Somewhere In The


Middle Of Nowhere?


No Problem. AAA.com/ AAAFindMe.2


Nowhere


Middle of


Auto Talk


The most neglected fl uid


By Dana TePoel Help! I 1GPS-enabled Sprint CDMA handsets only. 2 AAA roadside


assistance requires AAA membership. Members must provide permission to release location information to AAA in advance of the roadside assistance call on AAA. com/AAAFindMe. Free SMS message will be sent upon registration of AAA FindMe and as a reminder of service approximately every six (6) months. (c)2010 Sprint. Restrictions apply. See AAA.com/AAAFindMe website for details. *Please visit www.AAA.com/Sprint <http://www. AAA.com/Sprint> for all terms and conditions.


22 EnCompass September/October 2011 www.AAA.com


In my 35 years of repairing and maintaining automobiles and light trucks, I cannot recall ever seeing an owner’s manual recommend “replace power steering fl uid” … so why do it? The likelihood that you will experience a catastrophic power-steer-


ing failure requiring a gear replacement is dramatically increased if you have allowed worn-out, oxidized and contaminated fl uid to oper- ate your system. This repair can be north of $2,000 in some vehicles. A basic power steering service costs about $75 and should be done around 45,000 miles if you’re a severe driver (frequent stop-and-go conditions, with considerable in-town driving and frequent maneu- vering of the car, put- ting extra strain on the power-steering system). Vehicles today, with


proper maintenance and care, last hun- dreds of thousands of miles. At those higher mileages, we see the effects of how well we maintained our power steering system over the life of our vehicle. You can delay the


service until 60,000 miles if you spend less time in tight spots such as parking lots. To me, this is a no brainer … I’m replac- ing my fl uid at 45,000 to 60,000 miles for the life of my vehicle, and then using the money I save to go fi shing!


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