power steering crisis

[ryank85]

hows it going people? the gfs mini cooper s is leaking power steering fluid and the regular mechanic cant fix it till next week so we need to top it up now and again. however i went to the garage at her bit earlier and the guy gave me automatic transmission fluid and told me it was the same stuff. me being me asked a million questions then he got the mechanic in and told me they use it in cars as power steering fluid. is this possible? any helps greatly appreciated

[one eyed mick]

YES

[ryank85]

mick does this mean its safe to use in the mini as power steering fluid?

[one eyed mick]

yes

[ryank85]

thanks mick greatly appreciated

[mk2 24v]

BMW MINI use a green PAS fluid and not ATF though

[stevieturbo]

mk2 24v said:

BMW MINI use a green PAS fluid and not ATF though

Exactly, make sure you use the correct fluid or you risk a lot of damage.

Some cars do use odd fluids in their systems, so dont take for granted they are all the same

[williredale]

A word of caution. The handbook for my Volvo says to use ATF for the power steering but that's true only for early versions. They changed to use CHF11s halfway through production. Using ATF on the later cars can play havoc with the system. Guess what happened to mine before I bought it...

Check carefully what fluid you should be using.

[Mikey G]

Mini uses CHF 11 not ATF...

[anonymous-user]

Mini's are 'lecy steering are they not? So almost certainly not normal TQF/ATF etc!

[annodomini2]

Max_Torque said:

Mini's are 'lecy steering are they not? So almost certainly not normal TQF/ATF etc!

1st and 2nd gen are Electro-hydraulic.

[Locknut]

Generally if CHF 11 is required some part of the reservoir will be coded green, such as the cap or the dip-stick inside. I have not seen the MINI reservoir but I assume it's the same. If it has no green use ATF.

[one eyed mick]

My apologies I did not realise that things have changed so much as others have said check!!!colour