Which powersteering fluid?

[Gaz]

I'm in need of a top up, thinking I might flush out the old and replace with new.

Was going to buy some power steering fluid but I've noticed on the power steering reservoir it says use mineral ATF fluid only.?

But I also see some online sellers claiming that there is a fully synthetic alternative that is better?

What is the best fluid to get for the kv engine PS pump?

What fluid are you guys using?

Thanks in advance.

[M4rkp]

Audi recommend G002000.

however......
it depends on the type of PAS pump you have.
If you have a single vane pump then you should be using mineral ATF - Dexron for example - which is red in colour.
If you have a tandem pump then you should be using Mineral hydraulic oil - Audi specify G002000 -which is green in colour.

You can use either colour fluid in single vane pump systems but you can only use green fluid in tandem pumps -It will wreck your seals if you put ATF in a tandem pump system. It is a very costly mistake - trust me, I did it many years ago.

Round about 1990 Audi changed their G002000 fluid, which was actually Pentosin CHF 7.1 (a mineral based fluid) to Pentosin CHF 11S which was a better performing synthetic fluid........but kept the same part number of G002000 - so G002000 is now a synthetic green fluid.

So, going back to your question..... if you are topping up - you need to use the same fluid that is in - if you don't know EXACTLY what that is then I suggest you drop the lot and start again.

I run Mineral ATF in my Quattro - picked up a 30 litre drum for £20 - I put the reservoir return lines into a bucket and just kept pouring fluid into the reservoir to flush the system through.

[mikes2]

It's now called G004000

[msh]

Actually no - G002000 was superseded by synthetic G004000 and then by another synthetic G005600 or something like that.

B3 era cars used G002000 and for this reason has green reservoir cap - but since Gaz is talking about B2, maybe there's still ATF fluid, just like in my mk2 golf - which has such note on reservoir and red cap.

[mikes2]

You're talking nonsense.

G004000 hasn't superceded to anything. Stop trying to be clever by contradicting my answers every time.

It really is irrelevant. You can add green fluid to any car. The part number didn't change when they switched from red to green fluid

[msh]

I'm not "trying to be clever", just long time ago found webpage explaining about audi PAS fluids and as far as I can remember, there were three, beginning from G00200, and also links for buying them. Didn't got more seriously into that simply because at that time I had no reason to buy some. Probably you're right and G00400 is still the current oil and I've simply forgotten something, as I was searching that info some 5-6 years ago.

As for switching between the fluids, it's useless to switch to VAG specific fluids if ATF has been specified for the system in car - if the system is compatible, fine, but ATF fluid is cheaper and more readily available anyway.

[Mellis46]

Originally Posted by mikes2

You're talking nonsense.

He does it to me too Mike, has done ever since I joined.

For the record my B3 has a blue cap on the reservoir, evidenced by the picture in my album. It takes the Green fluid. It had Atf in it when I bought it. I drained it out. The pump stopped groaning and the steering 'felt' better at low speed. It also doesn't lose fluid any more at anywhere near the rate it did when i first got it.

My advice to Gaz, with 17 years of KV engined audi ownership under my belt, is drain out whatever combination of fluids is in there, totally, and put in one or the other. The Green stuff gets my