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 snipped-for-privacy@aol.com