100 Series Power Steering Whine, Reservoir Bubbles and Antifreeze Leak?

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valdi2012

valdi2012

10 Year
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Threads
5
Messages
55
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
2000 Land Cruiser 256K sitting outside overnight in -2 degree weather. Moved into garage to warm up for wife and heard a weird hissing like bad bearings (blew it off as a freezing cold noise). After she left, I noticed a small puddle of what looked like PS Fluid (red) and a few single droplets in the driveway snow. Back home parked, I placed cardboard under the area leaking to get a better idea of leak location. No leaks for several hours. Next morning, about a 1/4-1/2 cup pooled on cardboard directly below the oil filter.

Few days later when it "warmed up" to 23 degrees, removed front skid plate and didn't find a specific drip/leak location. Cleaned up what I could see mostly around the oil filter (red liquid still seemed thin, like anti freeze which is red). Front raised on stands, check PS level, appears good (dirty exterior). Turn steering lock to lock and don't see any leakage. Start engine, PS pump low whine/hissing and gets worse the closer to full lock. Check reservoir and see bubbles. All connections to steering rack were dry, as well as, both Hi/Lo lines.

Not sure If I discovered a small antifreeze leak AND a fried PS pump? After about 10 minutes of idling, seemed like there were a few addition red drips (different viscosity than PS fluid) again coming from the oil filter area.

I read up on the PS replacement and potential failures but I'm confused with the different possible leak locations and viscosity of red liquids.

I can post sounds and images if its not cut and dry fix.

Thank you!
 
There is coolant running through the oil cooler that the filter attaches to. I would expect to see evidence of the leak with dried coolant in the area.
 
Bisho said:
There is coolant running through the oil cooler that the filter attaches to. I would expect to see evidence of the leak with dried coolant in the area.
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That makes perfect sense, I could see part of one line attached to the cooler was wet. Ill look closer.
 
UPDATE: Decided to flush the PS system before moving forward with anything else while temps are sub 20's. Followed 2000LC's flushing process and all went well until the final step of bleeding air from the freshly flushed system. Filled to MAX COLD, No drop in fluid after 3 full lock to locks. Some tiny bubbles so I turned wheel 2 additional times. Noticed the reservoir was now FULL and leaking out of the cap! Is this a symptom of a gunk moving around in the reservoir? I haven't cleaned it in 20 years. I could see the fluid leaking around the cap only when it was in either full lock position.
 
What did the screen in the bottom of the reservoir look like. Did you clean it as well as you could, sucking out the gunk. When I did mine with about 260,000 miles, I had tons of solid black gunk come out of the bottom of my reservoir. Sounds like the return is fine, but not the feed… and the easiest suggestion might be a new reservoir.
 
baltistyle said:
What did the screen in the bottom of the reservoir look like. Did you clean it as well as you could, sucking out the gunk. When I did mine with about 260,000 miles, I had tons of solid black gunk come out of the bottom of my reservoir. Sounds like the return is fine, but not the feed…
Click to expand...
I didn't look to see if the screen was dirty, I wanted to see if a quick flush quieted the pump whine. Ran a Qt. plus of ATF to flush the system per 2000LC write up without any issues, until the final bleed. Really the last 2 lock to locks when reservoir filled up and leaked. Probably turned lock to lock 10-12 times total.
 
UPDATE: WOW! Moving in the wrong direction with the vane pump. Removed/cleaned reservoir, dirty but not clogged, then reassembled. Filled reservoir with ATF fluid and proceeded to turn lock to lock. AFT wasn't really drawing out of the reservoir like yesterday (1.5-2 full locks to drain). It took close to 10-15 lock to locks just to lower fluid near return nipple. Filled reservoir and tried again, no change. No leaks found and cant tell if air is being drawn into the system. Return line into catch jar was sputtering air, especially when I turned the wheel a bit quick. Out of frustration, started engine for 10 seconds hoping to jar something loose. AFT fluid out the the return line into catch jar was a frothy mess. Vane pump whined when turning the steering wheel...
 
cruise resevoir.webp

Small led shop light made cleaning the reservoir easy.
pick.webp
Large q-tip with a small piece of no lint towel secured with rubber band for cleaning inside reservoir.
 
Think I found the culprit (link below). Brown fluid leaking from the steering rack end/boot, thought the drip spots on the cardboard below were from a AFT spill. If you listen closely, you can hear air being sucked into the steering rack and a drip of fluid hitting the lower susp. arm . No signs of this being an issue until I lifted and tried flushing the ATF 2 days ago.

No sloppy steering wheel or stiffness, very slight dead space (left to right) in steering at 12 o-clock. No wondering.

1. Is this an o-ring/bushing fix or full steering rack replacement?
2. Could this be causing my vane pump whine and lack of ATF fluid movement through system?

Thank you for the input thus far! Going to cry in my beer...

https://youtu.be/Ad_EE6c2S94
 
My rack weeped from the LH boot for a while. Also suffered from vague steering response and finally the VSC skid beeping. Tried ZPC several times, but finally bit the bullet and installed a new rack. Solved all those issues.
 
Dirt J said:
My rack weeped from the LH boot for a while. Also suffered from vague steering response and finally the VSC skid beeping. Tried ZPC several times, but finally bit the bullet and installed a new rack. Solved all those issues.
Click to expand...
I'm looking at rack replacements. Weird all this sh*t happened after lifting it on stands without warning. LC's don't like cold I suppose.
 
baltistyle said:
A pump with an air bubble in it sometimes cannot prime. Have you tried putting a small bit of pressure on the tank? @2001LC might have a tip
Click to expand...
That's what it looks like, which is why I reconnected hoses and started the engine to pull in fluid, no luck. Fluid in the catch jar was frothy mess. Also tried connecting everything after all this (vacuum) and turning lock to lock, lots of bubbles in reservoir when locked to passenger side, the leaky rack/boot side. Its drawing air when locked to drivers side and pushing air through the system when locked to passenger side, into reservoir (bubbles).
 
"A pump with an air bubble in it sometimes cannot prime. Have you tried putting a small bit of pressure on the tank? @2001LC might have a tip"
Just ran 3 full reservoirs of ATF using my brake bleeder at 10 psi, drained quickly with some bubbles. Still not lowering ATF level (very slow 6-7 locks) when turning lock to lock, and like the previous video, bubbles when turning wheel fast. Air is getting in somewhere? No drips if its a pin hole.
 
It's leaking, right? That's where the air is getting in.
 
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