Power steering reservoir turned black

[Rayh78]

2003 4runner 85K miles.

Decided to do a power steering flush. Fluid was still clear but the plastic reservoir had what looked like baked on black soot.

Again fluid was clean. Took awhile but I did get a little brush in there and scrub off most of the black on the sides.

Anyone else have this. Have a 2003 Tundra and the reservoir still looks like new.

Just a little worried about the small black particles that I may have left.
Is there a filter in the reservoir?

Another forum for an Avalon said that one has a mesh filter inside.

Thanks

 

[Phils4th]

Sounds like the vehicle idled a lot. The fluid doesn't circulate as much or at all so underhood tremps rise and "coke" the oil. I suppose the debris left behind will just clog any filter or screen so you may want to remove the pump and back flow flush it with solvent.

 

[Rayh78]

Sounds like the vehicle idled a lot. The fluid doesn't circulate as much or at all so underhood tremps rise and "coke" the oil. I suppose the debris left behind will just clog any filter or screen so you may want to remove the pump and back flow flush it with solvent.

Thanks, you did lead me in the right direction.
And maybe this post will help someone else.

Removing the pump and back flow is a little beyond what I want to do myself.
If I still get junk in there will have the shop do that later.

Anyway, what I did was remove the reservoir. Soaked in kerosene then brake cleaner. I also used little brush . Then took a chance and used my pressure washer. Did not look like it did any damage.
Problem was there is a mesh screen around the bottom. In the 4runner could not see most of the black was on the bottom blocking the mesh screen.
So my guess is this got clogged and made the fluid get hotter and then more black soot.
Only ever been in one or two traffic jams for it to idle awhile. Could have added some fluid over the years that had trash in it or who knows.

But if you do see black on the sides you can be sure there is much more on the bottom blocking your screens.
New reservoir is expensive but would have still been cheaper in the long run if I had not been able to see I had got the screens cleaned. And why took a chance with the pressure washer.

I will wait a month and suck the fluid back out so can look in there any see if any new junk over the filters.

Would a cheap inline filter be a good idea on the return side to make sure no junk comes back from the pump?

Ones I have seen are not clear. So if that gets clogged I would not be able to see it.

 

[earthrealm]

hmmm, remov ed and cleaned my reservoir a couple of months ago...there was no filter in the reservoir!

pls confirm that the 4th gen has a filter in the power steering reservoir

 

[Phils4th]

Sounds like you did the best thing for the pump by fully cleaning it out. Try and get that screen cleaned up and you should be good. I doubt you need to really back flow flush the pump, especially since the reservoir is now fully cleaned out. As for the filter, it's unnecessary since it's already being filtered by the screen. Any more filtration and it will just clog it.

 

[Rayh78]

hmmm, remov ed and cleaned my reservoir a couple of months ago...there was no filter in the reservoir!

pls confirm that the 4th gen has a filter in the power steering reservoir

Yes, it is just hard to see. It looks more like fiberglass mesh/screen.
Look in and around the sides at the bottom. You will see some oval/rectangular shaped holes all around the perimeter. Look close and will see the white mesh underneath and covering these holes.

I at first could not even see it until I had it most of the way cleaned. And no way to take apart.

The fluid flows thru the mesh into the small second chamber and out the large hose to the pump.

I had a small screwdriver in there trying to scrape off some more black that was hard to get off. Then scraped it off before I could clearly see it was was screen in these areas.

 

[Trigle]

my power steering on my new 4runner has this exact same issue. thanks to the op for figuring this out for me.

 

[firebirdguy]

my power steering on my new 4runner has this exact same issue. thanks to the op for figuring this out for me.

just an fyi: if you flush or fill the p/s toyota calls for dex3 trans fluid... not clear power steering fluid.

 

[catrains]

my power steering on my new 4runner has this exact same issue. thanks to the op for figuring this out for me.

do not use BRAKE CLEANER ....this has acetone in it .. only brake cleaner is for METAL ONLY !!!

use mineral spirits to clean plastic/rubber/wiring etc ..
acetone will destroy plastic ..

 

[Drift Monkey]

just an fyi: if you flush or fill the p/s toyota calls for dex3 trans fluid... not clear power steering fluid.

Exactly my thought - should be red/pink color.

Just flush it out with some Valvoline MaxLife ATF - it ain't that hard.