2002 s60 2.4T White separated material in power steering flu

[Homebrand]

Hi all
I have a clacking sound from what I think is the power steering pump.
I removed the old fluid from the reservoir. Refilled and then ran a cycle of turning the wheels then removed and refilled again.
I noticed a settlement of white stuff in the old fluid in the jar.
Curious as to what this is. There's a lot more in there than the image shows.
It separates within a couple of minutes of getting it in the jar.



On another note, I suspect I replaced with a different fluid. I used synthetic power steering fluid which was reddish in color.

So far it's working fine (but the clacking when idling remains). I'm thinking a bad pump but it's really difficult to tell where the sound is coming from.

I'll remove the serpentine belt and feel the pulleys.
But what is this whitish stuff?

Note: I only recently fixed the seal on the cap which was previously allowing PS fluid to escape from the top.
Anything to be worried about?
Thanks

[oragex]

Maybe it's a by product from mixing two different fluids.

[Homebrand]

That jar was the first one, so that was what I took out before adding in the new stuff.

I'm going to check it again tomorrow after it's been driven a bit more.

It was more curiosity as to what it is. I don't know how long the old fluid had been in there.

I'll hopefully see if the two fluids mixing has caused any immediately apparent issues too.

[abscate]

Keep filling and flushing to get that junk out. Nothing to lose at this point. There is a lot of pressure in a PS system and they don't like contaminants

[vtl]

Add Magnefine filter into return line. As abscate said, contaminants kill the PS system.

[Homebrand]

Thanks for the replies!
Ok, so I haven't had a chance to remove the belt to check if the noise is from one of the accessories or the power steering pump itself (although there is seepage around the hose) as there is a small amount of fluid on the hose clamp above the pulley.

Since reading conflicting reports on the type of power steering fluid to use, I'm now paranoid about the Synthetic fluid I put in.

Tomorrow, i'll remove the belt and confirm the noise creator.

Then I will completely flush the power steering fluid by removing the return line hose and staging the top ups as I "pump" the old fluid out to make sure I don't get air in the system.

Just have to make sure I can get what I THINK is the right fluid first......

EDIT:

Ok, for Australian members, it appears that Penrite LDAS fluid is a substitute for the CHF-11S
Link here
http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.p ... oducts=256

About $30 per litre

[Homebrand]

Ok, worked out what the white stuff probably was. My wife had used my "pump" to transfer some liquid detergents from a large container into smaller ones.
I'm guessing some of the crap was still in the hose and trigger head. Duh.

[vtl]

Ouch... Good you have sorted that out. Little detergent is better than shredder internals of PS pump or rack