General / Off-Topic Car Mechanic Question.

ZeroAi

ZeroAi
Your Dad is right - it's not a huge deal - just suck out the brake fluid and put in Power Steering fluid.

There's absolutely no need to pay hundreds to a shop.

Jacques d'Orleans said:
You can put brake fluid in your power steering system and it will work, but you can't put power steering fluid into your brake fluid tank, because power steering fluid has a much lower boiling point as brake fluid has.
If he has removed all the brake fluid with the syringe from the reservoir, just top it off with steering fluid again and it is ok.

TL;DR:
Brake fluid in power steering reservoir: works (just do it in case of emergency)
Power steering fluid in brake fluid reservoir: Nope, do not even think about it. Never ever do it!
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Seconded.
 

Broon

Broon
Vasco Sapien said:
My father visited my house today and decided to 'Help' me, by topping up my cars Power streering reservoir with brake fluid.

once he realised what he had done he insisted that he used a syringe to drain off the liquid that he placed in there.

How ever... i know my car and the reservoir levels are now just below Max, where as i know that the level before was just on the Min maker.. (topping the levels up was supposed to be a task for myself this weekend... i knew it was low).

Im a computer guy.... not a car guy.

Anyone here have any suggestions? Know the average cost (UK£) for a garage to drain and replace? What damage could this do if not remedied?

--

Cheers in advance.
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Be mindful of what you are putting in your power steering reservoir. It might not actually take "power steering fluid".

https://www.cardone.com/docs/default-source/product-pgs/psfluidtypes.pdf?sfvrsn=16


For instance, my Dodge truck takes ATF+4, ie: transmission fluid.
 

Vasco Sapien

Vasco Sapien
Job Done... was simple enough. The only troublesome part of the job was fixing a wonky paving stone on my drive way before i jacked up the car.

Computer nerd yes.... but cars..... Pffff EASY!

[video=youtube;OynKbfEGV_A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OynKbfEGV_A[/video]
 

verminstar

Banned
verminstar
Knew it would happen one day...just back from a little forum holiday courtesy of my mouth, thanks btw...someone would actually post a question I could actually answer while Im gone so now Im just late to the party and it wouldnt have the same effect.

Karma...a master brake cylinder fer an alfa romeo is on average twice as expensive as either BMW or Audi counterparts. Sadly thats not even yer worst case scenario when ye mess with anything that involves hydraulics in a car. I remember the phone calls well few months back trying to source the damned thing after I blew mine, along with a few other bits and pieces...

Safe to say I know a helluva lot more about cars than is normally considered healthy. When I could be bothered to play pc years ago, I was so tech clueless, I would have just paid pc world to replace a stick of ram. I never worked with computers they were always just a toy to me...made the reason fer switching to consoles easier cos its power button lights up when I push down on it with my thumb...happy days now I can be dumb and lazy and still get a good game in winner winner chicken dinner.

Also dunno if its been mentioned yet, but brake fluid is just about the best thing in the world fer destroying yer cars paintwork, so do be careful. A simple splash can do damage that will cost hundreds to set right if not more depending on how exotic yer tastes are in cars. Me, Im an alfa romeo nut...more obsession than just a hobby it was just a hobby 15 years ago.

Oh and dont mix the two...fairly sure its been well and truly answered by now but what the hell. Not only are they two entirely different types of fluid that do two entirely different things but as anyone in the pc business would say to me...if ye dont know what yer messing with then just pay someone else who does cps its a can of worms when ye just tinker anyway ^
 
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