Could I kill my steering rack?

[Beatty, Robert]

For those of you in need of a quick fix... i used mineral oil from a grocery
store when i had a leak of pentosin.  Ran the car all summer and most of the
fall with no problems (i mainly left it in to see if there were any negative
effects), however once it started to get cold out, the viscosity of the
mineral increases and therefore affects the steering.  I have since bled out
all the mineral oil and replaced it with pentosin.  The only problems i have
had since the summer is one of the plugs on the top of the pump keeps
loosening up and starting to leak fluid.  

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: Kneale Brownson [mailto:knotnook at traverse.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 9:04 AM
To: kbogach; quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Could I kill my steering rack?


Don't know about the rack, but you could burn up your pump if you don't 
have fluid in the system.


At 11:53 PM 01/16/2001 -0500, kbogach wrote:

>Hi all.
>I am trying ask same question a little differently: could I kill the 
>steering rack if I turned the wheel from lock to lock with empty hydrolic 
>fluid reservoir trying to purge the old fluid from the rack? After 
>thorough bleeding I don't have proper power assist in the steering system. 
>Breaks are ok. Could I blow something inside the steering rack?
>
>Konstantin Bogach
>200tq '89