Hi Everyone.  I successfully completed a power steering flush on our 
'90 Syncro yesterday, and am very pleased with how it all went :)  
Thanks to Tim Smith's instructions dated Mar 7/96 in the Archives, 
and his support with a couple minor points.. like getting the lid off 
the resevoir!

With our van being a '90 model, it takes ATF-Dexron fluid.  This was 
verified by the pinkish colour of the fluid on a white paper towel.  
The system holds 1.25 litres, and I used nearly 4 litres to ensure 
the system was completely flushed out.  

I used Castrol ATF - Dexron III / Mercon fluid which was purchased 
for $2.72 per litre (CDN).  I contacted Castrol Oil Canada and they 
have a cross reference of all fluids per automobile made.  The 
Vanagon was listed and Castrol recommended this fluid for our
van.

I followed Tim's instructions with the following changes/additions:

If your resevoir cap won't come off, try an expandable C-clamp.  This 
worked like a charm on the cap.  The feet of the clamp went up 
against the raised "bumps" on the lid, and this provided a good wedge 
for the clamp to go up against.  After nearly half an hour of 
struggling with various pieces of rope. rubber, bungie cords, etc, I 
tried the C-clamp out of desperation, and it came off with little 
problem.. but high effort... that sucker was really on there!  I had 
a friend help me, and he held the resevoir in place while I worked 
the C-clamp as I was afraid of breaking the plastic resevoir.

I flushed 2 litres of fluid through the system by having my buddy 
crank the engine for 4 or 5 second bursts with the ignition coil 
unplugged from the distributor.  The fluid that came out at first was 
a very dark pink fluid.... almost a deep burgundy colour.  The 
Castrol fluid is a very bright pink.  I wonder if this is what is 
called "burnt" fluid??  Anyone??  

After pumping 2 litres through the system, we filled up the resevoir, 
and put everything back together.  We did a 15 minute doughnut 
excercise in a local cul-de-sac.  I held the van at or near full lock 
going both directions to warm up the fluid in the power steering 
system.  Don't hold full lock for more than 5 seconds at a time!! 

After the doughnut excercise, and many strange looks from my 
neighbours, we put the van back in the garage, and unhooked the coil 
lead at the distrubutor again.  

The fluid was quite warm now, so we pumped down the fluid to the 
filter level, and  I removed the plastic plate above the filter with 
the spring.  This sediment trap was essentially quite clean.  I used 
a toothbrush and some varsol to clean up some of the residue, and 
dried it all off.  I changed the filter at this time as well.  The 
original filter (7 years old) looks quite clean to me.  I let it 
drain on a white paper towel, and I couldn't see any dirt come out of 
it.  Anyway, I put in a new filter that I had purchased from my 
dealer for $39.40 CDN. 

After refilling again, and purging out another litre of fluid, we put 
everything back together, and topped up.  I used about 3.5 litres of 
fluid, with a half litre left to top up as needed.  Don't forget, you 
have to check this fluid level with the engine running, and warm.  I 
had to use vise-grips to get the centre fill cap off the lid as 
well!!  This entire PS system has never been opened, and both lids 
were really jammed in there.  All threads were cleaned with a 
toothbrush before everything went back.

So, hopefully, this exercise will help prolong my power steering 
system.  Knowing how easy it is to do this exercise, I might do it 
more frequently now.  The entire exercise took us nearly 2 hours on a 
Saturday morning with a friend to help.  

Harry.

---------------------------------------------------------
Harry Yates, Langley, BC, Canada
'90 Syncro Westfalia www:   http://syncro.cr.bcit.bc.ca/hyates
'87 Golf Diesel      email: hyates@bcit.bc.ca
'91 Miata (Millie)