Performed a PS fluid refresh (turkey baster method) yesterday on my 99 xj and realized the old nasty ps fluid was red (or dark dark dirty red). the new ps i put in was clear in color and made me wonder if it actually had ps fluid in it or atf? I know bmw calls for atf (red) in its ps system so that made me wonder.

Also, wanting to do a refresh on differential fluid but threads i looked at didnt mention capacity. Does someone know that off the top of your head?

Thanks.

 

Never mind on diff capacity. Kept looking and found it.

Anyone have thoughts on ps fluid question?

 

What does the PS fluid bottle say?......it should list the applications it's suitable for. Diff should be filled 'til oil comes out the fill hole.....vehicle on level ground.

 

I just did mine yesterday, and the old fluid (no idea what it was, just bought it a few months ago) was dark brown with a bit of reddish tinge. The few fluid (Prestone power steering fluid, yellow bottle) was very light brown, so pretty much clear.

My experience is some cars use ATF and some don't. I believe the XJ is the latter. Now, how different ATF and generic the power steering fluid at the auto parts store are in terms of viscosity, lubricity, etc, I don't know.

 

A lot of power steering fluid is clear and not red. So it is very possible that it is power steering fluid.

 

I believe the XJs typically spec Mopar steering fluid which is the clear mineral oil looking fluid. A bottle of it is CHEAP and I've cleaned out mine with it. It went from BLACK to light brown. I'm going to go out and do another swap cause I just remembered I have a bottle!

 

Thank you everybody for the responses!