Power steering service

[SWUtah]

How many 100 series owner service their power steering (change the fluid) ? Mine is a 99 with 60K miles and this is the only fluid that has not been changed. I flushed the power steering in my 95 FZJ80 just because it looked dirty and after that flush it started leaking . I think that is why I am scared to screw with the fluid in the 100 series. Anyone have suggestions or recommendations?

 

[Pskhaat]

I use a turkey baster and replace the capacity of the reservoir with M1 ATF at every oil change. Yes, there's some waste and dilution in doing this. I've done the same in my 80 for what seems about forever, and havn't had any leaking in either, maybe it was a small enough quantities at first to get the system used to synthetics?

 

[NMuzj100]

Anytime you change a dirty fluid with fresh the cleaners in the new fluid may knock loose "crud" that was stopping up a leak. It can happen with "dino" or synthetic fluids. Shouldn't harm a system that wasn't already broken though.

I haven't done mine yet either but it's on the list.

 

[SWUtah]

Anytime you change a dirty fluid with fresh the cleaners in the new fluid may knock loose "crud" that was stopping up a leak. It can happen with "dino" or synthetic fluids. Shouldn't harm a system that wasn't already broken though.

I haven't done mine yet either but it's on the list.

I think on my 95 FZJ80 that the cleaner they put in screwed up the seals and started the leak. After it started leaking I added some stop leak and it slowed it down to the point it wasn't a problem, other then I don't like anything leaking at all. I was not having any problems with my 95 power steering when I did the "flush" and refill. So the reason for my post regarding changing the power steering fluid without using any cleaner was to see if other owners of 100 series even think about changing their power steering fluid. If other 100 series owners with 98/99 LC's with over 100K miles are not having a problem with power steering with no fluid changes then I will just leave mine alone, but if everyone is changing the fluid then I need to do mine. I don't remember reading about anyone having a problem with their 100 series power steering?? But I don't want to neglect anything.

 

[NMuzj100]

Yes, I have been thinking about it but I haven't done anything yet. 90k snuck up on me and I am looking at the t-belt job ect.

I plan on using my gear oil pump to pump the reservoir out as low as possible. Fill with ATF (no cleaners or specific power steering fluids) only and repeat in a few thousand miles.

I think changing 7-8 year old fluid is a good idea with little risk involved. I would not recommend removing any lines to drain the system. That really raises the chance of creating a problem out of nothing.