Ok so its winter time right and snow is slippery and much fun to play in with my 92' 4Runner. However i have noticed the steering is extremely hard when trying to make quick adjustments with the wheel. Is there any way to make the power assist any more responsive? so the steering is more free? A buddy of mine also has the same truck to a T also with this same problem.

any ideas?:

 

how old is the fluid in the system, original for all you know?


might not hurt to flush it. it should only take 2 or 3 quarts (if that) of ATF to flush the entire system and have it filled with all fresh fluid

 

i have not changed the fluid yet. wasnt sure as to what went in it. just bought it not to long ago and think it has regular power steering fluid in it not ATF. but i think that would help. i would think its been in there for a long time as it is getting dark in color. i was aslo thinking if there are banjo bolts in the PS lines, to drill the holes a bit bigger? see if that helps too. not sure if it has them though either again i just got the truck and havent really done much to it.

 

no it's ATF, not PS fluid

if it's dark in color, it probably is old; it should be red, as ATF is

I'd try a simple fluid flush before I did anything. It'll only cost you maybe $5 or $6 worth of ATF, and maybe 20 minutes of your time.

And there's no banjo bolts in the system; they're all threaded in flared fittings (or hose clamps on the cooler)


if a flush doesn't make difference, it's time to start considering it might be mechanical issue, like a weak pump maybe

 

ATF to flush the PS system? Did I read that correctly? Or use ATF as PS fluid?

 

the power steering system uses ATF (Merc/Dex II or III), not regular power steering fluid take a look at the power steering reservoir cap


or look in the FSM

looks like you wouldn't even need that much fluid

 

Yes ATF...I think I used Dextron VI last time I farted with mine.

 

yeah any dex higher than II will work

VI surpasses V, which surpasses IV, which surpasses III, which surpasses II. in other words, you could use any of them, II, III, IV, V, or VI

 

Dextron X?

 

you show me Dextron X

 

man i wish i had power steering. lucky!

i would think all you would need is a good flush too. are you low at all? does it leak and have to bleed really quick before it engages.

 

lol thanks guys i will give this a try next time i have a chance to do so. im sure someone else put the wrong stuff in. i thought it should be ATF and yes all the dextron fluids work the same just the higher the number the better or "more advanced" so they say; they will get. nice to know its there are no banjo bolts, saves me some time looking into that.
has anyone seen this before? is it also a possibility of a bad pump? just trying to generalize with what i have. thanks

 

the pump leaks some not to bad. im going to replace it when it gets warmer. it doesnt ever lag or anything. just seems that i can oversteer or over power the power assist.

 

Show me there's not.

 

Some models (my '94 SR5) have a banjo bolt on the high-pressure side. Some are threaded fittings. It's not by year. I think it may be trim level, but I'm not that good at reading VINs.

I am curious about "flushing" the system. Do you put a plug on the low-pressure fill of the reservoir (it's pretty low, so it would be hard to keep fluid in the reservoir if just disconnected), and then crank the engine to push the "old" fluid out through the low pressure line?

 

You don't have to do this with the engine running.

Easy (again- engine off):

1 Siphon what you can out of the resevoir
2 Hook up a tube to the return line at the reservoir and feed that line to a bucket.
3 Block off the return line fitting on the resevoir.
4 Fill the resevoir with fresh fluid.
5 Turn the wheel slowly back an forth until the resevoir is low (making sure that you don't allow it to empty completely.
6 Add more clean fluid.
7 Repeat steps 5 and 6 until clean fluid comes out of the return line.
8 Reassemble and top off the fluid.

Flushed, bled and ready to go.

 

mix in some of that Lucas power steering additive in after you flush it and it should help your leak and it conditions the entire system too. I talked with on of the guys at Lucas on the phone a while back and he assured me that it was perfectly fine on toyota ps systems if not healthy preventative maintainable for them. I have a small leak on mine and I have been slowly putting in this stuff and the leak has been improving!

 

So, um....I have this friend who...uh, has been putting power steering fluid in his yota' for a long time, is this a bad thing? :-o

 

well it's hydraulic fluid non the less, so it WILL function, but PS fluid is thinner than ATF, and it'll eventually cause leaks

not sure if it'll cause the pump or gearbox to fail, but it'll cause the seals in them to fail

 

im not having to much of the leaking of fluid. i just want the truck to turn when i turn the wheel you know, the pump shaft leaks a bit (hey its got 246k on it) but it dont seem to loose much at a time. i think the flush would help. as for the lucas additive, it shouldnt be needed as the ATF is a great system cleaner/conditioner all on its own, plus i think its a much thicker fluid then ATF and may not be such a great idea to use? power steering fluid in place of ATF in a ps system wont do much but cause leaks like iamsuperbleeder said because you are losing the cleaners and seal conditioners of the ATF.