P/s Seal Replacement

[LEXIE]

As I mentioned in the battery disconnect topic I rebuilt my p/s pump with an

OEM seal replacement kit. During the process I used a few "tricks" that saved

money and time...some of these are probably old but I thought they were worth

mentioning.

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To remove the snap rings, I only had a pair of ring pliers that expanded rings

for removal... these needed to be compressed. I had an old pair of needle nose pliers

that I modified by grinding a small notch on each tip end. If you dont have

a grinding wheel with a sharp edge you could use a sharp file to make the notches.

The modified ring remover worked great.

When driving out the bearing/shaft I used a wooden dowl since I did not have

an aluminum or brass rod. When you drive the dowl against the shaft end, lay the

pump face down on concrete floor for max resistance. When I tried pounding

on top of my workbench there was too much give and the bearing would not

break loose. Once you get it started, then you place the pump on open vice jaws

drive the through with ease.

When I replaced the bearing/shaft assembly, I heated the aluminum pump housing

by laying a trouble light bulb on the pump bearing opening. I put the bearing/shaft

assembly in the refrig freezer for 1 hr. With the pump housing in the vice and

all mating surfaces wetted with p/s fluid, I was able to drive the bearing in with

very little effort. I did not have a socket that would span to the outer bearing

casing so I used an old pvc fitting that matched just perfectly.

When flushing out the old p/s fluid, I used a discarded 5/8" garden hose cut to

about 8'. The rubber hose end of the high pressure return line wedged in tightly

into the hose and there was no leakage during the purge process. A water clear

plastic jug is useful during the purge process to allow acccessing the clarity of the

fluid being removed.

During the air removal process, I found that a fairly large funnel wedged into the

resevoir kept the fluid from splashing all over the place and also allowed more

surface area for the air to dissapate as the froth came up int the funnel.

Nothing earth shattering re the above comments but every little bit helps when you

are as unskilled a mechanic as I...which must be obvious as it took me about 12

hours to do the repair.

Nutshell.... my labor plus $23.50 for the seal kit beats 6 to $800 for the job outside

if using new pump.

[monarch]

Lexie, how much of a chore was it to get the power steering pump off the car? What componets had to be removed just to get access to the pump? And once you were able to access the pump, were any special tools needed to remove it? Like special tools to remove the hydraulic hoses? Thanks for any help of suggestions along these lines.

[LEXIE]

monarch--

let me say that with the help of this fourm and lots of research on the

net the job was not that overwhelming.

step by step to remove the pump:

1) remove the engine coolant overflow tank. just a couple of screws

holding the plastic tank in place ( most of the bracket screws in this whole project were metric 10). then you have to remove some small

hoses to free the tank. i found a vice grip very effective for hose clamp

manipulation. the jaws are fairly wide and when you squeeze the clamp

and lock, you can slide it down with no problem. you will then have to

disconnect the level sensor connection. just inspect the connection and

you will see a little lock device that you press down to release the

mating end. the tank should now slide up and out.

now you must remove the p/s pump reservoir. use some sort of device

like a turkey baster to draw out as much fluid as possible. i found that if

you have some small tubing that fits over the baster end you can get

most of the fluid out. remove the three bracket screws that hold the reservoir in place and disconnect the low and hi pressure lines. you can

expect some residual drippage which can be stopped by plugging the

hose ends with a pencil or such.

now you must remove the air filter assembly. ther are 3 maybe 4 retainer bolts that you remove.loosen the hose clamp on the corregated

rubber attached to the black plastic intake line and pull to release and

the whole unit will free and come out.

loosen the nut on the p/s pump pulley. i think this is metric 17. remove

your fan belt by placing a metric 14 on the tensioner nut and draw the

wrench handle counter closkwise and merely slide the belt off the same

pulley(tensioner).

now you must break the vacuum switch loose from its mount to make

accesible one of the two infamous bolts that are a bit** to remove.

the vac switch is located on the passenger side just in line with the pump. there are two bracket bolts holding it in place.

once you free the vac switch you now have to break the brass nut loose

that holds the high pressure line in place to the pump. this one is kind of

hard to get to...no room for a socket but if you have a large metric

boxed you can prob reach. i just happened to have had a cresent wrench that i had cut the handle off except for about 1.5 inches and was

able to place this over the nut and use a socket wrench over the 1.5"

stub to get leverage to break the nut loose.

now for the infamous bolts. these two bolts are located on the back side

of the pump and are parallel to the firewall i.e. pointing to the sky. they

are hard to see and the passanger side bolt is higher than the driver

side bolt..almost 45 deg angle facing car. i was able to remove both

bolts from under the hood with much effort using a boxed 12 metric

wrench. the upper bolt on the vac switch side was not that hard but the

lower bolt on the alternator side was tough. by trial and error i was able

to finally get the wrench on the bolt and break loose. once that happened it was finger removalble. if you can jack the car up the lower bolt is much more accessible.

now the easy part is removing the nut and bolt from the front side facing

the pump and once done the pump slides right out.

you did not mention if you were replacing the pump or rebuilding the existing pump but i would be glad to direct you to the tutorials for rebuilding if that is what you plan to do.

[monarch]

Wow Lexie, thanks for the detailed instructions. I have a first generation LS 400 and am faced with BOTH replacing or rebuilding of the PS pump and the alternator as well since the alternator was ruined due to PS fluid leakage.

Yes, if you can direct me to tutorials for rebuilding the PS pump I would be most grateful.

One thing I am debating is whether or not I need to remove the radiator, fan shroud and fan assembly in order to get to the alternator and PS pump. It's alot of extra work, but I'm getting the feeling removal would also help provide alot more working room. On the other hand, maybe removing the PS pump would help provide alot of access to the alternator below it. What do you think?

[LEXIE]

monarch,

if your LS is basically like my SC400 under the hood, the alternator will

be readily accessibe by just removing what i mentioned in my post to you. the removal will be easy ..just a couple of front bolts and a

electrical plug to disconnect. i dont think removing the shroud will be

necessary.

below are listed several web addresses with lots of good stuff to guide

you through the whole deal of p/s reapir or replacement. check them all

out and if i can help further just let me know....go for the seal replacement if you can, it will only cost you around $25 bucks. i got

mine from spartan motor mall and it is an original lexus repair kit.

if you want to order from them call 1-800-998-7557 and ask for gary

fish.. he has been very helpful with me. have your vin number at hand

when ordering and just say a guy from pensacola fl recommended you,

it may help with your discount. if you prefer a new pump just price it

when you call and compare around..i think he will be the least expensive

of anyone as i found out after doing a lot of checking. i am not

soliciting business here, just trying to give you your best shot.

i realize that some of the web addresses listed below are long but just copy and paste into google or whatever search engine you use and it will take you right to the meat of this whole matter.

good luck

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http://planetsoarer.com/Power%20steering%20pump.htm

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...r+steering+pump

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...r+steering+pump

http://www.intellexual.net/faq.html#041

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...eering+seal+kit