Please help with steering

[chris in ky]

I'm at my wits end.

Last year my '06's steering started sticking a little, making it dicey driving down skinny roads here in KY. Long story short, it's been to two shops, steering rack replaced twice and intermediate shaft is new. Both shops state ball joints are fine, it still wants to stay in one place if you let go after a turn.

230k miles btw. I don't know what to do now, maybe the dealer? New PS pump?

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

Man that is a head scratcher. I would assume if it was a PS pump (failure, not bled, or old fluid you would have difficulty steering from a stop. However I’m also assuming, you have no electronics going to the rack, all straight hydraulics.

Is anything over torqued in the front suspension to have binding? Are the mount points on the steering rack solid, nothing cracked that would make the rack shift when turning preventing the wheels to go straight?

Just brainstorming ideas


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[chris in ky]

It honestly feels like it has half the steering assist of my 2010 Sienna. I jacked both up off the ground and compared, the Sienna can be steered with one finger, the 4runner takes a lot more effort.

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

That sounds like PS pump is going bad, or the new rack didn’t get fully burped, and you got air. Probably wouldn’t hurt flushing the PS fluid with clean fluid.


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[Flesh Eater]

They used ATF and not clear fluid, right?

You can try to bleed it out yourself. Spend a lot of time on it and see if it helps. I always take my time bleeding out P/S systems. Air can cause damage in your gear boxes and it’s a lot of work and money to deal with that.

Any chance you tracked down an actual Toyota rack and pinion?

 

[chris in ky]

Ok wow, you guys aren't gonna believe this.

I checked the reservoir and not only is it mostly empty but there is this light pink strawberry milkshake/pepto bismol substance in there. I put some on the plastic housing lip and it's definitely not aeration, some sort of contaminant. I'd post a pic but it's not letting me.

The shop wanted to "try another vendor" for the rack but the factory Toyota is priced at $1300 and he's not willing to eat that cost yet.

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

Ok wow, you guys aren't gonna believe this.

I checked the reservoir and not only is it mostly empty but there is this light pink strawberry milkshake/pepto bismol substance in there. I put some on the plastic housing lip and it's definitely not aeration, some sort of contaminant. I'd post a pic but it's not letting me.

The shop wanted to "try another vendor" for the rack but the factory Toyota is priced at $1300 and he's not willing to eat that cost yet.

That’s it, you need a good flushing. As someone said earlier, it uses ATF. Which is usually strawberry red. Now why it looks like a milkshake, I wander whoever did the work, if they used something else besides ATF. Normally when anyone describes a milkshake looking substance, it normal comes from two things that don’t belong together, such as blown head gaskets or oil coolers. But is sounds like you got something water based or different substance in your PS reservoir/ pump and rack.

The real question, is going to be do you raise hell for them to correct the problem or do you avoid them like the plague?


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[chris in ky]

I've come to the conclusion they don't know how to fix this, third rack and multiple attempts to fix what was just supposed to be a stiff intermediate shaft.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

Tell us a little more about your truck. Is it lifted? Suspension or body lift? Aftermarket control arms? Have you checked the steering shaft? Maybe the u-joint in the intermediate shaft is binding up?

DIY: Power Steering Flush (4th gen specific)

If you have the means maybe this power steering flush will help.

 

[Flesh Eater]

None of the above matters.

They mixed clear and ATF and it’s destroying all your components.

Flush it completely. Get some good ATF, fill it, bleed it, and I’ll bet it solves your problems.

Clear fluid does not provide the necessary lubrication ATF does.

Now, a quick and easy way to flush this is to remove the belt, pull the return hose, hook an impact to the ps pulley and turn it clockwise. It will pump all the fluid out of the gear box/rack and shouldn’t damage anything. I would personally do two cycles of ATF to make sure it’s all out.

You can also bleed systems like that without worry of running low on start up. Fill the reservoir and then hit the pulley with the impact and top off as needed. Then do the process or turning the wheels back and forth once it’s full.

I’ve rebuilt quite a few full power steering systems. Never have an issue.

