How did you do that to my car?

While away in Germany, I needed to leave my vehicles back at home in the care of friends and family. One good friend wanted to have use of my Astro while I was gone, so that seemed like it would work out well for us both.

Got a message from him yesterday... Apparently he added engine oil to the power steering reservoir, and berkeleyed up the system. I don't know how you even manage to make that boneheaded of a mistake. I am not there so I can't tell the extent of the damage.

Money is tight for his family, so they can't afford to take it to a mechanic right now. He's got a buddy who he says he'll do the work for free, if my friend buys the parts (which apparently money is too tight to even do that). This friend is also telling him that all of the brake lines need to be replaced (umm... WTF?), which makes me completely uninclined to trust him to fix my car.

Grrr....

My suggestion is that he parks it and leaves it alone until you get home.

One of my brothers is borrowing one of my cars right now (just for the summer). I love him to death, but if he did something dumb like that, I'd tell him to park it until I could come and look at it.

In reply to aeronca65t:

Ditto. Ask him to please not "fix" it...

Good idea.

I'd give him the option of having it towed to a reputable mechanic, but I know he won't have the money to cover all that.

I'm really really really hoping he just poured oil in the reservoir, realized he'd made a mistake, and left it. Maybe he did only that and is assuming it's spread farther through the system. Then, I could just suck it out with a syringe and replace with fresh power-steering fluid.

I mean, I need to look, but the fluid in the reservoir doesn't actually circulate unless there's a problem, right? Or if he's used the steering, is it already fully into the lines? Are the pump and actual steering hydraulics going to need to be flushed too?

I would think that engine oil should not hurt the power steering, after all ATF is an oil with a different additive package. But this mechanic says it needs brake lines? I think your bud actually dumped engine oil in the brake master cylinder and yes it needs to not move another inch until you can look at it yourself. It's not just a matter of $, it's very possible someone could get hurt or killed.

Curmudgeon wrote: I would think that engine oil should not hurt the power steering, after all ATF is an oil with a different additive package. But this mechanic says it needs brake lines? I think your bud actually dumped engine oil in the brake master cylinder and yes it needs to not move another inch until you can look at it yourself. It's not just a matter of $, it's very possible someone could get hurt or killed.

That's what I thought about ATF. I know ATF and brake fluid are completely different animals, but I was pretty sure that engine oil, ATF, and transmission fluid are all variations on the same theme.

But yeah, not moving until I or a certified mechanic looks at it.

I don't think his buddy is an actual mechanic. My friend trusts him, but I do not know him, therefore I do not trust him regarding anything to do with the steering or brakes of a 2-ton vehicle.

Well, that's unfortunate.

Yeah, your halfwit friend poured oil in the brake fluid reservoir, and now is too dumb to even tell the story correctly.

This is why I always correct people when they use the term "brake oil". Its not.

FWIW when oil is introduced to a brake system the following parts will need to be replaced:

The car.

I say this because you will need to replace the master cylinder, ABS module, proportioning valve, hoses, calipers, wheel cylinders as well as flush out the steel lines with a cleaning agent then again with brake fluid before reassembly. It is a gruesome affair for some, because they skip a step and have to do it all over again.

I have seen these sorts of follies fixed with 2-3 GALLONS of denatured alcohol... But YMMV.

So. I borrowed a truck off a buddy to help move. In the week I had the truck in my possession, a tree hit it, the tailgate hinges both broke, the radio stopped working and I locked my keys in it, while it was running. He took it all in stride cause the situation was extreme, Nasty storm that took down tons of trees and 9 days without power. The truck was also a giant POS.

Sometimes E36 M3 happens.

He doesn't have money for parts but he has money to pour gasoline into an Astro? Tell him to stop moving your vehicles until you return and spend time trying to figure out how to un-berkley his mind / life / etc.

this is exactly why I don't lend stuff out

Park it until you get home unless you can have someone you trust look at it. That's why I don't usually let others drive my cars. I destroy them enough, just by driving them.

In the early '80s, I let a friend "take care of" my 1980 Fiesta for me while I was in Japan. When I got back, I found out the hard way that my friend never checked the dipstick/oil level.

I didn't learn my lesson. A few years later I let another friend "take care of" of 1982 J2000 while I was overseas. It wasn't until I had a "unplanned" blowout of a tire that I found out my friend had destroyed the spare while using my car on an unpaved road. He had a flat on a rear tire, but being in the "boonies", he also flattened the spare on his way back to "civilization". It would have been nice to know I had no spare.

Yeah, I've loaned cars to "friends", it has always gone badly. Nothing major, just badly/somewhat expensive.

Word is the oil did indeed go into the power steering reservoir, not the brake fluid (thank god). It's going to sit until I get back, or be towed to a reputable certified mechanic.

I think I've learned my lesson with this. At the very least, never leave a car in the care of someone who does not have the money to fix it.

He is actually a really good guy, just in a bad situation financially. He's a laid-off private school teacher who just finished seminary and is trying to make ends meet as a youth group leader. Really good guy, but there isn't a lot of money to support a family doing that.

If it was really just added to the power steering reservoir, you are probably safe.
You could probably pull as much as you can out with a turkey baster.
Then add the correct oil. Run the engine for a little while (to turn the pump). Then shut down, suck all that oil out and refill with the correct oil.
Should be OK after that.

Why was it low in the first place?

No idea why it was low. Not even sure it really was low. I don't get how he could know to check the level of ps fluid, but not know what fluid to add. If I had to guess, he probably checked the oil, saw it was low, and added oil in the wrong place.

Unfortunately, he ran and drove the car after adding the oil. I really doubt he did any damage to the car, but I'm not willing to take the chance on the steering or brake systems. I don't trust him to fix the problem himself, and don't trust his judgement on who is qualified to diagnose and fix it. I told him he needed to take it to a reputable mechanic, his response was, "Cool... I'll take it to Midas." Err... no dude, Midas is not a mechanic shop.

As for the brake system connection, I think the situation is the the Astro also uses the PS pump as the brake booster or to drive the brake booster or something like that. So screwing up the power steering will also kill the power brakes.

So how's Germany?

pinchvalve wrote: So how's Germany?

Pretty darn awesome. I miss American beer and my girlfriend, but otherwise pretty darn fun. And I'm graduated, so now I have a month to just enjoy it.

I'll have several reports up soon about our final excursion to Bavaria, and on the graduation itself. I've met some great people who I'm going to miss as they return to Turkey, Korea, South America, and wherever else.

There are VERY few people whom I'd lend a car to.

It always seems like people who don't have cars tend not to have them for a reason.

I don't lend cars to anyone anymore.

The one time i lent a car to someone, they backed it into another car. there was nary a scuff on my car, but according to my insurance after the payout......$6k+ in damage to the side of a relatively new honda pilot. FML.

No one borrows my cars anymore either.