Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Black Power Steering Fluid? & Tranny Slip codes

POWER STEERING PROBLEM
I was checking the fluids and noticed the Power steering fluid is black. I brought the car to local garage
and had it checked out they found no problem with the power steering. They were suppose to flush and
refill with fresh fluid which they did but a few days later it was black again. I assume there was some residual
fluid left. But my main concern is why it was turned black an smelled burnt in the first place. The car does
seem to wonder when its going down the highway could there be a problem with the rack.

TRANNY PROBLEM
My speedo cable and speed sensor went bad I also was getting CEL for a while the dealer fixed the cable and
sensor and then told me the car had a tranny slip coded in the computer. They wanted to tear the care appart
and take a look. Keep in mind I don' t like this dealer Its close to work so I use them occasionaly but not for big
jobs they screwed up an oil change.
Back to the tranny I then called the dealer I usually go to they recommend a transplant rather than a rebuild.
The car is still drivable you barely notice the problem and only when the CEL comes on. The dealer est was
1600 to 2k for the transplant.
It is a second care that is not used that often so I have time to research the problem. Along with many others
I plan to post.

Any help on this would be great I like the car despite some of its shortcomings and want to see it hit 250 k.

I have been impressed with the accuracy of most of the posts and have used this info at the dealer and its funny
to see then squirm when you know more than them about some problems.

Thanks JC

don't know about the power steering problems..but as far as the tranny, is there sensors in the 95 like 96+ that control the shifting.(you did say yours was a 95 i hope). the reason i ask is that it shifts fine until the light comes on..if the tranny slips, its gonna slip all the time i would think. The internals of the tranny slipping would'nt cause a light would it?

In order to flush the power steering fluid, you need to suck some out, put new fluid in, drive around and repeat the process. It's not surprising that after your PS flush that the "new" fluid turned black again almost immediately. You just need to flush it a couple of times to make sure you have more of the new fluid versus the old stuff in there.

The power steering fluid gets black from the aluminum in the power steering rack. It seems more common on the early ones (95 and 96). It doesn't mean that there is excessive wear, only that the aluminum alloy used tends to shed just enough to discolor the fluid. Once the fluid is black, it will take several flushes to get the black residue out of the steering rack. Also, it will discolor again no matter what you do. The balck color doesn't really seem to hurt anything but I would rather not have it there in my car, so if I were you, I would flush the power steering fluid about every 15,000 miles to keep the residue to a minimum.

The transmission problem could be from the MLPS (Manual Lever Position Sensor, also know as the Transmission Range Sensor, in days of old, known as the Neutral Safety Switch). When the MLPS gets old it may be telling the PCM that you have selected a different gear than you really have so that this message can come up. If replacing the MLPS does not solve the problem, then it is probably an indication that the trans is starting to fail.