Dark Green Power Steering Fluid

[scross]

Hello, I'm hoping someone might know what the heck is going on here.

So, I have a Grand Prix and had the Transmission flushed about 1 month ago during a routine oil change. A couple of weeks later, I noticed a whine while driving or idling (as well as in park) that sounded similar to low PS fluid. I took the car back into the shop and they told me the transmission fluid was a half quart low and filled it up. Everything was fine until tonight when the whine came back. This time I also noticed that when accelerating from a stop, it would "thunk" into gear. I was only a few blocks from home when this happened and I have been keeping an eye out for any leaks on the ground ever since getting the top off; I have seen none at any point. This whining will only happen when the car is hot; never has happened when cold.

This brings me to the subject of this thread. I'm not real confident that I can get an accurate reading of the trans fluid level, but I decided to go ahead and check the PS reservoir since I noticed the whining being louder when the wheel was cranked to the right (you can also hear it when going in reverse). When I took the cap off, the fluid was this dark olivish green color. I have never put any green fluid in here and I don't understand why it would be that color now.

I'm taking the car to the shop in the AM, but this is really strange to me and I can't find anything anywhere that would explain it other than the shop putting green fluid in, but I wasn't told it needed any (nor was it ever mentioned at any point I might have trans fluid leak and have been taking my car there for over two years).

If anyone has any idea, I'd appreciate your knowledge.

[Scottydoggs]

if you had a flush done you killed your tranny most likely.

how many miles are on it?

how did the fluid on the dip stick look before the flush, red? or dark and burnt looking and stinky?

[scross]

:/ ...you've got to be kidding me. The car has about 140,000 miles on it and I'm not the original owner. How can shops legally sell a service that could destroy an important component of your vehicle under the pretense that "it's due" and not have to tell you that it could happen if you do it? Does that tie-in with the green PS fluid?

I didn't get to see the fluid at all.

[Scottydoggs]

i have no clue why the p/s fluid is green. seems odd, nothing to do with the tranny. i would wipe the little dip stick on a paper towel to see the true color. or dip a towel in the res to see it better.

if the whine your hearing is louder on the driver side its the trans pump screaming. if you have some clear plastic tubing you can pull the dip stick out, put the tube in the dip stick tube, push it in till its stops, your only hitting the bottom of the pan nothing to damage, then hold the other end low to the ground, lower then the tranny pan, then suck the fluid out till it siphons the fluid out, ( the clear tube keeps you from getting it in your mouth, you can see it coming) you want to remove 1 quart, then put a quart of lucas trans medic on the tranny. with any luck it will save you from a rebuild in the near future.

rule of thumb with a tranny, is if your not the first owner, have no clue if the tranny was ever serviced, and those kind of miles, never flush it.

you can do a pan drop and filter change and be safe, this changes 1/2 the fluid. changing all of the fluid, what a flush does takes all the clutch material out of the fluid, then the tranny slips soon after, or it never leaves the shop garage on its own power. (seen that happen first hand)

most shops if they feel the fluid is bad (burnt up and dark) they wont flush it, or if the miles are real high. if they refuse to do it for these reasons and you still want it done they make you sign a waver to clear them of wrong doing when the tranny fails. the car i saw leave on a tow truck they declined to do it, the owner insisted, he signed the waver, the manager called the tow truck lol

[scross]

Well, in my case it was offered to me. They had recommended getting it done during the oil change I had previously, but I didn't do it then. They then suggested it again as though it would be a great idea, so I said sure. I'm wondering, though, if it is leaking and when the fluid gets low enough, it does that bang into gear business. When it was topped off after being told it was a half quart low, it drove just fine until this evening. Yeah PS business doesn't make a single bit of sense to me at all and I know for a fact it was never green before.

Also, the whine sounded more to the passenger side when cranking the wheel to the right, which is where the PS pump sits. When at idle and listening with the hood up, it sounds more toward the middle, but it's hard to determine exactly.

Anyway, I appreciate your suggestions. Hopefully this all ends well.

[Scottydoggs]

if they pushed the flush on you, id take it back and see what they can do about it for you. 140,009 aint all that high, but if it was never serviced, it should have been done 3 times already. those guys who work at the lube shops, they get sales commission aka by the quart. so they push everything they can.

if its getting low, and not leaking on the ground they may have cracked the trans cooler in the radiator when they took the lines off and on. this would let it leak tranny fluid into the coolant, or coolant into the tranny. or both sometimes, coolant in the tranny is way worse. but being you came up low id think not.

so check your radiator for some colors that dont belong in there. if you have green coolant it will be easy to see.

[scross]

Awesome, I'll check it in the AM before heading over to them. You'd think somebody would've said something at some point if any fluids that shouldn't be low, were low, but that has never happened in the two years that I've been going there. If it turns out its a leak, there is a local transmission shop that I'll take it to instead and hopefully this other place will take some responsibility, if it come to that. Obviously something isn't right.

Anyway, thanks again!

[Scottydoggs]

in a case like this i'd try not to put out any cash of my own pocket, let them deal with it. if they want to pay the trans shop to look at/fix it by all means do so. you'll have to ask, but the worst they can do is say NO and try to fix it in house there.

[scross]

Just an update on this. I took the car in first this morning to have the trans fluid level checked. The guy told me that it was full, so I explained to him about having the transmission flush and then it making the noise and being low a couple of weeks later. He seems to suspect that they didn't fill it all the way the first time and now it has possibly cause a problem to the transmission. I've called the original place and explained all of that to them and now I am waiting to hear back while they "look into it".

Well, I won't be making this mistake again. Hopefully they will at least pay to have the damn thing properly checked out since that seems to average around $500 from most transmission shops in the area. I did drive it in to work and there was no whining at all.

[Scottydoggs]

lets hope it stays like that. quiet. low fluid can make it whine for sure.