly they decided to discontinue ATF +3 and now ATF +4 is suddenly compatible with the older minivans.

Face it, if ATF +3 was compatible with the PS system in your car it would have come factory fill. One less fluid to stock on the assembly line. It wasn't. ATF+4 has almost identical characteristics as ATF +3 except that it's synthetic and lasts a lot longer. So if ATF +4 is good for your car's PS now, then ATF +3 should have been good for it's PS then.

I think when Chrysler came out with ATF+4 since they were the only ones selling it they decided it was some miracle fluid and they were going to try to get as much money as possible for it. So they issued the TSB in an effort to get people to spend even more money on ATF +4. Since they could only buy it from them.

I would agree that a REDESIGNED steering system should be able to run with ATF +4 just fine. And I think Chrysler did do this for the

I simply don't trust anything Chrysler says regarding ATF +4 revisions in any of their TSBs. There's been too much stonewalling, lying, and whitewashing from them regarding ATF +4. I'll use ATF +4 in vehicles where it was factory-fill in the power steering or in the transmissions, or in rebuilt transmissions in vehicles that came with ATF +3 or earlier. But everything else that was speced for

For everything but ATF +4 I would agree with you.

Ted