power steering prob 92 525iT

[Bruce Kennett]

hello all:

i hope someone can help me tonight.

i'm on the road, using a friend's dialup (sloooooow) connection, but *at least* i have accss to you guys!

so i'm away from home on a trip. tonight all of a sudden the power steering started making the classic groaning noise. i pulled over immediately and checked reservoir. i have a 1992 wagon so self-leveling rear susp. fluid level was below mesh screen in reservoir, out of sight.

i looked in the manual. it says for normal cars (no self-leveling) check level with dipstick and if low "put fluid (ATF) into reservoir". but for self-leveling, it says unscrew top of reservoir, pump brake 10x and if low, then add "fluid as specified on outside of reservoir." but of course my car (158,000 miles) has nothing showing on outside of res!

when this happened it was after 5;30 so my normal, very wonderful indie in NH had alreay closed. i need to be on the road again tomorrow morning early if possible.

in desperation i added 2 pints of normal power steering fluid, not ATF, since manual did not specify ATF in the section on self-leveling.

so what the !@#$%^&* kind of oil goes in there? LHM or pentosin? ATF? i realize i may have to do a system flush right away if i put the wrong stuff in there. i find it maddening that nothing in the manual lists capacities or types of fluids for the p.s. reservoir, etiher conventional or self-leveling! (although there is that one passing mention of ATF in parentheses for conventional suspension.)

also, i cannot find a leak anywhere. any suggestions as to where to look for one. can't put it on lift, but i ran the car for a while on blacktop and no fluid came down ointo the ground.

i put in 2 pints of p.s. fluid and the level still didn;t come up above the mesh, drove about 20 miles to the place i'm staying tongiht and by the time i got here was hearing groaning noises again.

so if possible early tomorrow morning i'll go in my friend's car to an autozone (about half an hour away) and buy lots of the proper fluid and keep adding it until i can get home and do a proper flush.

thanks for any help,

bruce

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

CH11 or something like that ...Only seen a few, but I remember them being embossed.

Plan on a good flush from head to toe, mixed fluids can be trouble.

[Scott H]

The cap to the reservoir should have that embossed in it. The fluid level will be below the screen, but should be just below it. I do not know how to rid the system of the other fluid if it gets in to the rear shocks, etc. Unless someone with definite experience in this area chimes in, your best bet is probably to use a turkey baster and pull all fluid out of that reservoir.



I looked in the manual. it says for normal cars (no self-leveling) check level with dipstick and if low "put fluid (ATF) into reservoir". but for self-leveling, it says unscrew top of reservoir, pump brake 10x and if low, then add "fluid as specified on outside of reservoir." but of course my car (158,000 miles) has nothing showing on outside of res!

when this happened it was after 5;30 so my normal, very wonderful indie in NH had alreay closed. i need to be on the road again tomorrow morning early if possible.

[Karl]

If it's losing fluid rapidly as you say, it just might flush its own self as long as you keep putting more in.

[calmloki]

Yup - I too looked all over the reservoir hunting the label - only to find it right in the center of the cap as Scott says. Ditto on the turkey baster - don't think you want to take a chance on fouling up the rear shocks at about $500 per each.

[Bruce Kennett]

The cap to the reservoir should have that embossed in it. The fluid level will be below the screen, but should be just below it. I do not know how to rid the system of the other fluid if it gets in to the rear shocks, etc. Unless someone with definite experience in this area chimes in, your best bet is probably to use a turkey baster and pull all fluid out of that reservoir.

well, the cap does say CHF 11.S -- can anyone tell me if this is a BMW-specific fluid, or something where i could add a reasonable substitute until i can limp to a shop? i'm in rural vermont right now. for example, with my citroen DS (hydraulic suspension, steering, gearchange, etc.) if you had a system problem you could run ATF temporarily until such time as you purged the lines and put in the good stuff -- LHM.

i certainly don't want to ruin the rear shocks. there's a simpatico guy a few miles from here who can probably get me up on the lift and we can try to problem solve together, and meanwhile i'll just use a borrowed car to make my trip today and tomorrow.

so the main thing is, what exactly IS this CHF 11.S and does it have any brand names? substitutes?

thanks for your help, everyone!

bruce

[Ross]

Unless your leak is at the shocks the fluid you added isn't likely to get there anyway, if it is then it really doesn't matter that they see the wrong fluid.
A leak that bad should be easy enough to spot, start with the hoses and fittings. The price of Pentosin should be motivation to correct this soon. I'm sooo glad my car doesn't have this. I feel for you brother.
Can we see a pic. of the Chevy?

