Power steering problems.

Hello,
I have a 2001 Toyota Tacoma Pre-runner 2.7l . I have had so much trouble getting my power steering under control. It went out several years ago, but I let it get to the point that my rack and pinion also needed replacing. Fast forward, we've changed out the Rack and pinion, the power steering pump (which now the pulley tensioner bolt is broken due to boyfriend hitting it with a hammer), but all said and done and my power steering is still making noises. I'm guessing I have to change out the lines? the pump reservoir is still getting all gunked up, so i'm assuming that its all the junk left in the lines from before? has anyone had similar issues? Any advice. Thank you.

Apologies if I sound like an idiot, I don't know a whole bunch about working on my truck other than the basic tune up stuff.

 

Hi Brittany, welcome to TW. What kind of noise are you hearing? Is it all the time or under specific conditions? Did you bleed the the air from your system when to changed the pump and rack?

 

Hi Tim,
Thank you for responding. The noise is a constant whine, especially when going under 10 mph while turning (so basically, at low speeds the noise is more prominent while turning). I did bleed the system after both installations, and we're talking like 20 minutes of it. The one thing that we have not changed are the lines, not since I inherited the truck from my father back in 2008.

 

My guess is the screen in the pwr steering reservoir

when I got my taco, my PS fluid was black as oil
My screen took 2 cans of brake clean to be respectfully clean with flash light held from the bottom of the removed reservoir

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fZPYnp_OmyE

 

The pwr steering fluid is a detergent (dextron transmission fluid)
Think your lines are fine!!!

 

Thank you for all the info!! The reservoir was pretty nasty, we did the same type of cleaning, maybe I outta give it another cleaning.

 

When did u RR p/s pump?

recently?

 

Last week, and before that....2019.

 

A firm

Ok
My experience with an autozone/Oriellys AM/RM p/s pump RR 2 months ago

replaced it
And had same ‘dead spot’ and lil bit of whining right after installing
I searched and found some site that said
‘Give it 2 weeks to break in’
As I didn’t want replace it again……
I took the advice

after 2.5 weeks, no whining no dead spot
Working perfectly presently


Also as I was thinking,
That whine is a tell tale sign of a belt being not right tension.
You referred to the tensioner being hit with hammer .
Is the tensioner too fucked up to try to adjust?
Let’s us know

 

That's good advice,I'll wait the two weeks. Yeah, the tensioner pulley bolt wouldn't budge. We're going to pull it apart and see if we have to replace the whole pulley, or maybe just the bolt. I'm honestly not sure yet.

 

Just bc I have done this in the past….
There are 2 bolts on tensioner
Adjuster and the lock bolt
Praying that ‘hammer guy’ knew this
I.E. could be as easy as tightening p/s belt
GL

 

Lol, 'hammer guy' did not know this, which might have been why he chose violence. Im going to look at my Haynes repair manual after work and see where his hammer hit. I'll take a photo and upload it later today so yall can see what I'm talking about.

 

Groaning is a sign you may still have air in the system, when I changed my rack I thought I was totally hosed it was screaming so much. It took at least 20 minutes to get it to settle down. I agree, start over, clean the system.

With the truck on stands and the engine off you have to turn full left, full right multiple times. Still on the stands turn the engine on and repeat. You can probably skip this step since you've already been driving it.

Get it off the stands and repeat, full left, full right, make sure the fluid level stays up while you do this. Eventually it should start to quiet down and will go away except for that little bit while when you turn it really hard all the way to one side or the other.

 

Yeah, starting over is my best option....I feel like im in a tangle of wires at this point. Thank you for all the advice, I appreciate the help tremendously

 

make sure and let everyone what happens!!!

 

Yes, I will. I work a lot so I'll post asap