SleevelessSteve

So I was replacing the driver's side fog light a few days ago when i noticed a small wet spot on the pavement beneath my 99 4runner (passenger side). I looked up at the vehicle and noticed the skid plate looked a little damp. I opened the hood and saw some sort of oily substance that had collected road grime and all beneath the power steering reservoir, and the areas around it. I was wiping the fluid off of the contaminated areas today to see if I could pinpoint where it was coming from. In the meantime I'm carrying around a can of power steering fluid in the truck. It's a slow leak, but a leak is a leak, and leak is not good. I want to go check it out some more right now but its currently raining and thundering. does anyone have any suggestions on what i should do... how i should address this problem... there isn't much i can do right now about it, and i still dont know the actual source of the leak. is there anything that is more likely to be giving out the lubricant? maybe like some kind of fitting...? when the weather clears up I can take some photos and post them. I'm just glad i caught the leak before it became a problem. any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,
-Steve

INFINITY

http://www.pskits.com/catalog/pumptoyota-c-61_95.html
dont know about the 95+ toyota but all of the previous ones use atf.

SleevelessSteve

Thanks for the link, hopefully when i pinpoint the leak it will just be something cheap like this. alot of cars use ATF for the transmission and the powersteering pump, the stock fluid for my 4runner is the good ole red DEXRON for both applications. i think somewhere down the line someone switched to a more clear looking fluid, probably dedicated power steering fluid or something. (I just bought this car a month ago)

brian2sun

If it's not totally Dexron in there (like a mix of different fluids), that can be bad. If you or the previous owner put clear p.s. fluid in there (or anything but Dexron), I would flush the system when you get around to fixing the leak. If it's damp around the reservoir, that's probably it or the lines going into/out of it - as opposed to the pump. At least it's not the rack and pinion leaking.

Check the level too. It can seep out if it's too full w/o actually hurting anything.

SleevelessSteve

no its not a mix of fluids, it all appears to be the same. not sure which brand, but it dexron the best to use? should i consider switching it back to dexron? to tell you the truth, i dont know where the pump is. when i say reservior i mean the power steering fill point and its ensuing canister. the level inside fine, if anything its probably too low rather than too high. i also dont believe its from the top because the day that i noticed the leak the top was pretty clean. i have a strong feeling its a line from the reservoir, when i was cleaning up down there earlier today i came up with some clear fluid around one of the lines, but not sure exactly which one. i was actually at work on a break, so i didn't have as much time or full attention on the problem as i would have liked. but yeah the fluid that is leaking is like a pale yellow sort of. if it was a line, do you think just a little bit of a caulking seal around held on with good old duct tape would work, or is that just a really bad idea?

brian2sun

I know the lid on my p.s. reservoir and my owner's manual both say to use Dexron, so I would say yes. I'm pretty sure yours is the same. Who knows whats in there now? Sounds like gear oil or something if it's pale yellow.

Dexron is made by pretty much all the oil manufacturers. It's a type of ATF, not a brand.

If you don't have the service records on the truck, I would at least go through and change all the fluids and filters in the truck, and I would give it new plugs and wires too.

SleevelessSteve

My owners manual and P.S. cap agree with yours. I've got the records, the guy gave them to me when he sold me the truck. he kept up with it pretty well. maybe I'll switch it back to Dexron. I doubt its gear oil, but i guess anything can happen, right? It had all that stuff done to it fairly recently i think, but i should go back and check... maybe it'll tell me what the filled up the reservoir with. oh and thanks for sharpening my knowledge of dexron haha.

brian2sun

The caulking/duct tape thing probably won't work, but it's not going to hurt it either (unless the caulking gets sucked in and clogs something).

eric-the-red

Caulk or duct tape will never stick to something that's already oily. I just removed and rebuilt my steering pump due to it being noisy. It was about a 2-3 on the 1-10 scale as far as difficulty goes. Got the gasket kit from pskits.com, less than $20. About 2 hours of my time and it was done. There's a couple of likely places it could leak, the front seal, the o-ring between the reservoir and the pump, and the high pressure line to the rack. All of those parts are in the gasket kit. I used the instructions here

http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/...ead.php?t=2126

SleevelessSteve

yeah you all are right, that was a pretty asinine idea. i guess i was just trying to think of something that would seal a leak, but getting it sucked into the equipment or having it not even stay on wouldnt be any good. you know, i bet it is that o-ring seal... it seems to be coming out of the bottom line of the reservoir, im not positive, but thats my best guess. i havent had much time to address it since i've had to work alot. i've got tomorrow off though, so maybe i can check it out some more. i will definitely take a peek at all those places you've suggested. what else would it be besides a gasket or a line or something of that sort? thanks a lot for your help and suggestions.

brian2sun

I would clean everything power steering really good and if you still can't find the leak, drive it a little and take another look. If it's clean you should be able to see the starting point of the leak.

SleevelessSteve

its so frustrating to try to work in there because there isn't much room. i tried cleaning everything up and seeing if the leak was visible, but no go. it seems to only leak when the engine is running. when i start up the engine, power steering fluid begins to some how get onto the drive belt and then it is flung all over everything, making it complicated to see the origin of the leak. plus you don't want to get power steering fluid in your eye. I think I'm just going to order a rebuild kit and hopefully that will do the trick. I even pulled the airbox off today to give me a better view and access, but no go.

thanks for posting the links for the kits guys!