Steering Issue Advice

Hello I'm new to the forum and relatively new to the world of Toyota. Six month ago I purchased a 1999 Tacoma V6 SR5 4x4 MT. The truck is stock and in overall great condition with 215K miles. From the beginning however I've had steering issues with it. The steering would feel heavy and as I turned the power steering would go away for a moment.
I did the obvious checked the fluid which was black. I did the easy "turkey baster method" of replacing some of the fluid. The steering immediately became better like nigh and day.
Now as the weather is getting cold the steering again became harder until the truck warmed up. So I decided to use a more comprehensive method of flushing, by removing the return line from the reservoir and turning the wheel stop to stop. (engine off method). After I accomplished that and bleeding the system by turning the wheel stop to stop with the engine running, I am facing a different problem. The steering feels great when going right however it's hard going left and in some cases power goes away (like the original problem) The pump is quiet no abnormal noise, I'm not loosing fluid, no leaks. The rack and pinion feels good no clicking or grinding. Next on my list is removing and cleaning the tank.

I'm asking for advice if I'm missing something obvious. I'm curious if the previous owner neglected the PS fluid to a point where the rack is dirty and hoping not to a point where I would need a new one.

Thank you.

 

How does the steering linkage feel with the front on jack stands ?/

You did refill with ATF Dextron II as this is what our pumps use .

Hydraulic problems you most time get the pump running dry and making lots of noise

Belt slipping ?? I have had a few that did not make noise over the years .

Belt fairly new??

Is it a hydraulic problem or mechanical .

Ball joints dry and not moving freely ?

Below freezing cold or 60 degrees cold??

I have had some from lack of Maintenance have so much water they froze

 

Linkage feels good when it was on the jacks. When i was moving the wheels for the flush (no engine running) it felt good. I used Mobil1 ATF it said compatible with DEX II and III. The belt looks like it has good tension and not slipping but I'm not sure of the age. The timing belt was replaced 5 years ago I can only assume they did it then. Weather wise Colorado cold mornings 25-32 degrees. I believe it's a hydraulic problem but can't be sure. Visual inspection on the steering shaft and joints looks ok, all the boots and grommets looks good on the rack and tie rods.

 

You could try a more thorough flush. It's hard to get all the fluid exchainged with just turning the wheels. With the engine running it pumps waaay too fast. Been there tried that. What I ended up doing is taking the belt off and putting an air rachet on the pump. Used that to turn it, worked great. Very controllable.

 

Thank you, I was afraid of running the pump dry with the engine option. I like your idea, I will try that next.

 

Your power steering reservoir filter screen might be mostly clogged up starving your steering rack of fluid. Since you said the fluid was black, I guarantee the fine mesh filter screen is blocked up pretty good. The video below will help you out.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5k61KXRK8bM

 

Yes, that is the next thing I’m planning on doing. I ordered the gasket for the tank I figured I’d wait for it to show up first before removing the reservoir.

 

Finally was able to clean the tank before and after image it was dirty. The steering feel at first did not really improve, however after driving it for about 5 miles it did get better. The fluid is at the right level.
On a side note before I cleaned it the steering did get better for a bit but than it started deteriorating again. Now it’s good after I cleaned it. (For now?) I also noticed (while cleaning the tank) that the reservoir cap is leaking. Does anyone know if it’s supposed to hold pressure like a radiation cap?

 

You will never get all of the dirt out of the screen without pulling the top off the reservoir. I pulled the top off mine a few weeks ago and cleaned it using engine degreaser and kerosene with a took bush i heated up and bent to a 90* angle it got the screen 100% clean. Steering in my truck is great now and the top does not leak after re-bending the tabs back.

 

Did you have any of symptoms I described above? Just curious.

 

If i turned aggressively it would groan and get a little harder to turn. The pump could not pull enough fluid though the dirty screen but once i cleaned it and flushed the system with clean ATF, it turned fine.

 

I wholeheartedly disagree with your statement that you have to pry off the top of the reservoir to effectively clean the filter screen. Go to play time 29:39 in the video I linked above and see how clean I was able to get it without pulling the top off. That reservoir screen was very clean, and if I bothered to spend more time with it with another can of brake cleaner, I could have gotten even cleaner. Prying off the top is just making more work for yourself and you risk damaging the reservoir by doing it.

