I can't seem to get a guaranteed answer from any source on what my power steering fluid is. A lot of my internet searching says full sythentic.... Some people say USA cars are different. I am in the USA. O'Reilly's searched on their computer and sent me home with Pentosin CHF 202 which is marked in the ingredients as "8042-47-5 Base oil - low viscous, 68649-11-6 Synthetic oil - low viscous, 72623-86-0 base oil - low viscous." The stuff in the bottle is green. The stuff in the car (that hasn't been changed in who knows how long) is a light brownish almost engine oil like color. Do I have the right stuff or not? Any help would be appreciated!
They don't even bother to label hot fill and cold fill on each side of the dipstick so I don't know what temp to put it at either. I assume if it only has one marking its hot fill level?
what's your VIN?
3VWDP7AJ6CM310990
Did you check the owner's manual?
Yes. VW manuals are notoriously useless piles of garbage. It just says something like "power steering does this and that.... your vehicle is equipped with one of these 3 power steering types." And that is it. The Haynes manual I have is not going to know either since it covers too many vehicles.
I agree, I have never come across such a poorly written owner’s manual before. What a nightmare..!
Use full synthetic ATF that is designed for your car.
According to rockauto.com, you want CHF202 or EHF.
"EHF is an economical alternative to CHF11S and CHF202."
Autzone recommends universal fluid, which I'm sure would work fine. It's just hydraulic fluid. All power steering system basically work the same.