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

@%1; at this point, I wouldn’t put it pass the shop on the work that was done.

I would the flush, that is given . If the problem is still there then look at the intermediate shaft. I honestly agree with you that flush will solve the problem, just thinking of plan B for the man in a case it doesn’t solve


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[waypoint]

Ok wow, you guys aren't gonna believe this.

I checked the reservoir and not only is it mostly empty

Sometimes, people open the hood and troubleshoot before they post.

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

Sometimes, people open the hood and troubleshoot before they post.

Sometimes, people ask cause they don’t know where to start troubleshooting. [emoji1308]


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[waypoint]

Sometimes, people ask cause they don’t know where to start troubleshooting. [emoji1308]

Agreed on your recommendation of a complete flush as the next step, just grab a gallon jug of Dexron-III compatible fluid at the parts store (I've had good results with Valvoline Dex-Merc) and go to town.

Aftermarket rebuilt steering racks are a sore subject with me, I've been burned on these junky parts and avoid them.

 

[Bl4ck4rm4]

Agreed on your recommendation of a complete flush as the next step, just grab a gallon jug of Dexron-III compatible fluid at the parts store (I've had good results with Valvoline Dex-Merc) and go to town.

Aftermarket rebuilt steering racks are a sore subject with me, I've been burned on these junky parts and avoid them.

Agreed, mine has always been reman. Alternators, they are like scratch-off lotto tickets. Had 6 replaced under lifetime warranty in one year on one car.

After the first replacement At the shop chris has work done on the truck, I would have chalked it to a defective rack, the second time, I would have made sure everything was done to factory, before writing it off as a second defective, then would have ate the cost of a new rack for the customer. This day in age, majority of shops have access to repair guides, whether they are getting them from Snap-on or Matco scanners (via subscription) or bought a cheap online version of a chiltons.


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[chris in ky]

As I mentioned the intermediate shaft is new, so that's out. They tried to tell me the original could be 'freed up' but I insisted on a new one.

The shop is doing all the work, like heck if I'm going to purge it myself after spending all this money. He suggested I top up the reservoir and bring it in Monday, so we'll see.

Is there a chance the pump is damaged from the pink milkshake fluid? If so they're gonna be replacing that too.

 

[chris in ky]

I finally got the truck back, they did everything in their power to fix the stiffness but it's still there. Fluid was flushed multiple times, new rack and intermediate shaft.

It truly is a shocking difference between my 2010 Sienna and this, I have to manually turn the steering wheel back to center after a turn, it won't do it otherwise.

He got a pump from the local Toyota dealer, is that next? He was surprised to find it's made by Cardone.

 

[TimT4R]

Did you ever get this resolved? I’m having a similar issue.

 

[4R005]

By having similar issue , you mean your steering wheel was not returning to center after a left or right turn ? I'll suggest you first check the u joint situated at end of the intermediate shaft where it connects to the pinion stub of the rack. Do the check with both front wheels off the ground with engine off. If there is rust on the u joint, it'll indicate the joint is probably stiff from rust and lack of lubrication ( dried ). You should be able to turn steering wheel with very little effort ( like hot knife thro butter ). If turning effort is excessive, spray WD40 onto joint, let soak and work steering wheel side to side a few times. If steering effort improves, you have found root cause.
This happened to my '05 4R w/V8 when the joint rusted up and I noticed that the steering wheel progressively refused to return to center after turns. Tip: its easier to reach u joint to smear grease/heavy oil ( I used both ) if the Driver side wheel is removed and the flexible ( rubber ) flap at the fender/wheel well is partially moved by undoing one or two plug fasteners. The u joint is then visible/reachable for servicing.
Hope this will be helpful. Good luck.

PS: I'm up here in the cold white north ( Ontario, Canada ) where copious amount of salt is used on the roads each winter. I may add that the same goes with the tranny shifter. If shifting out of Park & thro the gears becomes stiff, spray WD40/Fogging Oil to the linkages connecting the input shaft @ tranny. Lub both sides of this shaft ( driver AND passenger ).