304.1
My neighbor showed me his new Lexus today, the newest of several he has owned.
I had never touched a Lexus before.
He said his older Cadillacs had better low speed power steering boost than any of his and other Lexus cars he had driven.
He claims a special sensitivity to steering boost inadequacy. He has an arm with a disability.
In talking, then, about the Lexus Owner's Manual, he said it lacked skills in the English language. He found some of the English in it impossible to believe in a manual for a Lexus automobile. Though factually it may be proved correct, he found it misleading.
I told him I would check out "Lexus Power Steering" on the Internet. Google took me to a list of related web sites.
I chose US.LexusOwnersClub.COM.
That web site featured an email discussion about Lexus Power Steering stiffness that seemed to come from power steering boost loss when black goop plugged the fluid filter and, in effect, shut down the pump at low speeds.
The "wrong" choice of fluid was suggested. Some said they got low speed boost again when they flushed the fluid out, replaced it with a more suitable fluid, and cleaned the filter.
My 1964 Citroen lived through a period when CItroen intoduced a change in hydraulic fluid in newer models. The new fluid was found to damage rubber seals in older models and the old fluid was found to damage rubber seals in the newer models. The damaged rubber seals led to black goop plugging the Citroen hydraulic fluid filter. An immune rubber formulation was then introduced to solve the problems from both types of fluid in both the old and the new models of the Citroen.
The alarming thought I have had from all of this is that Lexus may have had bad enough English in its manuals to lead to fitting its American Lexus power steering with a fluid that damaged the rubber parts of the power steering system, produced black goop, plugged the filter, and effectively stopped the low speed boost from the pump.
If that were the case, it could lead to a troublesome safety recall situation for Lexus. What do you think?
