power steering- wrong fluid and leaks- any auto chemists out there?

[=loki=]

Hey,
I went to a quick change oil place and they put the wrong PS fluid in my '95 GTi since the reservoir was empty (reservoir was never checked for years). They put in ESSO brand fluid (non-dextron) that says on the back of the bottle "do not use in Honda specific systems or VW/Audi where G002000 fluid is required"....just so happens that is just the fluid my car takes. After I noticed I made them suck it out and put some better suited stuff in, but by that time, I'm sure a bunch had soaked down to the rack.

Anyways, now my rack is leaking on both ends and losing fluid much faster than before (been about 4 months since this happened)

Question: can the wrong fluid degrade the seals, and if so, how quickly and to what extent?

Also, does anyone know of a steering rack seal treatment that might restore the seals a little so it leaks less.

FYI leaking isn 't horrible, but about 0.5L every 5000-8000km. Steering rack is ZF-type.

Thanks in Advance

[denisond3]

Typically the wrong fluid will soak into the rubber seals - making them swell a little and soften a little. Then they will wear more and faster until the wrong fluid is removed. It would take a couple of flushes to get most of it out, minus the tiny amount that had soaked into the material of the seals. Such leaks are usually very minor, if the wrong fluid was only in for an hour or two. So Id say your leaks are probably due mainly to normal wear, or some wrong fluid that was put in years ago. Be sure the leak isnt from one of the fluid hoses though. Hoses are always easier to change than the rack assembly!

[=loki=]

As a follow up, the leak seems to have slowed to practically nothing or stopped entirely.

It leaked out nearly a liter then the level hasn't dropped much since I refilled it.

I think exactly what you said happened, all that crappy fluid was flushed out and the good fluid rejuvinated the seals again.

Now hopefully I can get a few more years out of it!

Thanks