[s-cars] The Great Mineral Oil Debate - Pentosin 7 or 11 ?

[manuel]

S-Heads,

I found myself out of town for Turkey Day and in the need for some liquid gold - the mineral oil for the power steering/brake booster system.  Simple enough I thought.  There seems to be a varying range of opinion from both dealers/independent mechanics and independent auto parts stores on which version of the stuff should be used.

They all, however, agreed that I should not mix the 2 types.  Of the 5 places I called (2 dealers, 2 auto parts stores, 1 independent audi mechanic) this is what they said;

Dealer 1 - use the Audi stuff (this of course would be no problem if the dealers were open on Saturday in Northeastern PA), when pressed for the Pentosin equivalent they said Pentosin 7.

Dealer 2 - Pentosin 11.

Independent Mechanic - Pentosin 7 

(this guy happens to work on my car and when I replaced the "X plug and seal about 1 year ago, he was in charge of topping off the reservoir. So if he is wrong, there is the chance I have mixed the 2 types.  The reason I got into this whole affair was because I saw the low level in the reservoir and watched some fluid bubble out around the "X plug" while the car was running.  I tightened the plug and the bubbling stopped.  Another question is, would flushing the system "save" my seals after a years time?  I don't know how much he added to top off the system.

Autoparts 1 - Pentosin 11

Autoparts 2 - Pentosin 11

The guy I bought it from let me see the book, and while I don't remember it giving the Audi part number, it clearly said "Audi 1990 on, BMW late 1991 - Pentosin 11".  He told me of a local wrench who inadvertently put the wrong stuff in a new steering rack for a customers BMW and had to replace it 3 months later because the wrong fluid ate through the seals.


Now of course, the bottle of Pentosin gives the BMW and Porsche part numbers, but not the Audi part number (G 002000).

So, who do I believe and what's the Pentosin equivalent of G 002000?

With the wide variety of answers I received, and clear confusion I really wonder what is being placed in everyone's Power steering reservoir.

Confused

-m

95.5 S6 Avant



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