 

I watched your video before doing mine. But the opening is so small on the top and it's dished inwards so you if you try to reverse flush it it just ends up allover the top side of the cap and will not run out. I wanted every last speck of dirt out so i took it apart and i don't regret doing it and it does not leak. I tried carb cleaner at first but like in your video it did not do a very good job of breaking up the gunk. I found 1/3 of a can of gunk engine degreaser and it imminently started dissolving the gunk, then i ran out. So i used some kerosene and it worked just as well at breaking up and dissolving the gunk.

Scrubbing the screen with a bent tooth brush really helped break it up. But even then i spent 10 minutes cleaning it with my thumb over the bottom hole and a short piece of 3/8" rubber gas line plugged off with a bolt so i could scrub the screen while the reservoir was full of engine degreaser/kerosene. And i had to do it 3 times before i got it perfectly clean. The top went back on just as easy as it came off. I only bent the tabs back as far as they needed to be bent and i did not straighten them out. I did not unbend the tab above the return line inlet and when reinstalling the cap i put a little tension on the oppiset side with a pair of vice grips to preload the rubber seal and bent the tabs back.

 

We did use quite a bit of brake cleaner when we did the job. If I'm remembering correctly, probably 3 cans. At first, I was just spraying from the top and it didn't seem to be doing much to clean the screen. Next, I bent the end of the spray nozzle so I could go in from the bottom port and effectively spray from different angles to cover the surface area of the screen. I then started alternating spraying from the top and bottom, and that seemed to do the trick of loosening the debris. I would spray a bunch of cleaner, shake the reservoir and watch debris come out into our catch pan. I think the act of spraying and shaking over and over got most of the debris out, and it there was any debris caught under the cap, it was minimal because we ran a crap load of cleaner through there.

I didn't want to mess with prying off the top and risk ending up with a leaking reservoir. I figured I'd rather spend a little extra on brake cleaner than run the risk of screwing up the reservoir. Of course doing it your way, you were able to get it perfectly clean but perfection isn't really necessary. Getting it most of the way clean is more than sufficient especially when we saw how bad the screen was clogged to begin with and the system was still functioning.

On my 98 4runner after cleaning out the screen, I decided to add a Magnefine inline filter in the reservoir return line. The filter will greatly enhance the filtration of the system and as long as I'm renewing the fluid and replacing the inline filter on a regular basis, I should never have to clean the reservoir screen again. I'm also using an inline filter in the trans cooler return line to add extra filtration for my auto trans since the filter under the pan is also just a fine mesh metal screen.

Here's a link to the filters I'm using for my auto trans and power steering: Magnefine 3/8" Magnetic In-line Transmission Filter https://amzn.to/35p6heN

 

After cleaning the reservoir it did get better initially, but yesterday morning as I pulled out of the driveway the steering was really hard. It got relatively better as I drove it for about 10 miles. At that point I decided to make a summary of what I've done so far. I have clean Synthetic Mobile 1 ATF fluid in the system, the tank is clean. No leaks anywhere. I took a note of when the steering was good/bad and compared it to air temperatures from NOAA. My "bad" days line up with cold days and my "good" days line up with warm days. Also this whole issue started with the change in season in the first place. (I purchased the truck in May and it only got warmer trough the summer. This is the first winter I've had it.) My theory is since the fluid is new and I've cleaned the tank than it must be the pump, just not putting out enough pressure when the fluid is cold.
Do you think my theory is sound?
Has anyone done a pump replacement? And how easy/hard is it?

 

Don't buy a new pump, rebuild your original. It's not very hard to do. Get this rebuild kit: https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem...ion=vane-pump-reservoir-power-steering,,04446

This thread, https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/power-steering-pump-rebuild-how-to-with-photos.377002/ will show you how to do it. That thread is for a 4-cylinder pump, but it will show you enough to get it done if you have a six. The 6-cylinder pump is actually easier because it doesn't have a bearing.

 

Thank you I will look into that. I'd like to keep everything OEM so if I can save $400 for new pump it'll be great.