Which power steering fluid?

[john2006]

Hi guys,

So I've been hearing this very quiet/soft (sometimes its there sometimes it's not...) high pitch sorta of squeaky noise.. coming from the steering wheel. I've been googling and youtubing quite a fair bit in hopes of finding the cause. I'm reasonably sure that the problem is not a failing pump or belt etc etc but rather a very weird....odd... issue with certain models whereby above the brake pedal, there is a panel, and under this panel is something that is known to rub against the panel causing this annoying noise. Whilst I know it could be other things... one thing I also wanted to check one final time and top up if nessesary is the power steering fluid. I checked it once before, and it seemed fine however I've tried checking it once again just yesterday and noticed on a warmed up engine the reading was directly on the minimum line for "warmed up engine" so this is also a possibility... but I'm not sure if the car was on totally flat or not so I will check once again on a flat service to be certain...

I cannot for the life or me find exactly what power steering fluid I should to top up with? and more importantly is it safe to add new fluid over the old? I've gone through my documents and I can't tell (as nothing states it has been done) that the fluid has ever been changed, and if it has, what fluid is in there (so I can match the same fluid).

I#ve checked halfords and they only seem to do one fluid for my car which is:

Comma MVCHF 1L (for vehicles CHF 11S and CHF 202)

But in the description it says things like:

• IMPORTANT: Do not mix with other grades of ATF or Power Steering Fluids.

I have no clue what is already int he car and what the grade is..to be even able to make sure I don't mix it...? so I'm thinking, don't buy this one... and look elsewhere but exactly what ones can and can't mix well with others? is it better to just get the garage to replace the whole power steering fluid ?

[EDIT]
I have a Petrol , Mercedes benz C200 2008 1.8ltr

 

[AlanGunn]

I think it will be the CHF11s but just put a bit from the stick on a paper towel it should look green if it is.
If it looks red then atf is what you need

 

[Wighty]

Hi guys,

So I've been hearing this very quiet/soft (sometimes its there sometimes it's not...) high pitch sorta of squeaky noise.. coming from the steering wheel. I've been googling and youtubing quite a fair bit in hopes of finding the cause. I'm reasonably sure that the problem is not a failing pump or belt etc etc but rather a very weird....odd... issue with certain models whereby above the brake pedal, there is a panel, and under this panel is something that is known to rub against the panel causing this annoying noise. Whilst I know it could be other things... one thing I also wanted to check one final time and top up if nessesary is the power steering fluid. I checked it once before, and it seemed fine however I've tried checking it once again just yesterday and noticed on a warmed up engine the reading was directly on the minimum line for "warmed up engine" so this is also a possibility... but I'm not sure if the car was on totally flat or not so I will check once again on a flat service to be certain...

I cannot for the life or me find exactly what power steering fluid I should to top up with? and more importantly is it safe to add new fluid over the old? I've gone through my documents and I can't tell (as nothing states it has been done) that the fluid has ever been changed, and if it has, what fluid is in there (so I can match the same fluid).

I#ve checked halfords and they only seem to do one fluid for my car which is:

Comma MVCHF 1L (for vehicles CHF 11S and CHF 202)

But in the description it says things like:

• IMPORTANT: Do not mix with other grades of ATF or Power Steering Fluids.

I have no clue what is already int he car and what the grade is..to be even able to make sure I don't mix it...? so I'm thinking, don't buy this one... and look elsewhere but exactly what ones can and can't mix well with others? is it better to just get the garage to replace the whole power steering fluid ?

[EDIT]
I have a Petrol , Mercedes benz C200 2008 1.8ltr

Put your car details into Opie Oils website they have a liquids for your car search thingy

 

[Wighty]

Or just buy a L from MB parts dept .

 

[Richard Moakes]

Mercedes-Benz Operating Fluids

Publication platform for approved operating fluids from Mercedes-Benz

operatingfluids.mercedes-benz.com

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Mercedese only, when it comes to fluids .

