Power Steering Oil

sham152 · February 2, 2011

I bought a car sometime back (Nissan FB15) and recently observed that Power steering oil is below the expected oil.

I could not contact previous owner to get to know what type of oil earlier used.

So is it okay to add new oil to the existing one (mixed with old one) or required to flush and re fill

Could you please recommend good power steering oil too?

Appreciate your expert comments

JohnGalt · February 2, 2011

If it's below the minimum level get it checked out because you might have a leak somewhere. I think if you don't know what type of oiled used previously, best thing is to flush it and refill. And don't drive without power steering oil since there's a good chance it'll damage the power steering motor.

nexus · February 2, 2011

On 2/2/2011 at 9:02 AM, sham152 said:

I bought a car sometime back (Nissan FB15) and recently observed that Power steering oil is below the expected oil.

I could not contact previous owner to get to know what type of oil earlier used.

So is it okay to add new oil to the existing one (mixed with old one) or required to flush and re fill

Could you please recommend good power steering oil too?

Appreciate your expert comments

i think it's best if you flush and re fill the power steering oil becose you dont know what type of oil earlier used.

harshansenadhir · February 2, 2011

flushing of power steering fluid would be recommended if the fluid is blackened and it has lot of metal substances (dust like small pieces when you closely observe). Otherwise you can mix it with any ATF/Power Steering fluid for topping up. However, best is to avoid cheap brands mushrooming around but it's completely my opinion and how I choose ATF/power steering fluid. It's more important to see why the level got dropped. Since you're new to the car, top it up and observe the system, garage floor for leaks and check the rate of dropping. By doing this you can determine if it's a considerable leak or a minor one. If it's a considerable leak you have to get the complete system checked or if you can find the leak, get that sorted out. If it's suppose to be a small leak, negligible, still try to find out from where it leaks, sometimes the oil seals in the both sides of the rack causes small oil leaks. This is something you can decide whether to live with it for sometime (if the leak/loosing of fluid is negligible) coz there's hardly a lasting cure for this issue than replacing the rack.

Edited February 2, 2011 by harshansenadhir

KMG · February 4, 2011

i agree with harshansenadhir

MkX · February 5, 2011

On 2/2/2011 at 1:29 PM, harshansenadhir said:

flushing of power steering fluid would be recommended if the fluid is blackened and it has lot of metal substances (dust like small pieces when you closely observe). Otherwise you can mix it with any ATF/Power Steering fluid for topping up. However, best is to avoid cheap brands mushrooming around but it's completely my opinion and how I choose ATF/power steering fluid. It's more important to see why the level got dropped. Since you're new to the car, top it up and observe the system, garage floor for leaks and check the rate of dropping. By doing this you can determine if it's a considerable leak or a minor one. If it's a considerable leak you have to get the complete system checked or if you can find the leak, get that sorted out. If it's suppose to be a small leak, negligible, still try to find out from where it leaks, sometimes the oil seals in the both sides of the rack causes small oil leaks. This is something you can decide whether to live with it for sometime (if the leak/loosing of fluid is negligible) coz there's hardly a lasting cure for this issue than replacing the rack.

Is ATF and Power steering oil same?