Inexpensive Pentosin substitute?

[Peter Schulz]

Ben:

from Scott Mockry's website:
http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/susp.html#hydoil

Found this from Google
http://www.importautoberdoo.com/hsmo.html

STRANGE LIQUIDS that go in your car: HSMO hydraulic fluids


Probably the most unusual fluid we sell is Hydraulic System Mineral Oil. This was first used in the Rolls 79-up brake and suspension system, and later in various other vehicles that use a hydraulic system for power steering and/or power brakes, as well as some self-leveling systems. The main applications of this are Jaguar XJ6 88- up
in the power brakes, self-leveling suspensions, and from 90- the power steering. (The actual braking system is still DOT4.); the Audi 5000 power steering 85-90, and BMW Nivomat. The best way to identify a system using this fluid is a reservoir lid that is green, or a sticker with a green drop. Audi and BMW may have a sticker that says CHF7.1, which is the German Pentosin equivalent. Later Audi's use a synthetic version also made by Pentosin, CHF11s.  Mercedes-Benz uses a special fluid in their self-leveling systems, which we carry under the Mercedes part number. As far as we know, it is unique to Mercedes and not interchangeable with anything.  It is NOT SAFE to use anything else in a system that is designed for an HSMO fluid; we have seen expensive BMW Nivomat shocks and Audi power steering components damaged by incorrect fluids. (There are also Hondas that use a special power steering fluid, but as far as we know, the correct stuff is only available from Honda.)

We carry: Lucas GMF2100 green HSMO 1L $12.50
                Castrol JLM9886 green HSMO with the spout needed to fill the Jaguar reservoirs .5L $8.95
                Pentosin CHF 7.1 green HSMO 1 L (BMW 81-22-9-407-549) $18.00
                Pentosin CHF 11s synthetic HSMO 1 L (BMW 82-11-1-468-041; Porsche 000.043.203.33) $21.95
                Mercedes 000-989-91-03 Hydraulic Suspension Fluid 1 L $11.95

The smell may also be due to the "pentosin volcano" phenomenon....I also had a burning smell and it turn out that if I opened the hood right after driving, i could still see the fluid bubbling out of the cap. I ended up replacing the suction hose (from the reservoir bottom to the pump)
and the pump with known good used parts...it may just have been the pump, as the hose was VERY soft

HTH
-Peter







At 11:57 AM 4/8/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Sean's car ('87 5ktqa) is down in FLA with bad leak in Power
>Steering/hydraulic system.  We are looking for a possible inexpensive
>substitute for Pentosin that will get the car back to MD where we can
>fix whatever is leaking.
>
>I recall seeing a post sometime back about one of common gas stations
>who sell high quality mineral oil by the gallon or so.  Can anyone
>advise - this car is using a pint every 100 miles or so?
>
>We have not been able to locate the leak, but it seems to be
>dripping/spurting somewhere in the middle on around the top of the
>transmission where it then gets vaporized quickly by the exhaust
>leaving not much trace - but a lot of smell.  Car has a rebuilt Jorgen
>rack, but don't know if that rules out the rack.
>
>Hope we can find some cheap source to get us through until the problem
>is fixed.
>
>TIA
>
>Ben & Sean Shoemaker
>
>
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>200q20v at audifans.com
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Peter Schulz
1990 CQ (awaiting S2 3b engine transplant)
1991 200 20v TQW indigo mica
1991 200 20v TQW titanium grey
Chelmsford, MA USA
peschulz at cisco.com