power steering fluid

[KINGPRAWN]

having owned the bus for 9 years or so dawned on me that i've never topped up the power s fluid let alone replaced it! can't find much help with this in either bently or haynes....any tips guys on changing the fluid...thanks

[jamesc76]

unless its leaking it will be fine!

[Red Westie]

James is right in that VW didn't have a service schedule for changing P/S fluid but then the same could be said for gearbox oil and knowone would say not to change that.
P/S oil (normally red ATF) admitedly isn't as critical as an auto box but I was glad I changed mine.
I needed to change my L/H/D Power steering rack last year and trust me, the power steering oil was very discoloured, almost black (usually cherry red and translucent) and it did smell slightly burnt.
As with Auto transmissions, I would certainly recommend draining and refilling when you see this amount of discolouration but from experience I can tell you this degree of oil degradation takes many miles of driving, certainly 60,000miles plus for power steering (less for an auto box)
Trouble is there isn't a dedicated drain point but removing a 'banjo bolt' from the rack will certainly see most of the fluid drained.
As a pointer; don't run the engine until most of the air is purged, turn the steering from lock to lock several times whilst topping up the resevoir until you get to a point where the fluid remains static..then start the engine topping up straight away if needed, to the line.
Lock to lock can be made easier by taking some of the weight off the front wheels with a jack.
Red/orange cap on resevoir means you use ATF fluid, green cap (I've been told, as I've never seen one) uses dedicated P/S green fluid.

Martin

[KINGPRAWN]

thanks..guess thats why the books are so usless on this topic. best i could do was tip out what was in the res' but as you say it wasn't bad still red and i've never needed to top up ...so i guess i'll leave it alone!