treehunter

I've read about Mobil 1 synthetic ATF being wonderful stuff for this app. Anyone else?

tpierce

other than that, i wouldn't put it in.

MarkPan

no leaks in 10 years or however long it has been since dad changed the rack on that car..

audiqv8

Many V8 owners use this instead of Pentosin. At $40.00 for 5 gallon you can understand why. DTE13M mineral base hydraulic fluid with properties similar to Pentosin. The only draw back that I heard is that in winter driving the steering is a little stiff for the first couple of miles.

I haven't try this myself because I only use Pentosin 11<ul><li><a href="http://www.audifans.com/twiki/bin/view/Audi/PentosinSubstitute">Pentsoin substitute</a></li></ul>

whitacre

ATF as in automatic tranny fluid?

All i have in there now is power steering fluid , generic...i found out tonight that my power steering is definately leaking somewhere, now i have to find out where...this is why i dont use pentosin yet, or ever really. It would get really expensive

Anyway should i use hydrolic or ATF fluid instead? or is power steering fluid ok?

airwhen

....if you continue to use non-mineral hydralic sauce. Sure, the cost of the Pentosin is great, but it won't continue to degrade the system. You will find hoses, pump, rack and other fine things start to fail. I thought this would work for one of my older Audis, but I soon learned I had to replace most of the PW components.

If you can, fix what ever is leaking ASAP. For some reason, unknown to humans, Audi decided to use this mineral fluid where as if you put other stuff in, some agent inside those fluids gives your system cancer.

S4for73

I use AW32 Hydraulic fluid. I buy it in a 5 Gal. pail and keep a plastic bottle full in my trunk. My rack has leaked for five or more years, but never seems to get worse. I have had racks rebuilt by my friend and had good results, but getting them in and out is a PIA. My pump was rebuilt and it does not leak. Someday I plan to get a spair rack and make the change. If my S4 starts to leak, and it will, I will then fill it with AW32.

devil's advocate

well. mmmmm. I hesitate to admit it publicly, but i have used ATF in audi racks in the past and would do it again depending on the circumstances. The "legend" of ATF causing leaks i think is one which deserves an investigation. From time to time every audi wrench has seen a vehicle with the "wrong" fluid in it, with a leaking pump, or a leaking rack or whatever. The thing most people overlook is that usually the ATF is put in the system AFTER it has starting leaking. If it hadn't leaked in the first place why would there have been a need to add fluid? In fact usually ATF is added after it is already leaking significantly for most anyone to balk at $15 for a liter of the "right" stuff. Fact #1 - The materials (seals and stuff) of the audi hydraulic system are not radically different from what anyone else is using. Fact #2 - early 80s audi originally used ATF, in the mid 80's they switch to pentosin, and most dealers and shops switched to specifying only the pentosin, kinda like the synthetic trans fluid switchover in the early 90's. I suspect this was proit motivated as there is more mark-up on a bottle of pentosin ($8) than a bottle of ATF ($1). Given the timing of the change, Audi's problems in the 80's, the position of the rack in the car, and the flamabilty of the different fluids, I would conclude that the switch to pentosin is due to the potential for a leaking rack to drip onto the hot exhaust of a turbocharged 5000 and cause quite a fire. Pentosin, while it sure does smoke a lot won't flame-up the way ATF can. Audi continued to use pentosin for similar reasons, on the V6, and V8 cars, where power steering lines run through the V, and basically have just made there fluid of choice out of habit as much as anything else.

my $.02

however, i have pentosin in my car at this time, however i also have not need to add any, my previous car i switched to ATF when they started leaking real bad....doing so i but in some Lucas power steering additive and the leaks slowed dramatically, slightly stiffer steering though...

SteveAngry

Pentosin here.

treehunter

Other than the tie-rod the whole re &amp; re of the rack went pretty smooth.

Essentially the Mobil DTE 13M looks to be the way to go if I want to be a cheap bastard seeing as I know zip about what ATF really is.

Next question where to find this stuff? Never seen it on a shelf anywhere.