HELP! AHC Pump Issue After Reservoir Drain/Refill (1 Viewer)

[vt0502]

Did you use recently purchased plastic bottles of fluid?

I had my local Toyota dealer flush and fill the system before the winter. No issues at that time, then in January the cross over line from the pump to the drivers side sprung a pin hole leak due to corrosion. To get it back to the dealer without running it dry I bought two plastic quarts from the same dealer. They told me they were leftover from the flush and fill they did previously. When I filled up the tank I noticed it kept over flowing the fill pipe and was super slow to fill in general. I also noticed the white sludge which had plugged my pre filter. Honestly at the time i thought the white sludge was weird, but it was late at night and just wanted to get it done so I didn’t think much of it. I pulled the fill tube filter and cleaned it with some brake clean and continued to fill the reservoir. Long story short after Toyota said they would do the work I dropped it off then Toyota called me and said they needed “special tools” to replace the line and they were no longer willing to work on it. Lexus is 1hr away and wanted $200 just to look at it so I picked it up brought home and used “special tools” aka a set of combination wrenches and my hands to swap the crossover line out. It was a pain but not difficult. I left the suspension at N then once the system was back together I lowered it pushing the air trapped in the line and fluid left in the system back into the reservoir. I refilled the reservoir above the max line and started the car. It would not come up to pressure. I heard the high pitched whine…. Thought I needed to get tech stream and while researching how to get a non virus copy of Techstream I found this thread. So now I have a slammed 2010 lx570, a Toyota dealer who is afraid to work on AHC, and I’m guessing a Lexus dealer who would be happy to my money. I’m going to see what Toyota is willing to work out. I had a small amount of fluid left from the plastic bottles. It has white chunks floating in it. I also had bought the 2.5l metal container as extra so I have good fluid. I was wondering if I could just back flush the filters by running the pump in reverse to avoid taking it apart but it’s probably easier to just drop the pump and reservoir assembly and give it a thorough cleaning. I’ve referenced this forum for years and really appreciate all the information provided.

 

[lx200inAR]

Without removing the pump, it will be difficult to backflow the pump, because any fluid in the system coming that direction will hit the bypass valve and go strait to the reservoir before it gets to the pump. I think removal and cleaning will be your only option. I would try cleaning without disassembling the actual pump halves, as I don’t believe anyone has successfully put one back together and have a functional pump yet.

 

[lx200inAR]

Also, sorry to hear about your trouble. It’s super frustrating that Toyota corporate isn’t stepping up to the plate on this issue. There is 0 chance at this point they don’t know how serious it is, and they are continuing to play the head in the sand game with owners and dealers.

 

[kwelhand]

I had my local Toyota dealer flush and fill the system before the winter. No issues at that time, then in January the cross over line from the pump to the drivers side sprung a pin hole leak due to corrosion. To get it back to the dealer without running it dry I bought two plastic quarts from the same dealer. They told me they were leftover from the flush and fill they did previously. When I filled up the tank I noticed it kept over flowing the fill pipe and was super slow to fill in general. I also noticed the white sludge which had plugged my pre filter. Honestly at the time i thought the white sludge was weird, but it was late at night and just wanted to get it done so I didn’t think much of it. I pulled the fill tube filter and cleaned it with some brake clean and continued to fill the reservoir. Long story short after Toyota said they would do the work I dropped it off then Toyota called me and said they needed “special tools” to replace the line and they were no longer willing to work on it. Lexus is 1hr away and wanted $200 just to look at it so I picked it up brought home and used “special tools” aka a set of combination wrenches and my hands to swap the crossover line out. It was a pain but not difficult. I left the suspension at N then once the system was back together I lowered it pushing the air trapped in the line and fluid left in the system back into the reservoir. I refilled the reservoir above the max line and started the car. It would not come up to pressure. I heard the high pitched whine…. Thought I needed to get tech stream and while researching how to get a non virus copy of Techstream I found this thread. So now I have a slammed 2010 lx570, a Toyota dealer who is afraid to work on AHC, and I’m guessing a Lexus dealer who would be happy to my money. I’m going to see what Toyota is willing to work out. I had a small amount of fluid left from the plastic bottles. It has white chunks floating in it. I also had bought the 2.5l metal container as extra so I have good fluid. I was wondering if I could just back flush the filters by running the pump in reverse to avoid taking it apart but it’s probably easier to just drop the pump and reservoir assembly and give it a thorough cleaning. I’ve referenced this forum for years and really appreciate all the information provided.

Sorry to hear your story and pretty mad about you local Lexus dealer refusing to work on AHC.
It's no surprise, my local Lexus dealer service advisors argued that I have an "air suspension" on my LX.
It's also sucks that Toyota continuously playing a game with us.