BruceWard

My 968 is low on power steering fluid. This is the spec sheet.

quick968

I’m always a little curious about the thought processes for these type posts. Why would you second guess the factory recommendations for this application? Porsche engineers have made the recommendation for good reasons. Do you hope to gain better steering response? Better component life? Less leaks? Less cost? Is the Lucas product “better”? Better how? By what metric? What are you hoping to gain by ignoring the factory specified PS fluid?

Curious
Mikey

dlearl476

I made the mistake of using synthetic PS fluid in mine and it ate my supply line and leaked like a sieve. After repairing the line, I use Motul ATF like the Dr ordered and all is well.

But I’m with you. Any Dex III will work, why mess with it?

BruceWard

it was the Dexron III compatible product that was available locally. Just looking for any known reason not to use it..

quick968

Nope, no reason not to. If it meets the Dex3 spec, good to go.

However, if you’re not in a rush, and it sounds like you’re not, just order the stock Porsche stuff from Jason at Paragon or Pelican; or from the known dealers giving good prices like Sunset, Suncoast, or Delaware. They’ll ship you the stock secret sauce toot sweet and then you know you’re good.

Cheers
Mikey

Zirconocene

Take this for what it's worth, from experience with a different platform.

On the 928, finding a shop that will use the actual ZF rebuild kit is rare, limited to only a couple of shops nationwide. Lots of services offer rebuilds, and you can buy kits to do it yourself, but there are certain parts that are only available in the official ZF kit, and which make the whole process really expensive.

With that as background, one of the shops that offers this service offers a lifetime guarantee, so long as you don't use the standard ATF; they specify CHF11S or 202. They go so far as to require that you show proof of buying and installing a new reservoir for the warranty to be honored. What's interesting to me is that they're so insistent on changing the fluid, after which point they're totally comfortable and confident in their work and parts. I have replaced all of 2 steering racks in my life, so I'm willing to give some credence to the experience from that shop and the (much larger number) of parts they've fixed for folks.

Just something to think about. My 944 runs the red stuff and still manages to find new places to leak. If (when, let's be honest) I go back into this, I'm going to switch up and flush the system to the Pentosin fluids. Or go to a manual rack. One of those options.

Good luck

chudson

Again, FWIW, I am in agreement with them. Years ago Porsche printed a service bulletin recommending that the systems factory filled with ATF be flushed and the fluid replaced with 11S. For some reason this bulletin named the 911 only?? even though all Porsche power steering systems at that time were manufactured by ZF. Anyway, our manuals call for Dexron and the Dexron we purchase today is not the same formulation as the juice of 30 years ago. Case in point: I performed a flush to the first 968 I purchased with what was sold at the time (Dexron IV Mercon) and within months, I had seepage from the pinion area of my rack. I immediately flushed with 11S and while there is still an occasional small drip of red Dexron, the seepage has diminished and I'm hoping that it completely stops once all the Dexron residue in the pinion area is gone. My track car was flushed with 11S immediately upon acquisition and zero problems from it.

A word of warning - the system takes a while to get "acclimated" to the 11S. You will start the engine especially in cold ambient conditions and have zero power steering assist for a second or 2 - this has happened on both cars that I have flushed with 11S. Once the assist is restored it does not disappear until the vehicle again becomes "cold". This occurred on many occasions with the 2 cars I flushed, but I no longer experience it. I'm not saying that flushing to 11S is the right thing to do, I'm simply saying that it is what I did, Porsche printed a bulletin stating to do this in the 911 and now the aforementioned power steering company states this as well. I hope this helps.

Cliff