This symptom started to happen after the cold we had here, the polar vortex in wis. When I make it turn and it comes back, 3/4s of the way it comes smooth, the last qrtr of the way it seems to be coming in a rougher and slow, any insite on what to look for to diagnose this? On my 08 v6

Fluid level is still good

Just asking b/c this took me by surprise when I bought my 4Runner, but are you sure your fluid is ATF as specified? I had never heard of a vehicle using transmission fluid in the power steering reservoir. Just thinking that if it’s PS fluid, or worse a mix (like a service place unknowingly topped it off with PS fluid), that could potentially cause issues.

Any notchy feel to it?

My(06’ V6) steering was intermittently notchy. Sometimes it was fine, sometimes notchy, sometimes heavy in general.

I figured it was the power steering pump and picked up a new one from the dealership but probably waited almost a year to put it in because it seemed to go away. I never drove it much (wife’s vehicle) and she never complained about it.

I drove it again one day and could feel it again so the next chance I had I replaced it.

That seems to have fixed it although it does feel just a tiny bit off every once in a great while, but it may just be me being over sensitive and trying to feel something.

I’ve wondered if there was a seal or something that broke down and was getting caught up somewhere. It really didn’t get a total flush so I’m wondering if there’s still some tiny pieces floating around in there still.


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oops shouldve been more specfic but i meant the power steering . Not using any ATF

i will take a look at that, it does feel notchy towards the end.

What he was saying is that the Power Steering system specifies ATF as the fluid to use. I use ATF in my other cars as well and can honestly say I have never used Power Steering Fluid specifically.

If you've put in power steering fluid it may be causing issues somewhere with the feel of your steering, especially if you've got a mix of power steering fluid and ATF with different viscosities.

That could be your issue. As weird as it sounds, 4th Gens use ATF as PS fluid.

OK. I do have a qrt left of oem Toyota atf. I will give that a shot.


Thanks for the tips guys.

Do not use Toyota WS ATF in the PS pump!

If you look at the excerpt from the onwer's manual that Blueshy 07 posted you will see your suppose to use Dextron II or Dextron III in the power steering, Toyota WS fluid is too thin to work correctly, you need to use what is specified!!

That being said if you don't know what it has in there now or what may have been added to what it suppose to have in it I would highly suggest you get the power steering fuild flushed out and replace it all with the proper fluid as soon as you can.

Ok. Plan on flushing nex week. I'll look at what it takes . Looks like the dealership just used reg ps fluid.

If I'm not mistaken it's also written on the cap as well as to which fluid to use, if the dealer put regular PS fluid in there I would raise hell with them since they should know better, if they did this recently I would demand they flush the system for free and use the correct fluid!!!