bencho Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 hi, This concerns my 1990 LeXus LS400. I bought it about two years ago.. long history. flooded and rebuilt by a collector and I believe I'm the 4th or 5th owner, dont remember. It's was in practically showroom condition save a few minor scuffs here and there. Anyway, only two problems have arisen recently, ONE, steering creates painful noises like the car is wailing in agony. I did some googling and found another article here-- http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=17299 It is exactly my problem, but I am not very car oriented so I dont understand some of the solutions. I took off the P/S cap and cleaned it. One side of the stick says "hot" & the other side says "cold". The amount of fluid left does not touch the bottom of the stick at all. I took a look around the area underneath the P/S area and don't seem to see any leaking, unless im looking in the wrong spot. I guess I am goin to go to PepBoys and get some PS fluid and see if leaking is a problem. The other problem is that the speedometer and odometer have stopped working... The car doesnt age :) but it's kind of a problem... It used to jump wildly from 0 to 120 every once in a while but it just rests at 0 now. The overdrive light flashes and and off intermittenly as well. Is this a screwy dashhboard? or maybe the speed sensor gone awry? Wonder if anyone else's dashboard has gone crazy... Here's some pics for the curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Yep you need to add PS fluid. The fluid should be up to the marks on the stick. The groaning will go away as soon as you add fluid. After you bring the level up watch for leaks under the engine bay when you park it. Might want to put a piece of cardboard under the engine bay overnight to pinpoint the location if it does leak. One other possible cause is the PS air control valve. When this goes bad PS fluid gets sucked into the intake manifold. The result is very thick (and noticeable white smoke). Do a search on the forum and you'll find lots of posts related to this topic. If you haven't added any since you got the car 2 years ago, maybe you'll get lucky and it was just normal usage. Can't really help with your dash issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake918 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 It used to jump wildly from 0 to 120 every once in a while but it just rests at 0 now. The overdrive light flashes and and off intermittenly as well. Is this a screwy dashhboard? or maybe the speed sensor gone awry? Wonder if anyone else's dashboard has gone crazy...My old ES300 did exactly this right before the transmission died. We replaced the VSS, but that didn't do anything. The problem was the transmission. I hope this isn't the case for you, but an OD off light is usually the sign of very bad things to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencho Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 yea i added more PS fluid and the sounds subsided CONSIDERABLY!. thanks!. also, i checked the fluid inside and it was a dirty colour, not very dirty, but kinda brown, and not clear like the stuff i put in. is there a way i can drain it myself and refill? and yea, the Overdrive light flashes on, signaling that i pushed the OD button, but i havent... realli hope it isnt the transmission. i dont feel it kicking down, hopefully its just a faulty wire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 PS pump takes Dexron III ATF which is red. If you added regular PS fluid you definately need to flush. Check out lexls.com for a tutorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencho Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 oh... i only put a few ounces if anything... i thought PS was pretty much all the same.. i bought and put in something from Valvoline... can i flush it myself? or will i have to take it to a shop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Not sure how much damage (if any) a few ounces would do, but since you said it was brown (as opposed to red) , sounds like it needs flushing. You can do it yourself - just check out the tutorial in the link provided above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencho Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 ummm.. that website is dead.. no page shows up. but yea, ill check it out again.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I had no problem getting to it. www.lexls.com Has a lot of great info on maintaining the LS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LScott400 Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 ummm.. that website is dead.. no page shows up. but yea, ill check it out again.. This is the Link that Larry was directing you to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencho Posted January 17, 2007 Author Share Posted January 17, 2007 yea it works now, the link originally didnt work. but yea thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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