5w30 got poured into my power steering resevoir

[smallarmsdealer]

A friend of mine borrowed my 2001 Toyota 4Runner SR5 over the 4th of July weekend and thought he'd do me a favor and put some 5w30 oil in my car late at night on the trip home. IN THE WRONG PLACE!

He (and at least he admitted he did it) ended up pouring about 100ml (like maybe 1/2 cup in his words) or so into my power steering fluid resevoir before he realized it wasn't going in and was overflowing. He wiped off the cap to read "Power Steering" of course, freaked out, called me...apologizing profusely.

I'm trying to remain calm, but needless to say from what I've read this isn't great. It can damage my power steering seals and pump, right?

I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I just want to take care of my (fairly new to me) 4Runner now and yell at my friend later.

What should my next move be? What will happen if driven? I'm not very keen on the chemistry of the Dexrol power steering fluid versus 5w30 oil?

Can I buy a small hand pump and just suck it all out and put new power steering fluid in? Or am I dumping big bugs to get the system flushed or something?

HELP! Thank you very much everyone.

 

[Louie]

Just draw as much fluid out with a turkey baster or syringe and add back the correct fluid. Do it a couple of times. That's step one. Step two is don't loan your vehicles to others. There are too many chances for trouble, both financial and legal.:bash: :bash:

Try your local auto parts store and grocery store. You might need a short piece of tubing to extend down far enough to get most of the fluid. You should do this procedure about once a year, anyway.

I use Redline D-4 trans fluid for my automatic transmission and the p/s. Works great.

 

[GSGALLANT]

That really sucks, but at least he told you about it, and it hasn't been in there too long, so I would think the damage would be minimal.

The only way to handle this (in my opinion) is with a complete flush of your PS system, but this is way cheaper than you think (if you can do it yourself.) Follow my write up here and it should be pretty easy. with a total cost of a few dollars for new fluid. You might want to consider doing the flush, driving the truck around for a week or so, then repeating the flush just to be sure.

Keep in mind that your truck takes Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) in the power steering system, and not Dexrol power steering fluid like you mentioned in your post.

Let us know if you need more info.

 

[greasefingers]

You will be absolutely fine. Go to the Dollar store and pick a turkey baster. Remove as much as possible from the reservoir. Top up with the correct fluid and drive a day or two. Then repeat the process a couple of times.

 

[GSGALLANT]

You will be absolutely fine. Go to the Dollar store and pick a turkey baster. Remove as much as possible from the reservoir. Top up with the correct fluid and drive a day or two. Then repeat the process a couple of times.

Yeah, although that would probably be "OK", why take a chance when a full flush only takes a half hour and a couple of quarts of fluid? On a 2001, it would be about time to get that old fluid replaced anyways.

 

[smallarmsdealer]

Thanks everyone for your help! Very helpful answers; I'm no longer freaking out about this. This message board is a great resource.