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Question:

Power steering fluid in Brake Fluid?

My Son accidently put a little bit of Power Steering fluid in with the Brake Fluid on his Ford Escort, Will this cause a problem? It is probably about 1% of the mix.

Answer:

Oil products will SWELL all rubber parts. If vehicle was not driven to remove resoiver and clean with new clean brake fluid throughly Bleed brakes several times to flush any old fluid out after resovoir is cleaned. If vehicle was driven and contaminates have gone through system calipers and wheel cylinder should be replaced. Flush system out and watch for resoivor cap gasket to swell. After contamiates do there thing cap gasket will be much larger when opened. Visably apparant then you know work needs to be performed. This is a safety concern. Brakes parts swell, stick or leak. Please do not believe other answers that say nothing will happen take action to remove even the smallest amounts and replace parts as needed.
Even a small amount will cause disastrous effects in the braking system. You see rubber typically swells when in contact with any petroleum product. The brake system is full of rubber o rings and seals. You may end up ruining all your calipers, master cylinder and abs unit. If you flush out the whole system thoroughly you will probably avoid this. Ive seen this many times!
need to serve it.oil and filter are dirty.
running low on trany oil . check it out
that can cause systemic failure in the brakes and or a lockup situation. petroleum products cause the gaskets and seals to swell in the master cylinder and any where else you find rubber in that system. if you have not driven the car or applied the brakes you could be lucky, completely empty the master cylinder and use fresh brake fluid to replace the old. good luck,

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