glenmore Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 My son was driving the 90 LS400 when the P/S suddenly got really hard. He limped to a friends house and added more P/S fluid but it wouldn't take long for it all to leak out again. I found a huge leak in the return line by the oil filter. This is a 9 inch "U" shaped piece of hose covered in a protective foam rubber outer hose. At Park Place they list four different return hoses, the cheapest being $50. Has anyone used generic hydraulic hose as a substitue here? Anyone know what size to use? Generic hose would probably only cost a few bucks. It is a rather severe "U" shape so an OEM formed hose would be much better. Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ko90ls Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 go to advance, napa, or whatever and get a LS power steering hose. $12ish i think. 1' long 3/8"I.D. you'll probably have to cut it in half. you should check the solenoid filter too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Lexus's hoses are made of special, extra durable grades of rubber and come in precise fitting metric inside and outside diameters. If you don't plan on keeping the car very long or don't plan on selling it to a friend or family member then maybe the non-metric auto parts store hose will be adequate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmore Posted May 15, 2006 Author Share Posted May 15, 2006 Did the repair with a $2 piece of hose from Autozone. So far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed that my son didn't fry the P/S pump by driving it so low on fluid. Car seems to drive OK, time will tell. I would suggest, if you have a Gen I LS400, this is cheap, easy preventive maintanence. glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lextreme Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Did the repair with a $2 piece of hose from Autozone. So far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed that my son didn't fry the P/S pump by driving it so low on fluid. Car seems to drive OK, time will tell. I would suggest, if you have a Gen I LS400, this is cheap, easy preventive maintanence. glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE I did the same repair on my LS400 last week. Got it done less then $1. 3/8" hose will work. Just make sure the clamps are tight. I used zip tied instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69mustang Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Did the repair with a $2 piece of hose from Autozone. So far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed that my son didn't fry the P/S pump by driving it so low on fluid. Car seems to drive OK, time will tell. I would suggest, if you have a Gen I LS400, this is cheap, easy preventive maintanence. glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE It looks like my u shape hose is leaking slowly near the connection of the hose to metal section. My question is whether you cut the metal ps return pipe where hose is connected then simply clamped hose to metal section with hose clamp or zip tie? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmore Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 [ It looks like my u shape hose is leaking slowly near the connection of the hose to metal section. My question is whether you cut the metal ps return pipe where hose is connected then simply clamped hose to metal section with hose clamp or zip tie? Thanks IIRC, there were spring type clamps on both ends of this hose. No cutting anything. Just release clamps, pull off old hose, attach new hose and reattach clamps. Or as mentioned above use zipties or new hose clamps. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexus400 Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 Does anyone have a pic of this hose ? I have almost 180k and a new pump. I think I'll replace this before it breaks. Thanks for the heads up. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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