[David Jones]

I had my steering box and pump rebuilt by Power Steering Services recently. For fluid they recommend whatever the particular mfg spec'd out. No specific brands or types were mentioned. I'm next door to a Walmart so I walked up and bought a couple of quarts of Prestone fluid. Specifically noted on the bottle that it met all of GM's requirements. I installed the box and pump as per PSS's instructions and had bad issues with air in the system and fluid when I filled it up. I worked the air out over the next few days and the system did operate wonderfully......except when idling around in the driveway when it acted a bit weird. The power part of the steering was slightly spotty. Over a period of days I searched around on the web on some major GM websites and GM's own brand of fluid seemed to be the best brand, but quite frankly people used all manner of things as fluid and "never had a problem". I decided to run up to the local Chevy store and get a couple of quarts for a flush but decided to contact Chip at Power Steering Services first and ask SPECIFICALLY what brand of fluid he recommended for my stuff. I noted that I was close to all the major auto parts stores and all the major brands of autos. His reply was that GM recommended dexron Type A transmission fluid but that Dexron III would be just fine. I was kinda surprised!! Anyway I took B-Man's (and others across the web) advice and bought a couple of quarts of the GM fluid. Another fellow named Jim Shea noted that GM has used it with good effect in a few million systems. Last night I flushed out the Prestone and refilled with the GM fluid. Even with a lumpy, "I just woke up idle" the GTO now magically has easy, smooth one finger steering.