diagnose steering issue

[tobers]

First time owner. 1999 SR5, v6 4x4. When the car is stopped and I turn the steering wheel it really labors to turn. It stutters/struggles. As soon as it gets rolling there is enough power to turn the wheels, and then it drives great. No problems.

After reading on the forum I decided to replace my lower ball joints. Also did the inner/outer tie rods. When I released the bellows a small amount of fluid came out of them. On one side it made about a 6" circle on the driveway. The other side not as much. So, it's not the ball joints/tie rods.

How do I diagnose from here? I couldn't find anything posted (but I'm sure it is there). Is it possible it is as simple as cleaning the filter/new fluid for the power steering pump? Or steering rack bushings? Or is it likely the rack? Other?

Thank you!

 

[kball]

When you're in park and idling if you turn the wheel does your rpm's increase? There's a sensor at the bottom of the power steering pump that tells your engine to bump up the rpms when steering at idle. Maybe the sensor is bad or the wires have been disconnected.

 

[mtbtim]

It could be your steering rack is starved of fluid at an idle. It's fairly common that the screen on the bottom of the power steering reservoir gets blocked up with gunk. I'd take a turkey baster or a syringe with a rubber tube attached and suck out as much fluid as possible out of the reservoir. Now grab a flashlight and look into the bottom of the reservoir. if there's lots of black crud on the screen, pull off the reservoir and spray it out really good with some carb cleaner, brake cleaner or something similar that dries clean and then put it back on and top off the fluid.

You supposedly can take off the reservoir without removing the whole pump. Take a look at this thread from Tacoma World and it will help you with removing the reservoir and cleaning it.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/removing-power-steering-reservoir.360889/

 

[tobers]

thanks! I looked at the power steering fluid and it looks disgusting. I'll clean the filter and flush out the old on the weekend. then I'll report back. Hopefully that fixes the problem.

 

[tobers]

I was wrong. When I used a flashlight, and actually drained the power steering fluid, it was clean red, and the filter at the bottom was not blocked at all. So, it's not that (or ball joints/tie rods). Any other ideas? thanks. Rick

 

[nissanh]

First off I will not turn the steering without the powersteering. This could weaken the U-joints in the steering column and later leads to some free play.

There are two vacuum lines attached the the P/S pump. Are those intact? It will by-pass air into the intake manifold to rev up when the wheels are turning.

A minor leak in the steering rack will NOT affect the steering ability. Check those two vacuum lines coming in and out of the power steering pump.

Are you using the correct power steering fluid? Any ATF fluid (use Toyota) should work but avoid the fluid that comes in bottles starting power steering fluid.

 

[tobers]

I'll check the vacuum lines tomorrow. Yes -- I used Dextron III equivalent ATF. Thank you.

 

[tobers]

happy ending. The flush and the new fluid didn't fix it. It ends up the drive belt was slipping a little. New belt = fixed. Thankful for the help. Rick