power stearing fluid in the brake fluid reservoir (1 Viewer)

[joebarbarian1]

I accidentlly did this on a mustang gt (SALEEN) and it messed up the master cylinder and anything else rubber ie: o-rings seals and such... basically the power steering fluid disolves (softens) anything rubber. I was told by a buddy brake fluid & power steering fluid are the same ....DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR!!!! a lesson well learned as you well know NOW!.. good luck.

Joeb.

 

[Sc0-]

I have also done this in an old non-abs Jeep, all new hydraulic seals with brakelines cured it. Anything other than brakefluid swells up the seals and has a tendency to either leak or to lock things up, scary in a braking system.

Learned how to work on things pretty well since then...

 

[Otto Von Squiggy]

Personally, I would not be satisfied with barking performance if it wasn't as it was before this boo-boo. Please do be safe and rebuild at least the calipers with new seals and boots. I think you really need to.

-o-

I agree and am ordering the parts today

 

[Otto Von Squiggy]

Update-
well it was an expensive lesson to learn but in the end I had to replace the seals on the calipers, blead the lines myself and then take it to the dealer to blead the breaks. which worked for about 2-3 weeks and then had to replace the master cylinder and everything is going well now. I hate threads that dont tell you what finaly happened.
it cost alot of money and time (as well as my ego) to fix. its nice when your wife says " but we would have to replace them eventually anyways"
PS I still love this car

 

[Beowulf]

it cost alot of money and time (as well as my ego) to fix.

Just curious.... how far off was that $1,500 estimate if you added your labor at $50/hr?

-B-

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Update

it cost alot of money and time (as well as my ego) to fix. its nice when your wife says " but we would have to replace them eventually anyways"

PS I still love this car

Someone has a wife that really loves them. Very nice on Valentines Day (says the man married to the same woman for almost 26 years....and she would have said the same or something very similar).

PS: Glad to hear your brakes work again...I've noticed that they're kind of important!

 

[IdahoDoug]

Thanks for closing the loop on the thread - I feel the same when the thread is not ended with what happened, and I appreciate your candor and your good attitude through it.

DougM

 

[Proven]

Thank you for the closure on this thread. It will help those that will follow you down this path.

Rest assured that we have all done something that was brilliant in our maintaining lives, and thus you should never find one of us throwing stones.

I hope everything continues working out for you and your Cruiser.

 

[Otto Von Squiggy]

Just curious.... how far off was that $1,500 estimate if you added your labor at $50/hr?

-B-

not by much. in the end it was cheaper with time to have a dealer do it. not having a garage and time makes my decision VERY easy.


$30 +/- for the rubber thingies that go inbetween the caliper and pistons with + 2 hours of labor
$10 in store bought break fluid + 45 of my time in the flush
$40? for a power flush from the dealer
$free power flush 3 weeks later before determining I needed a new master cylinder
$200 +/- for the master cylinder + 1 hour of labor

learning you lesson : priceless

 

[Brian Macgyver]

I again go with toolsrus on this. Flush the systen ASAP! As a definition, flushing means that you empty the main reservour with a turkey baster or such, and refill. then pump out all fluid to each wheel until only clear fluid comes out. This should be done every 30,000 miles in any case.
Second, at the risk of libel, I believe nothing that just brakes says. They may well have some decent people working there. But every time that I have known someone to go there for a minor problem, the solution is $1500 or more. As a vendor, I dealt with 5 of their many shops. But I was in the back office, and the practices that I saw were deserving of a top spot in the hall of shame!
As a test, a friend took one of my old Monteros there to check out. They told him that "This thing is not safe to drive out of the parking lot. The brakes WILL fail without warning". They estimated $1200 in repairs to a $1200 truck! They have no sense of perspective.
We put the truck in my shop. We found the front pads at 25% of material left. Factory replacement is at 10%. One rear wheel cylinder had slight moisture in the rubber boots, leaking slightly. We replaced the front pads anyway, and changed out the rear cylinder, flushed the system and were good to go. Total cost was $48.00. If I had charged for my labor at $100 per hour, it would have been $298. Not $1200!
They do this to a regular guy who looks like he knows better. But they also do this to single moms who don't know better, and don't have enough food for the kids! Some people should just be taken out back and shot like sick dogs!
I was disgusted! To think that the business that I was once in has sunk to this level just makes me sick.