Power steering goes out after car wash

[RumHam26]

Hi everyone - ive noticed an interesting phenomenon with my 01 4runner. After going through a car wash (including undercarriage spray) my power steering goes out for about a minute. It gets better after driving around for a few minutes. This has happened to me twice now - two washes in a row.

I have had notchy steering during the coldest days of winter for the past couple years - and I have been planning on a power steering flush/reservoir cleaning as soon as it gets a bit warmer out, but I just can't understand how a car wash could affect power steering like this. An electrical short or something?

The most recent time this happened I also noticed the runner bog down at a slightly higher rpm - the engine got real quiet - almost as if there was temporarily no airflow or something. This problem lasted only a few minutes as well - just like the power steering.

I would greatly appreciate any ideas about what it could be/troubleshooting. Thanks!

 

[thegipper]

How old are your belts? Is your power steering belt tight enough?

How is the condition and level of fluid in the power steering reservoir?

If I had to guess, the belt was slipping on the pulley when it got wet. Either the belt is old and worn, or it isn't tight enough.

Not sure about the bogging down issue...

 

[rkntoy]

Second the check your belts. Your fan could be slipping when wet as well.

 

[lockedlex]

I'll third this. On an older 4runner, whenever driving through deep puddles on the trail (causing water to fly everywhere) I would also lose power steering for a few seconds, until the belt would dry up and I'd get power steering back.

If it's new and properly tightened though, that shouldn't happen.

 

[RumHam26]

This makes alot of sense - I'll have to look at my records to check the exact age of the ps belt, but it is definitely over 50k. What's the service interval for those anyway? I occasional get a squeeling at full lock, which I thought meant it was too tight - but I just read that somewhere and took it as law.

The fan slipping when wet makes sense too - in the sense that that is exactly what it sounded like, with no obvious effect on performance. I'm not sure how the fan mechanism works - would that be a slipping belt that powers the fan?

You guys are the best

 

[3bears]

so the belt is 50k old. when was the last time it was adjusted ?
when was the last flush ?

 

[phattyduck]

Squeal at full lock means loose belt, not tight belt. The max steering load happens at full lock, putting the most strain on the belt and causing it to slip if at a marginal tension.

Accessory belts are probably a 30k mile item, though you can probably stretch safely to 60k with OEM belts.

-Charlie