tmurphytmurphy

Just purchase a 1999 S420 over the weekend with 104k. This is my 3rd W140 and have done most work myself. Everything great Saturday and Sunday, no leaks present. When checking out from owner on Saturday, I noticed the power steering fluid to be red which did not trigger anything since I haven't had a W140 for about 4 years and forgot that's wrong. This morning (Monday) got in to take to work and power steering making lots of noise. Backed up and saw two large stains on either side of where the car was parked, red fluid. I've read some post about how to suck out the fluid from the reservoir but not sure what my options are. I guess my questions are the following:

-will non-specified fluid destroy the seals in the system to the point they are unrepairable ?
-can I extract the fluid from the reservoir and add the Lucas Stop Leak as some suggest ?
-can I extract what I can then add the proper Pentosin CHF fluid ?

As I just parked the car and took another to work, I don't know exactly where the leak is coming from yet. I know the fluid was red when I checked it before purchase and the fluid that leaked out was red some I'm confident that the leak is from the power steering system. Should I not assume the correlation between the type of fluid and leak just yet ?

oldsinner111

find your leak first,I had to buy a rebuild kit,and rebuild my pump,it leaked at the seal.I changed the filter too.I did it while it was on the car.Easy,I use plain old power steering fluid super tech.bought my kit from pelican parts