1995 Es300 Power Steering Punp Replacement

[Ernie]

As always, there are all the safety precautions that must be considered. Especially the proper supports under the car while it’s “up in the air”. Eye protection and all the other common sense stuff. They also recommend that you have the code for the radio at hand before disconnecting the battery.

The right front wheel has to come off and the inner fender flap once the wheel is off.

The main drive belt has to come off. Loosen two bolts on the alternator, then the pinch bolt for the adjusting bolt, and then begin loosening the alternator until the belt is slack enough to slip the belt off.

Now the belt for the power steering pump can be removed. Loosen the top bolt on the pump; it’s the one that the pump pivots on. Its about 3” long. Look at the replacement pump and you’ll see the two holes that the bolt goes through. Then loosen the lock bolt that holds the pump in position. Loosen the belt and remove it.

See if you can get the pulley off of the pump. Mine came off really easy. I put a short 3/8” extension in one of the holes in the pulley, so it would jam against the pump, to loosen the nut. After the nut was removed, I tapped on the back side of the pulley, then rotated it a little and tap – rotate –tap –rotate –tap, and pretty soon I could feel a slight click in the pulley when I pulled on one side then the other. And then it came off.

Now you have a better view of the plumbing and what you’re up against.

The two large hoses that slide onto the pump fittings, and are held in place by spring clamps, are the supply hoses from the reservoir. Looking at them from the topside I made a mental note on their orientation so they get back where they belong. They slip right off once the spring clamps are scooted up a few inches. I stuffed the ends of the hoses with clean paper towels to keep them clean. I pulled them up and let them rest on the fire wall, out of the way.

The next thing I went for was the discharge line that has the bolt that goes through the banjo fitting. This is where things came to a screeching halt. I had about 18” of extension between my ratchet and the socket, and when I cranked on it, I could feel that the bolt didn’t come loose, the fitting that the bolt screws into came loose at the pump. So….no sense in turning any further, all that would happen, is kinking the steel line attached to the banjo fitting. This is where I lost about 2 ½ to 3 hours, trying to figure a way to hold that fitting so I didn’t have to buy a new line. This is why I recommended removing the pulley earlier. I didn’t remove the pulley until I had this problem, and that’s why I took it off while the pump was still in the car. It was the only way I could really address the fitting that came loose when it shouldn’t. I was going to get my cutting torch out and shorten a wrench to the length that would fit into that tight space, when I remembered that I had a 10” Crescent wrench that I torched many years ago. It fit in there perfectly. I then took a carpenters clamp (the kind that looks like a capitol “F” and is adjustable) and clamped the back end of the Crescent wrench to the fender well to hold it while I went back topside to loosen the banjo bolt. And it worked.

Next comes the other discharge line. It is a regular fitting that screws directly into the pump. It’s similar to the type of fitting on a brake line.

Next is the electrical connector for the solenoid. I couldn’t see how it came apart, so I took the bolt out that holds the wire clamp in place. Then I could rotate the plastic connector to see how it worked. You may be able to disconnect it without removing the clamp bolt. That bolt is primarily there to hold one of the supply hose fittings in place.

Everything is now off the pump. Take the belt adjusting bolt out. Then the long pivot bolt out. And the pump is out.

The rest of it as all just a matter of swapping the fittings and parts from the old pump to the new. And then reverse the steps to install the new pump.

The paper that comes with the pump gives you some general tips and hints, but they are general at best! An example is; when finished, they say to fill the reservoir and leave the return hoses off the pump and flush the system. Well, those two big slip on hoses are NOT the return hoses! They are the supply hoses. And if you want to look at it this way, they are really part of the reservoir. The return hoses are actually two small hoses that slip onto the front side of the reservoir. I slipped them off and plugged the fittings on the reservoir with a couple of small plastic plugs I had. I slipped a couple of plastic tubes (about 3/8”od) into the return hoses, and ran them down and into the wheel well where I had a ½ gal. plastic bottle to catch the waste fluid. Tie the tubes so they can’t fly out of the bottle, because when you first start up, the air in the system will blow the small plastic tubes out and you’ll have a mess. My owners’ manual says to use Dextron I or Dextron II. I couldn’t find either, the parts store said that didn’t make it any more. I called the 800 number in the instruction paper and the guy said that Dextron III was OK. When I finished flushing, I did see some metal flakes, so it is worth the trouble.

I hope I didn’t forget anything, e-mail me if you need some help.

Ernie