An unfortunate thing happened and an ounce or two of power steering fluid was put in my brake fluid res a couple weeks back--too late to suck it out. It's time for new brakes and lines anyway (or so I tell myself to make this seem less catastrophic), but the ABS stuff is where I'm at a loss. Does anybody know what rubber seals and gaskets are inside the hydraulic control unit and if is it rebuildable? Anyone done this? I want to do a thorough job replacing all the rubber. Or should I just try to find a new/used HCU?

At first I thought I'd just run the lines directly from the master cylinder and bypass the ABS but I'd rather leave it in for safety/liability reasons. ABS light has been on forever and figure I could take this opportunity to get the system working again. 2000 4x4 with ABS on all wheels.

Thanks for any advice or direction!
Ian

 

Welcome to the forum

Shouldn't be an issue if it has only been a few weeks or even months, year might be a bit long, lol

Just gravity bleed the system, or power bleed
Start at right rear wheel until fluid looks clean
Then left rear
Then right front
Then left front
Remember to keep topping up reservoir

It will be fine, any remaining ATF will end up in the calipers or slaves eventually and will break down from the heat
The rubber gaskets and seals aren't quite as delicate as you may have read, lol

Stop by an auto parts store, or get an OBD2 code reader that can read "C" codes, ABS codes
ABS light is usually on because one of the 3 wheel sensors is bad, yes, there are only 3 on "all wheel" ABS, lol

WRITE THE CODES DOWN!!!!!
ALL the codes, P, B, and C

Ford C codes seen here, C1000 and up usually: https://www.troublecodes.net/ccodes/

 

Thanks Ron, been reading your posts on here for years and now lucky enough to hear from you directly!

I was holding out hope I might receive a reply like this, that the ATF isn't the end of the world. I'm going to do as you say and power bleed and diagnose the 3 (lol) ABS sensors.

Anything I should watch out for down the line that would be signs of the rubber in the master cylinder degrading or swelling? I feel like that must be the place the ATF has spent the most time hanging around.

Thank you!

 

Thanks for the comments

Yes, sticky brake pedal, as in the pedal is not coming back up with your foot as you ease off the pedal, unlikely in such a short time, but that's what you would notice

 

Okay great, thank you!