PCV

I recently picked up a one-owner ES 300. PO maintained it meticulously and all the fluids are fresh. On the filler cap it also says that "Use Mercon ATF", but PO must have mistakenly put PS fluid in the reservoir. However, there is no sign of mixing the two types of fluid, and fluid looks really clean.
My question is: is it okay to continue using PS fluid or do I need to replace the fluid ASAP. Everything works as of right now, no whining noise and no rattling. Wanna hear you guys opinions. Thank you for your time!

Kingdom934

Congrats on the ES. I've seen factory filled PS fluid in the ES cousin (V6 Camry) being 'undyed'...so it's just light brown so it could be that. I wouldn't hesitate to drain and refill (siphon) the old fluid and put fresh Maxlife ATF (or your favorite Dextron) in there.

BoominES

Not trying to scare you but I made the mistake of using standard PS fluid in my 99 ES 300. It was OK for a bit but the pump is slowly getting noisier. Could just be from it being almost 20 years old. I'm replacing the pump anyway because it leaks (did it before the PS fluid but it wasn't noisy). From my understanding regular PS fluid is too thick when its cold. If it wasn't that much it may not matter but you could still have a problem with incompatible fluids.