The-Pigasus!

[the_experience03]

Do you have the right grade of power steering fluid? GENERALLY you can use a higher rating (DOT 4 instead of DOT 3), but some things are just plain finicky. I know the expensive way that Toyota transfer cases need GL-4 grade fluid, not GL-5. Something about the GL-5 doesn't get along with the bearings.

You might also want to look into just power flushing the system to get out all the gunk. Dumping the fluid might have loosened it up...now you need to get rid of it.

[swinada]

if somebody put ATF into your brakes your rubber seals and washers might have swollen up and are no longer doing what they supposed to do.
Happend to me once in a pick up some wrong oil in the brake cilynder had to change every rubber seal or cap in the system.

[paul iossi]

oops. I hate when that happens , the powersteering and power side of the GM powerboost brake system are designed to use power steering fluid(hydraulic oil with lo temp addatives, ATF is a common substitute that has comparable properties and addatives to provide the lubrication requirements or the hydraulic pump and be compatable with the internal seals in that system.
Brake fluid has different properties to handle the high temps associated with brake use, it is thinner and does not have the lubricating properties required for use in a pump, it also is usually not compatable with the seals in a hydraulic system. I know it's confusing but hydraulic brakes and hydraulic systems(power steering) are 2 seperate animals even though one is used to operate the other. Anyhow drain and flush the steering system with ps fluid or ATF and see what happens, hopefully the steering pump and related seals will resume operating, if not check the pump output pressure & flow or install a fresh pump and check for operation.
Good luck
if you need more info pm me

[crazycal]

Who is the guy in the picture and why can he reach the top of the bus without a ladder? How short is your bus or maybe I should ask, how tall is that guy?

[paul iossi]

please clarify, the original post said you filled the ps pump with brake fluid, and that would probably attack the rubber parts in the system as well as not have the proper lubricating properties, ps fluid should not cause problems as it has the proper addatives to protect the pump from self destruction.

[paul iossi]

the fluid is probably not an issue, AtF and PS oil are prteet much interchangeable, the red dye in ATF is to identify what's leaking when their is oil on the garage floor. It sounds like you should probably do a pressure test of the powersteering pump, look in a service manual to get the proper proceedure, most PS systems only build pressure on demand.