hacmon

Walt, did the ECM repair took care of code 41 and the hesitation problem?

Definitely try the bleeding first. It costs nothing and only require you to put the two front wheels off of the floor. Though if you have been driving it for a few days, chances are the system should have bled itself by now. Here's something to check, do you see (or hear) air in the in the PS resevoir? Start the engine and open the PS resevoir cap to see if air is being injected into the resevoir. If there is air, the fluid will seem "frothy". If there is air in the PS system, you're not getting full boost from the power steering which could explain what you're experiencing. Bleeding will rid the system of residual air pockets. But if the entire PS system is not air tight, new air will be introduced.

Glad you got the leak taken care off. As for the hard steering, try searching the forum for how to bleed the PS system. A simple procedure that could be what you need. As for the hollow bolts that hold the high pressure hose, you don't have to line them up or anything. The hose ends already have the proper clearance for those holes in the bolts regardless of orientation.

One of the post in this thread has a diagram of the PS pump. You can see the air control valve in it. This valve normally has two tubes connected to it. You probably had to disconnect the tubes when you removed the PS pump. Regarding point F: screen cleaning (near the rack & tie rods as well as the one at bottom of PS resevoir) helps reduce the excessively high pressure in the PS system which may contribute to leaking PS fluid. Though these leaks are more like seeping fluid, not like bottles of fluids that you're experiencing. I believe that if the part you circled in the picture is the soure of leak, then a rebuild/replace is probably the fix. For me, the leak was due the the air control valve. In the process of diagnosing the leak, I disturbed the resevoir O-ring and that resulted in a niagra falls like leak. Replaced O-ring. Cost=a few bucks. Labor=removing the resevoir. I was able to remove the resevoir w/out having to remove the PS pump. Replaced air controvl valve. Cost<$100. Labor=minimal (I was able to use a stubby wrench to removing the valve from the top w/out having to remove the pump.

You said on your 1st post that "91 ls400 leaks power steering fluid like crazy, 1 bottle every 6 hours". Is it leaking on to the floor overnight/stationary or does it seem to be disappearing when the engine is running? And if it is leaking when the car is parked, can you tell where the leak is (passenger side or driver side)? It is important to know to diagnose what to repair/replace. While waiting for more info, couple of things to consider. If you're loosing that much fluid while the car is parked, the source of leak MAY be where the fluid resevoir is connected to the power steering pump. An O-ring provides the seal between the two parts and with +15 years it may be just the culprit. If you're loosing fluid when the engine is running, it could be that the idle up valve has a leak and the fluid is being sucked into the engine and are burned with the normal combustion process. Replacing the $80 valve could fix the fluid loss. You mentioned repairing PS pump, high pressure hose, etc ... My personal opinion is to leave those pricey items alone and just fix the root cause so you can continue getting from A to B.

I see that I was mistaken as to which bolt was giving you problem. I believe you will have to remove the PS pulley inorder to remove the "front" bolt. Not a difficult task if I remember correctly. Loosen the 17mm nut on the pulley. Then a 14mm on the serpentine belt tensioner to give slack to the serpentine belt to pull of the PS pulley. Pull out the pulley. Clear access to the resevoir front bolt. About getting the top bolt back on, may be get someone with more slim fingers to get that top bolt started onto the thread? Hopefully, the easiest taks (replacing the o-ring) can give you a dry garage and may possibly take care of the whinning as well. Worth a try before other more drastic measures.

From what I can tell, there are but a few places where PS can leak in the area you took the pictures (air control valve, return hose, high pressure union, reservoir connection). Two things you said from your prior posts that make me think it is the reservoir connection. More specifically, I think the o-ring on the reservoir has failed and are causing the leak and the buzzing sound/hard steering you are experiencing. (1) You attempted to remove the reservoir. Over the years the o-ring on the reservoir hardened and probably failed when you attempted the removal. This can cause excessively amount of PS fluid to leak (even when the care is not running) similar to what your picture shows. (2) You were unable to completely get rid of the whining/buzzing sound and still experience hard steering at times. These sounds like symptoms of air in the PS system. Normally, if the PS system does not leak, a few turns end-to-end while the front wheels are off the ground should purge the system of air. However, if the system is not completely seal, air will be introduced to the PS system and you may never completely purge the system. If the same o-ring between the reservoir and PS pump fails, air could get into the system and thus you never could purge yours completely. As far as I can tell, you haven't tried replacing that o-ring yet. Probably the cheapest and easiest thing to try at this point is to replace that o-ring. It is part of the "reseal kit" when rebuilding the PS pump. Or, if you're resourceful, rummage through your local hardware stores to find a similarly sized o-ring. From what I can tell, it seems very ordinary (didn't want you to blow $30 on a reseal kit only so you can get hold of a $0.45 o-ring). Since you weren't able to remove the reservoir before, let me see if I can help. You were able to remove 2 of the 3 bolts before. I'll just concentrate on the bolt that is on top but difficult to get to unless you remove a handful of trim pieces. Normally not too big of a deal. However, one of those pieces is what the mechanics at the Lexus garage at times referred to as *** pardon my language *** the ELEPHANT D%CK. It is a pain to take off of the throttle body. Here's how I did it. Remove the air filter box and move the mass airflow sensor box and piping out of the way. You have probably already done this in order to remove 1 of the bolts that holds the reservoir. I used just and ordinary open-end 12mm wrench (mine is a Craftsman about 6" long with open-end on one end and box-end on the other). Standing where the fender is at (more like where the headlight is at) and looking at the reservoir, you can see the top bolt that holds the reservoir. Now if you look to the left and to the right of the reservoir, you can make out some spaces. These spaces are just big enough to get the 12mm wrench in turn. You get a little more spaces on the left to work with if you remove the return hose from the reservoir (careful since fluid remaining in the reservoir will leak out). This isn't rocket science. You just need to get your 12mm wrench on the bolt and loose it. Since the left side has slightly more space around the bolt, use that side to get in to the bolt and tiny-turn-by-tiny turn remove the bolt. Hint 1: If you don't have enough leverage on the left side to "break" the bolt loose, try the right side. The space to the right is smaller around the bolt but is quite free of obstruction away from the bolt. Best to use this side to “break" the bolt free since you can apply more force from this side. Very limited movement but all you need is enough to break the bolt loose. Hint 2: My 12mm wrench (and probably most other) has slightly different angle if I turn the wrench over (still talking about the open-end here). Use that slight angle difference to help remove the bolt when you're in a tight space. Hint 3: Once you have loosen the bolt, you can get the 12mm partially on the bolt by leaning the wrench more vertically and use top space between the reservoir top and the distributor plastic cover. If bolt is already loosened, "partial" fit with the 12mm is enough to continue loosening the bolt. If you're going to replace that o-ring and still can't get the bolt off. Post a message and I'll snap a few pictures of wrench placement to try. Good luck with your repair. Tom