so i renewed the p/s fluid and filter yesterday. thank you everyone for your input. here are a couple a things i did that seemed to work well for me.

1. disconnect the MAS unit (from 10/89 the MAS unit houses the fuel pump relay). this afforded me the ability to have my helper crank the engine without starting. i chose the MAS unit because its right there behind the secondary firewall, and takes 2 seconds to pull.

2. given that there is not a lot of room in the engine bay for a coffee can or other device, i used two heavy duty freezer bags. one inside the other for extra strength. i sent 1 qt at a time thru the system and the bags were more than strong enough for this application. the fact that they were malleable made the job really easy. i just zipped up the return line in the bag, held it with one hand, and with the other, poured in the new p/s fluid. no fuss.

3. i ran 3 qts thru the system. after the requisite 2, there was still a significant amount of contamination. after the third qt, its was much better.

thanks again for the help, hopefully my experience will help others in the future as well!

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Jonathan
1998 S600
2001 E430
1994 E320
1991 560SEL
1994 Turbo R