02 beetle power steering

[greasemonkeyjmj]

i am in need of major help i noticed my power steering resevoir was almost dry. so i added some automatic transmission fluid. well afterward i found this site telling me that adding that fluid is a no no i need to know how to drain the system so i can flush and refill it. any info would be very appreciated. and it is the 2.0 engine

[veedubmechanic]

Yes using ATF is not good for VW's. VW uses a synthetic mineral based fluid for power steering fluid like honda/acura do. if you only added a little you should be ok for a while but I would still reccomend flushing the fluid out at a dealer w/in the next 5k miles. Mixing atf with vw fluid will leak and most likely cause your rack to leak because the vw fluid is thicker than atf.

[hako]

Try some Power Steering "stop leak". This will seal the leaks and cost under $A15. The alternative is as Veedubmechanic says but that will cost a few hours labour at $80 a hour and they will probably say the pump and rack are buggered.
Its your choice but remember its also your wallet.

[greasemonkeyjmj]

i went today and bought some pentosin to refill my power steering. i bought enough to flush out the system before i refill it.i havent saw any leaks in the system. i jut bought the car a few days ago it has been only driven around 1,500 miles since 2003. i cant really afford to have the dealer flush my system thats why i was wanting to flush it myself

[hako]

Has to be a leak - oil just can't disappear.

[duhfastest]

Hako is right. It has to be a leak because the fluid has to go somewhere. Now you just have to find out whats leaking. Could be time for a new rack...
I also came across some seal kits at this place, pskits.com . Haven't got anything from them yet but it may be an option.

[hako]

I wouldn't go too ballistic over flushing the system - even if ATF is thinner than the VW fluid it should not ruin the power steering ....they're not built that fragile. Also a 2002 Beetle with low miles should not have PS leaks....at least not normally.
If you do want flush the system just get a big syringe and suck the PS reservoir dry of fluid, fill with the new stuff, drive for a few miles, use the syringe again to remove all the fluid and then top up a second time with the new fluid. This will remove 99% of the ATF and is probably exactly the method VW will use. Good Luck.

[veedubmechanic]

dealers use a BG flush machine. It has 2 hoses, suction and fill. The suction goes into the return line and the fill goes into the regular line going to the pump. When the engine is running all the old fluid is sucked up and new fluid put in right away thus flushing all the old fluid out.

[hako]

As always the dealer method is the preferred option....however is costs - and not all of us can afford dealer prices. There are always slower, messier and sometimes innovative alternative methods to skin a cat.