power streering and synthetic fluids

Nov 12, 2006 9 Replies
C

Hi,



I was wondering if anyone knew of any good synthetic power steering fluids. A few years back, I had 1993 Ford Ranger and a round 200,000 kilometers, the power steering became inefficient and very noisy. One day I was in Walmart and noticed the store brand synthetic power steering fluid that was about $1.50 or so. I bought it and with a turkey baster removed some fluid (there is no drain on a ford power steering pump) and then topped it up with the synthetic from Walmart. In a few minutes after starting the engine, the noise went away and power steering work almost like new again. I had to do the same thing about 50,000 kilometers later and had the same results. The downside is that Walmart doesn't sell a synthetic power steering fluid anymore. The only other brand that I came by was Valvoline's but that cost around $10 which I could pay knowing that it would eliminate the wine and moan from the power steering pump in my 1998 Ford Windstar. Anyone have any suggests on a good synthetic power steering fluid or even a transmission fluid that I could use?



Thanks,



Carl



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K

Power steering fluid, just like engine oil and transmission oil, needs to be periodically flushed. Refilling with Dexron transmission fluid, or in your case, synthetic Dexron should quiet it down. I've also heard of using Lubeguard Red (google it) will help.

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J

What makes you think that you would have different results with a conventional power steering fluid?

And what is so different about synthetic power steering fluid (compared with conventional)?

Jeff

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S

Many Ford products of that era, like the Taurus/Sale and MN12 T-Bird/Cougar used type F transmission fluid for power steering fluid. I have read that people with these cars have successfully replaced type F fluid with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF.

Steve

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J

But does the synthetic stuff work any better than the regular stuff?

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A

It should luibricate better and work better when its cold. That said, I've never even thought about switching the power steering fluid to synthetic.

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J

But will it make a difference in real life?

Jeff

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A

I have no personal experiance with it. But the OP seemed to be all for it, so if they want to use it, use it.

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A

My experience is that the syn fluid turned a small leak into a big leak in my 88 Mustang LX 5.0. Switching back to non-syn slowed it down for a while but eventually I had to put a new rack on it.

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