 

[onefortheroad]

If it's not red , it's chf . Chf is yellow///)green.

 

[john2006]

Thanks guys, I'm confident in saying that it's the green one and so the CHF must be correct. Was the warning about not mixing suggesting not to mix CHF with ATF?

Also the one at halfords is not "MB Aproved" but my steering wheel is squeeling and I#ve checked again the level is on the "minimum" bar, I can now also feel a bit of something in the steering wheel sometimes when I'm turning. Almost like a grindy feeling...so I think it's extremely imporrtant that I get some oil in there even if it's not MB Approved at this point.

I'm due a service B soon so I will ask them to replace the oil even though it's not part of this particular service asking them to use MB approved oils only. For now, I think some oil aslong as its the right one for the car, even if its not MB approved is needed at this point. I can't seem to find anything with quick access to thats MB approved annoyingly.

 

[onefortheroad]

Appears to be called mvchf fluid nowadays. This comma is mb approved. Most places stock it that sell car parts.

 

[john2006]

Appears to be called mvchf fluid nowadays. This comma is mb approved. Most places stock it that sell car parts.

View attachment 89854

Oh it's MB approved? I coulnd't find any markings on it to say it was approved so I assumed it wasn't. That's good to know! appreciate it.

I can provide an update now. So I went to halfords and bought the this fluid MVCHF. I made a stupid error in filling it up. I cleaned on and around the cap to avoid getting any dirt inside. I should of put some extra tissues around the cap too so if any spills it goes onto the tissue.. unfortunately some spilt down the left side... I managed to get a tissue and stop most of it but some went down and no clue what it went on... but I cleaned up all that I could. I drove home with no problem so far.. so I can only hope that nothing was damaged by this.

Having said that, I topped up to the point of between min and max. I didnt wanna accidentally overfil so I stopped and left it at this point. The squeaky/high pitch squealing noise was still very much there. No difference between before I had added anything to after. So this ruled out the low power steering fluid being the cause.

Plan B, was to rule out this issue I had found on google searching that others experienced very much what I was going through and for them, under the steering wheel, above the brake pedal is a plastic cover. Removing this revealed that a box or something like that is rubbing against the plastic cover. For me, this did not seem to be the case as when I removed it, there was built up thick dust undisturbed over the entire plastic panel so no way anything could of been rubbing on the plastic cover. so that ruled that part out.... However, I did also see a rubber boot at the very bottom end of the steering column that leads into the engine bay. Some people had talked about a rubber boot being a potential cause of the noise (or at least something that was rubber) so I sprayed a little WD40 around this boot between the steering column and boot. To see if that made a difference. initially, no difference at all. noise was very much there... but after maybe 5-10mins of scratching my head, not knowing what else to do at this point besides taking it to a garage. I turned the steering wheel a few more times for a final test and the noise was gone! Perhaps the WD40 needed time to soak in more or needed to reach an area inside the boot? I honestly don't know, either way. The noise was gone!! So I took a short test drive with lots of slow turning, full locks both ways and nothing. All gone.

Sooooooooooo I believe this is the cause of the noise after all. I will test again tomorrow after the cars had a rest. See what happens, but I think (I hope...) I found the cause and that it was nothing too serious. I'm quite concerned (as some other people had said they replaced the "steering rack"? and all kinds of things down there... I can't afford big bills right now!

 

[daibevan]

Good news. As you now have some fluid it would be a good idea to replace some of the old oil. The easiest diy way is to use a syringe or turkey baster to remove as much as you can from the reservoir and replace with fresh. do this several times after using the car in between. Although not as good as a proper flush you will replace most of the old oil. My steering was noisy at full lock. Doing this sorted it.
Reminds me that Ive got some left and I'll use it up on a dry day.

 

[mattkh]

"... above the brake pedal is a plastic cover...."
Hi
If you have not put this cover back, please take a picture of this rubber boot, and put the picture up for me.
Thanks.