Hey Fellas, give me your thoughts on this one.

The truck's an '03 1500 4.7L ST 4X4;

My power steering was really beginning to groan and I noticed that not only was the fluid level low, but it was really dirty. So I just went ahead and purged/bled it and filled it with STP power steering fluid.

Keeping in mind that I plan to eventually do a full PSF flush, I assume that there's no problem temporarily using a respectable PSF instead of the ATF+4 that manuals insist on.

Is there really THAT big difference??? (Some people are adamant that there is.)

 

I put in the wrong stuff and it was making a groan noise within a week! Save a headache and get the correct fluid. At least it'll be nice and clean now since you did it twice!

SJ03

 

Yep, no problem. Any ATF should work.


Hope you got out all the old PS oil though. You don't want to mix them. When I did the changeover, I removed the PS lines at the rack. Then with the truck off and wheels lifted, I turned wheels lock to lock and expelled the rest of the fluid. I filled with ATF, ran it through the system, drained and filled again.

 

To answer the question.... Yes there is a difference..... When changing Fluids you need to do some homework... Look at the specs of what your looking into buying.
Check out the brand that is in the following spec sheet. If you were to buy this and put it in your car or truck. You might be in for a failure... It dose not say it is intended for that use for that application...
https://cglapps.chevron.com/msdspds/...&docFormat=PDF

Just my 2 cents....

 

Bakerman;

I have to chime in on this one. I have had mine for 11 years now and found out within the first few years that using "recommended" Mopar fluids is almost necessary unless you plan on spending more money to replace parts.
About 7 years ago I had a "highly recommended" shop owner do my 30k maintenance on my truck. He changed out all of my mopar fluids for "universal" and cheaper bulk items that most vehicles do not care about but these Dodge/Chrysler/Daimler vehicles really seem to prefer Mopar OEM.
I really did not know this was a problem until my power steering pump started making noises it never had done before. Then I did research and found out that the very expensive Mopar coolant lubricates the water pump, and it goes on and on. I ended up changing out my fluids for the right stuff and learned a valuable lesson.
I have not had problems that others I know have had because I stick with the correct fluids and change them appropriately.
Mopar parts and fluids are expensive but worth it in the long run.
My owner's manual says "Mopar ATF+4" for power steering fluid and that is exactly what I have in the reservoir with absolutely no noises.


OEM off-road 17's, BFG-LT's, Airraid CAI, Cortex 3950 w/trans tune, Pwr. stop drilled/slotted all 4, Detroit TT, Magnaflow Y-pipe, Mag Hytec trans and rear diff, 190 t-stat, pwr wire, grd TB, SRT A-pillar w/trans temp gauge, Amsoil diffs, RP and RP filter helped the tick.

 

Thanks, man! Good advice!