want to first thank everyone a few months back with help on my clutch/tranny problem, the subsequent clutch bleed (it helped some), as well as with changing out the o2 sensors on my dads ford.

After those few DIY repairs, I decided to take my car in to a national tire chain to have both the brake and power steering fluids flushed; they have not been flushed in the ten years(127,000 miles) I have owned my 97 B4000. They seemed fine but just doing preventative maintenance.

Anyway, I got the car home (everything seemed fine and still does now-2 months later) and opened the hood to check out the work. The brake fluid looked good and clean but the power steering fluid resevoir was overfilled and the resevoir cap itself (it has a cuplike form) was filled with fluid; seemed like lazy, sloppy work. Besides that sloppiness, it seemed the fluid was just as dark as it was before. I went back and asked them about it and they (the sales guy) looked at it and said that "ford fluid is dark" and "it goes down once the car is on with the pressurized system and that was normal on fords". After reading previous threads on ps fluid, it seems that they should have used Mercon 5 trans fluid or equivalent ps fluid? shouldn't that be red? or at least clear? Again, it is two months later and I am just now looking into it and both my power steering and brakes seem fine. Was I ripped off?

thanks for any help or suggestions

 

Sounds like you were ripped off...

Power steering systems can use ATF or dedicated p/s hydraulic fluid... Either way the fluid should be bright red or a very light amber /clear if the fluid was new and fresh.

As for the power steering cap having fluid, they do tend to somehow accumulate extra fluid on the top, I have seen it on my own Ford trucks and cars.

Josh

 

After reading your post a couple of times, I'm not clear on what you found.

If your not sure of the P/S fluid quality, or type they used to flush the system, or if they used a detergent to tidy things up inside before the flush & it's just the new fluids detergents now cleaning things up & causing the fluid to discolor, or if they even flushed the danged system, but just added fluid to it & then overfilled it at that, maybe consider doing another flush yourself, it's not difficult at all.

Power steering fluid expands when at operating temp, so it's important to have the P/S reservoir at the right level, verified by having the vehicle level when we pull the P/S dipstick to check it. Over filling can cause the fluid to expand & weep out the caps air bleed hole, so maybe thats why it was wet outside with fluid????

The foam on top of the fluid is another story. That suggests that the fluid level in the reservoir was low & the pump had whipped air into the fluid & caused it to foam up & leak out the cap vent!!!!! SO, check the fluid level cold, after it sits overnight & cools down & the foam bubbles pop.

If the shop used a low quality fluid, maybe it doesn't have the anti-foam additive Ford specifies for it's fluid????? Or maybe they used the wrong fluid, or mixed in the wrong fluid if they just did a top off????

Here is how I do my P/S flush & how so far I've managed to stop a couple of problems I was having. If you don't want to add a cleaner upper to the fluid before the flush, or an inline filter after the flush, just omit those steps & do it with a couple qts of a quality fluid, that says it's licensed & meets or exceeds Fords specs for the vehicles specified P/S fluid.
Edit: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...ml#post7708992

More thoughts for pondering, Let us know how it goes.

 

Hey, I'll throw my 2 copper-coated into the mess. I think that ATF is the prescribed fluid for power steering. Every ATF I have seen is a reddish color. Some say pink, some say cherry, some say purple, some say ... well they say a lot.
Point being: It is not black. It had a definite color that is somewhere in the red spectrum.

If they just topped off the old fluid, and overfilled the reservoir, which is what I gathered from the description, the fluid would not be 'red' of any hue, especially if it had that many miles and had never been changed. Most would smell 'bad' or 'burned', as if they had gotten hot, which they have, if the fluid had been there since 1994. It would be a sour smell, with just a tinge of burned 'something'.
My guess is the above, they didn't drain the system, but just added some, and actually overfilled the fluid.
It is messy, but possible, to remove the return line leading to the bottom of the reservoir, held on by a hose clamp, and catch what falls out. That would allow you to add a 'reservoir full' amount of new fluid. Repeat that a few times, and you would have a refreshed working fluid. Not perfect, but not the 'enemy of the good' as the phrase goes.
tom

 

They probably 'flushed' the PS like I do. I use a turkey baster and suck out what I can in the reservoir and then fill with PS fluid

 

thanks for all the responses

looked at it today. It does look dark upon visual inspection but when I put some on a white towel it is sorta light red, pink color. It does not have a burnt smell or anything. So maybe they did something. When I got it back it seemed a bit smoother in turning the wheel but just could have been placebo effect.