[Bruce Kennett]

Unless your leak is at the shocks the fluid you added isn't likely to get there anyway, if it is then it really doesn't matter that they see the wrong fluid.

well, once i get back on friday from the next leg of my trip, i can get it up on a lift and sleuth out the leak. i am wondering if my boots are swollen and holding fluid.


A leak that bad should be easy enough to spot, start with the hoses and fittings. The price of Pentosin should be motivation to correct this soon.

ah, okay, so that answers my question: it IS pentosin. luckily there appears to be a place in white river junction (not too terribly far from here) that is reputed to have lots of bmw spares. so with luck i can buy some.


I'm sooo glad my car doesn't have this. I feel for you brother.
Can we see a pic. of the Chevy?

thanks, i wish it didn;t have it, also. but it came as a part of the package, with an otherwise great car. do you mean the citroen? sure. i'll be back home next week and can post one then.

bruce

[Bill R.]

take on it, they state that mixing of fluids is prohibited






ah, okay, so that answers my question: it IS pentosin. luckily there appears to be a place in white river junction (not too terribly far from here) that is reputed to have lots of bmw spares. so with luck i can buy some.

[Ross]

Actually I was asking calmloki who indicates he has Chevy wagon. Let's see the Citroen though.

[Ross]

Ya,ya is verbotin.

[calmloki]

Actually I was asking calmloki who indicates he has Chevy wagon. Let's see the Citroen though.

Oops - sorry, I missed that - Sally's Dad bought it down in 29 Palms Ca. back in '59, we brought it up here about 15 years ago and stuck it in a storage garage. Recently dragged it out and took it to a body shop for the start on a complete restoration. Sally used to jump that great beast in the Joshua Tree National Monument as a point of honor whenever she drove it as a youth. Also became adept at disconnecting the speedo cable...
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e73/calmloki/c01.jpg

Needed a bit of frame rack time - seems it was tweaked a leetle bit. All the paint was alligatored and there were a few dents in the rockers and some rust in the floor pans from her little sister using it as a water wagon for her horses out in the desert. That's taken care of now, so finish coat should be on directly - then maybe an LT1, upholstery, AC, little things like that. Gonna be a bunch of change for a car that won't get driven much and isn't the most favored by collectors. But it's got history, so it's the one that gets done.. If her Mom holds on long enough we will run it south to cruise her around in it - Mom's 91...
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e73/calmloki/C30.jpg
Tom

[Ross]

Looks really solid. Original cars in that condition just don't exist in my rustbelt hometown. I'm sick to death of 57s and the family history makes it really special.I hope mom gets her ride. Will Sally fess up to the previous abuse?

[Bruce Kennett]

well gang,

i managed to limp home across two states on sunday, adding only a small amount of atf. the leak was taken care of by plugging a couple of lines and adding a return loop to the high-pressure line, so i was able to get back with low anxiety level.

blitzkrieg bob was sure right -- the self-leveling suspension is a nightmare and if you can avoid getting a car with one, AVOID IT.

i've decided to pinch off the lines permanently and go with regular shocks and springs. even that is going to cost a pretty sum, but the guy from whom i bought the car (took delivery about 5 weeks ago) is being a real sweetheart and has agreed to pay half the costs. all the fittings have rotted and are so far up under everything else at the rear of the car, getting at them is nearly impossible.

a friend who had a merc 300D wagon told me today that his car lost its self-leveling suspension also. why is it that citroen got it so right and dependable in 1956 (as long as you followed basic maintenance), yet the germans coming into it much later weren't able to do it as well?

thanks for all the help everyone

bruce

[calmloki]

You are going to have to pull the side bolsters by the rear seat to get near the top of the struts. Was a head scratcher for me. The trick is to grab the bolster at the top next to the shoulder belt (work your hand between the belt and the top of the bolster). Pull toward the front of the car, then lift straight up. Then you can access the bolts for the rear seat and begin to see the area you need to get to. Good luck - my self leveling is still working.
Tom