I sprung a leak in my PS Pump and have now fixed it and refilled with ATF fluid. Everything I google says that's okay, but I wanted the opinion of my EXPERTS here. You guys are the only ones I really believe.

Thanks, Bill

 

The factory-recommended power steering fluid is ATF anyway.

Honestly I don't think I've ever owned a car that didn't use ATF in its power steering system...

 

Many thanks!

 

Not to confuse the issue, but, here goes.

My talented machinist and master fabricator son vehemently says no to ATF in the PS pump. That the strong detergents will erode the seals and leaking will result. Ps fluid is a bit different., it is sold for that purpose.

I have used both in various critters and mixed the two. So far, so good..

The orange air seems to be replaced with a normal grey!!!

Carl

 

Modern ATF's have friction modifiers and detergents so they cost more. No advantage to using a more expensive fluid where the detergents and frictions modifiers are useless. No harm will come when using ATF. Both a power steering system and automatic transmission use the same type of lips seals. Both AFT and PS fluid are design for gear style pumps where viscosity needs to be consistent over a broad range of temps.

 

Carl, you haven't had problems with either ATF or "power steering fluid", and have successfully mixed the two, because they're essentially the same thing. Their composition is pretty much identical: >95% mineral oil, 1-5% corrosion inhibitor (some sort of alkyl phosphite, usually) and a dash of seal swelling agent.

ATF won't cause seals to erode away. You wouldn't want to use it in your transmission, let alone the power steering system, if that was the case!

 

Just as an aside, I used Redline PS fluid which claimed to re-invigorate leaky seals.

The Adwest pump in my Mark 2 had been sitting idly for years un-used.

Surprisingly, no more leaks! The stuff actually worked!