Red or green power steering fluid

[Matt615]

I have a facelift Mk2 Focus. Quite a late one, registered January 2011.

The power steering fluid is black, so I want to change it. However it is so black I can’t see if it is the red or green version - I believe both were used in the Focus.

Can anyone advise if I should be using red or green fluid in my car? Thanks

[dezwez]

give your reg to a good motor factors and they will tell you which one

[Matt615]

10 minutes ago, dezwez said:

give your reg to a good motor factors and they will tell you which one

I’ve tried that, and they offered me both options. There seems to be some confusion over which one is correct!

[isetta]

whilst I wont know the answer, someone else might have a better idea if we know what type of power steering it is. is it the one which has the pump driven by the rubber belt or the the type with an electric pump?   I don't actually know if that detail helps   (I don't know exactly which engines have which, I know my brother's 1.8tdci (mk2.5 2008) has the electric pump under the drivers side headlamp)

[iantt]

Hydraulic Fluid - All vehicles

WSS-M2C204-A2

Green 

That's from ford etis.

And autodata

 

[Botus]

green, it was green from at least 2007, the red stuff goes black very quickly (inside 6 months) green should last 2 years of bad driving or 5 years driven well (never hold conventional PAS on full lock, ideally never quite reach the end stops unless stuck in a car park from hell then make it 1/4 second)

by a litre from ford, suck out as much as you can from the reservoir, fill it up with fresh green fluid, start the car, move from lock to lock three times, suck out as much as you can from the reservoir, refill, repeat till you have used up the litre.  If you are feeling rich buy two litres and you should have the rack, pipes and the reservoir full of fresh green fluid inside 20 minutes no tools (except a cheap disposable syringe) and 800 ml left

you may notice the steering is slightly heavier using ford original green fluid over nasty red rubbish.... its about 15 quid a litre, the stuff from comma CHF is better than red, but not quite the right spec

[Matt615]

Green it is then. Great, thanks everyone.

[Botus]

no std PAS in mine, it takes green in all Mk2

the handbook is correct, owners who think the book is wrong are mistaken - not helped, as some ford factories moved to the new green standard after others, so may have built some with the wrong fluid… 

if u have red u have the wrong stuff and it goes black faster (or should I say "grey" as it breaks down and bits of metal turn the black into grey)

[Botus]

yes smells burnt coz working too hard.... the green stuff is designed for smaller fluid levels and working for a living - the red isn't

buy 1.5 litres of green,  suck all out till reservoir empty and refill to near the top with green and start the car.... wiggle the steering wheel 1/4 turn side to side.... turn off suck out and repeat, after two more goes, do the same again but now go lock to lock, (NOT holding on end stop) and do twice more....

by now should be through about 0.9 litres.... do once again and then take it for a few miles drive..... and do once more.... then you'll be as good as it should have been when new....  continuing to damage the system and wearing out the pump for 20 mins of effort seems an odd idea to me