steering rack questio

[jzme]

First off yes I searched, i did my driver side inner tierod tonight and there was a substantial amount of fluid that came out of the boot id estimate half a beers worth. P.s fluid was NOT low ive only owned the 4runner for about 3 months, it steers fine no squeeling. leaks nothing on the ground, anyone have this issue? Maybe the previous owner had a leak and added stop leak?

 

[dirteater4]

Seals are gone. At least on the drivers side. Was it in a wreck ? How many miles?

 

[Castaway]

Personally, at the very least, I would keep an eye on the power steering fluid level. See if it starts going down.


I had a slow leak on the driver's side of my 96. Of course that was after I got it stuck in a ditch for about 4hrs and "forced" the seal failure trying to get it out before someone showed up to pull me out.

I had a slow, steady leak out of my driver side boot that necessitated me refilling the power steering fluid every 3-7 days (depending on temperature). Drove like that for about 8 months before I had the time (and outside temperature warm enough) to do any work. I opted to replace the entire rack.

My rack was Toyota original (circa 96), had ~250k miles on it, and I had broken a ball joint a couple of years before and was concerned about possible internal damage from the tie rod getting bent when the truck dropped.

 

[jzme]

150k miles on it. No accident vehicle.