help. brake fluid in power steering

[MikeLXv6]

yea hopefully. pretty scary reading this stuff from google results about the seals and what not, disintegrating. hoping for the best. thanks for the help, opinions and all. btw has this ever happened to anyone here? or know someone?

 

[finch13]

Yes, but brake fluid is designed to not mess with rubber seals and lines and not to corrode steel. The downfall is that it absorbs water.

At least you figured it out quickly and fixed the problem before any real damage could set it, if any.

 

[99CcordMTF23]

atleast you didnt fill it with blinker fluid... that would have ruined the rack for sure. lol Im just to cheap to do the Strong arm P/S delete. Lol

 

[Nissan2anAccord]

very stupid thing to do. idk how it passed me. maybe no sleep, extreme heat, no water, hunger idk but i accidentally put brake fluid on the power steering reservoir after i changed my brakes. about 2 oz or so. didnt realize it till last night. after driving about 30 miles or so. then this morning went ahead to the nearest honda bought 3 expensive a** 12. oz PS fluid. drained my old fluid as told by this .pdf file for fluid replacement i found, ran a half a bottle of the new in and then drained again and refilled. turned the wheel a lot of times after then looked at the fluid. looked pretty dark at the bottom but lighter on the top sides. theres no grinding or anything at all though, not hard to turn neither. none while it was driven and none while i was changing fluid. im so scared for my rack right i wasnt able to sleep and literally sh!t bricks (kinda). i love this car too much (1998 accord lx v6 w/abs btw). got it for an amazing price, virtually brand new, low mileage got it with 50k milesor less 2 years ago, and its got enough umf to tow my POS when it broke down. im also too broke to have to pay out for a new rack. im planning on using all my 20$ credit at autozone (yes thats how broke i am) to buy fluid and keep flushing it until it becomes clean. although i did see this article on hondaclub forum which is stopping me from doing it (besides my dad that saying it would be fine now and well just reflush it after a couple of months).

"If the fluid is dark brown or black that indicates a serious system contamination (likely due to breakdown of internal rubber parts or hoses) and more extensive repairs are called for. When this happens do not proceed with solvent flushing. If you carry on it will only make matters worse."

from http://www.hondaclub.com/forum/articles/1492-power-steering-fluid-lifeline-your-steering-system.html

would my car be fine now that i flushed it and maybe the dark color is just from left over inside. or do a couple more flushes. or (hopefully somehow not) do what the the article says and get raped by a shop repairs.

sorry for long post. flame me for the mistake idc. i just want help to have peace of mind that my car will be fine with no major repairs.

I went to the stealership the other week for a courtesy free oil change and came back with 3 things that need attention, an upgrade to a TL sway bar cause endlinks in the rear are gone , serviceing the auto trans (fluid drain /refill), and the powersteering flush... ummm, how does one flush the powersteering, i've looked around and found nothering on it... help???

ooh. idk neither lol. but removing the power steering isnt an option for me really since my sister and dad also drives this car and the power steering is part of why i love daily-ing this car. comfy, easy to drive, enough power. i got a 240 for the spirited driving anyways

Hahaha, i sold mine for the accord, hence my name

 

[Nissan2anAccord]

atleast you didnt fill it with blinker fluid... that would have ruined the rack for sure. lol Im just to cheap to do the Strong arm P/S delete. Lol

 

[Nissan2anAccord]

I went to the stealership the other week for a courtesy free oil change and came back with 3 things that need attention, an upgrade to a TL sway bar cause endlinks in the rear are gone , serviceing the auto trans (fluid drain /refill), and the powersteering flush... ummm, how does one flush the powersteering, i've looked around and found nothering on it... help???

yeah, any ideas wtf the stealership is talking about?
or do i have to make a new thread???

 

[imaricer:)]

atleast you didnt fill it with blinker fluid... that would have ruined the rack for sure. lol Im just to cheap to do the Strong arm P/S delete. Lol

WTH is blinker fluid?

 

[99CcordMTF23]

Blinker fluid? It's a myth. Used it on a lady in Arizona when I ran the shop. Lol it's only a joke, don't look for another tank full of an ugly liquid.

 

[SneakyPete]

WTH is blinker fluid?

.....it goes next to the muffler bearing lubrication line!

Anywho, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't P\S and brake fluid basically the same? being as they are both just different forms of hydraulic fluid? maybe i'm wrong.

 

[99CcordMTF23]

You would think so... But brake fluid isn't a very good lubricant, like p/s fluid, which has to circulate, and reduce heat and friction ect.