Roddrickd

What type of power steering fluid do I use for my 1998 Lexus ES300? I don't have a owner's manual but Lexus site says Dexron 3 Transmission Fluid. I was wondering what brand do you guy's use?

nsghtbrwry

I use the same Valvoline MaxLife that I started putting in my transmissions, $20/gal at Walmart. speedkar9's flush here:
It meets the Dexron VI standard (it's basically Dexron VI with additive packages to make it meet all the other standards listed on the bottle), which is backwards compatible with Dexron III and Dexron II in MOST applications. I think some Dexron III-H applications and Allison transmissions are incompatible due to seal material incompatibility, it's listed somewhere on GM's websites (and a non-issue for us).

These systems tend to whine pretty noticeably if the fluid gets a little low, like from a leak or something. A thicker fluid can help with that (Dexron VI-type fluids are thin), I know at least one person on Toyota Nation that runs Walmart-brand (SuperTech) Mercon V because of that. There are no clutch packs, etc like there are in an automatic transmission so basically any transmission fluid will work (because how transmissions fluids shear, etc. to make auto trans work is not applicable).