IMPORTANT! POWER STEERING FLUID WARNING ! ! !

[dlb]

i don't know if a T would work. wouldn't that allow the old fluid back into the reservoir to get mixed up with the fresh stuff? i guess if you're doing this job solo you might need to get creative but i had my friend start the car so i was free to hold the inlet hose in the catch container and avoid any spills.

[Max1234]

Thanks to everyone who answered. And dlb you're right, I meant the steering rack boots. I imagine the seals within are damaged or maybe just old, but either way it's leaking fluid out every time I drive for a prolonged period of time.

So I'm going to do the flush this weekend, drive for a day, and repeat the process and then sometime this month replace the boots. If the seals underneath look bad are those easily replaceable?

[NWMO]

If the seals fail in the rack & pinion, it is more likely to replace the entire R & P. At least that was the case on my 95' Prizm when it completely failed a couple of winters ago. The boots are really just dust covers, which are important too, but won't help the oil loss at all.

Chris

[dlb]

i think chris is right. if the seals in the rack are shot, i think the entire thing needs to be removed from the car to rebuild the thing. i've never done it myself though so i'm not sure about that. there are plenty of 'power steering stop leak' products around that you could try first. a lot of that crap is just snake oil but if it's relatively inexpensive and might save you a bunch of work or money for a few years, you might want to give one a try.

[Ace]

I'm glad my Tercel is a basic econo-box: no power steering, no power brakes, no air conditioning, no automatic transmission. Less stuff to maintain and less congestion under the hood. A small car doesn't need power assists IMHO. But it does have 4WD when I need it !

[oldfaithful]

I could be wrong, but all of my Tercels
have Power Assisited brakes, I have had Toyotas
for 45 years of different models and they all had
power asssited brakes.

[Petros]

all Tercels have power assisted brakes, rather difficult not to have a booster when you have disk brakes. though it is a simple device that rarely needs maintenance, and it puts no drag on the engine.

[irowiki]

He was probably thinking of anti lock brakes.

[Petros]

Anti-lock brakes: another modern invention I do not want. it takes brake modulation and manual control away from the driver, and requires bad braking technique to get it function as designed. And almost all of the cars that I have owned that had it were very troublesome, requiring lots of service to keep it functioning properly.