StandardShift.com

This pertains to the olden days of before Ford started specifying Mercon ATFs.

I was told by an oil company chemist that it is perfectly okay to put Dextron/Mercon in my old Ford PS pump that specifies Type F ATF. I believe he is correct because a PS pump is fairly simple compared to an automatic transmission. The whole thing about not putting Dextron in a Ford tranny and not putting Type F in a GM tranny has to do with the level or lack of friction modifiers between the two fluids and how the transmissions are built and set up to operate. Ford probably specified Type F for their PS pumps just to keep it simple--one fluid for both PS and tranny.

Back in the good-ol'-Days, I seem to remember that you could use ATF to top-off a powerful steering pump reservoir, because most of the fluid in the system was still PSF and had all the correct additives. ATF was Good-Enough-for Government-Work when only added in small amounts.

We didn't have the internet back then. We got our facts from popular magazines, like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and Popular Hot-Rodding....oh, and that guy down the street with all the old cars that still ran after 100,000 smiles.

Rope-Pusher wrote:...and that guy down the street with all the old cars that still ran after 100,000 smiles.

Yeah, ha ha. Those were the days, eh? If a car passed 100,000 miles it was a noteworthy event. Now it is noteworthy if a car does not pass 100,000 and more. They even didn't have the odometer go past 99,000 because most cars were junked before that.

InlinePaul wrote:

Rope-Pusher wrote:...and that guy down the street with all the old cars that still ran after 100,000 smiles.

Yeah, ha ha. Those were the days, eh? If a car passed 100,000 [s]miles it was a noteworthy event. Now it is noteworthy if a car does not pass 100,000 and more. They even didn't have the odometer go past 99,000 because most cars were junked before that.

fixed it for you.


I know Honda is very strict on using only Honda fluid to the power steering system. Anything else should only be used as a very temporary solution. I've heard horror stories on people who haven't. Whether its true...

bk7794 wrote:

InlinePaul wrote:

Rope-Pusher wrote:...and that guy down the street with all the old cars that still ran after 100,000 smiles.

Yeah, ha ha. Those were the days, eh? If a car passed 100,000 [s]miles it was a noteworthy event. Now it is noteworthy if a car does not pass 100,000 and more. They even didn't have the odometer go past 99,000 because most cars were junked before that.

fixed it for you.


I know Honda is very strict on using only Honda fluid to the power steering system. Anything else should only be used as a very temporary solution. I've heard horror stories on people who haven't. Whether its true...

haven't kept a honda long enough to find out
not that most of my hondas weren't old before i had them...never touched a power steering system (brakes are another story)...