canucklehe

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I have a Lexus ES300 with 145K miles. It had "morning sickness" when I first bought it. I used Lucas PS product and it improved and bought me a stay of execution for 6 months or so. I also had front struts that needed replacing (according to my alignment mechanic friend), but they were not binding my steering, they were creaky-noisy, and felt like a had a "clunk-clunk" when I went over bumpy roads.

So I first replaced with a set of quick struts. I had a bit of a binding feeling afterwards, felt a bit stiff. Soon after my PS got much worse and binding, mechanical, worn out, could barely steer it. So I replaced the PS rack AND outer tie rods. New rack was better, but I had this strange binding when I'd first move steering wheel while driving normal speeds. The first movement of a few degrees off center would bind and I'd have to fight it to break loose, then fine. Parallel parking was no problem.

I heard reman racks had high failure rates, so I replaced the rack with a SECOND replacement. Same problems. I replaced the outer tie rods with the old ones. No improvement. At times I have no binding, and think it's fixed itself, then it can be stiff and ugly again. Cold weather seemed better.

I still have a creaking noise in the front end when I go over bumps, but no clunk. (Balljoints maybe for that noise/issue?)

What is causing my steering problem? PS pump?? Usually a worn pump is noisy, and stiff throughout full steering radius, etc..

ANOTHER dud rack? (I think 2 with same issue is doubtful).

Would Balljoints cause this binding symptom? I'm wondering if they are cause of my creaking noise.

OR...maybe the replacement quick-struts have defective strut bearings??

There is also a sensor that threads onto bottom of rack, with 2 wires/plug. You have to re-use old one when you get reman rack. Lexus does not sell just the sensor. Lexus mechanic said if I disconnected it, I probably wouldn't even notice it. I wondered if this could cause this issue.

Any ideas? At my wits end.
and THANKS!!

LeX2K

Who made the reman racks that you put in? Have you verified the struts are not stiff when trying to rotate?

canucklehe

reman rack was done by Detroit Axle (I believe they are AKA Dearborn Axle). USA company...probably put in chinese parts.

Not sure how I would verify whether struts are stiff or not. any suggestion on how I can check that?

thnx.

LeX2K

Either disconnect the outer tie rod from the knuckle, or remove the strut. You need to make sure the binding is not occurring with the strut bearing.

canucklehe

if I disconnect the outer tie rods wouldn't that eliminate the steering effect and related stress on the strut bearing?

if i completely remove strut, how do I determine if bearing is working properly? I certainly suspect the strut bearing might be my issue..... just don't know how to pin it down.

mitmaks

Most likely its your p/s pump that is worn out. They don't necessarily make noise when worn out.
On our 96ES it simply started dumping a bunch of fluid on the garage floor, it's a pita to replace it on this car but if its leaking it needs to be done.

canucklehe

not leaking any PS fluid. never seen a worn PS pump act as intermittent as my issue. today I drove with no problems at all. last week I drove 80 miles into big city, no issue, on way home it was binding and acting up again.

PFB

Although not very likely as the cause, and if not allready done so, might as well check for loose, or worn out power steering belt.


Phil

Mythotical

I suspect lower ball joints for the creaking. as for the PS use only ATF II or III only! If you don't believe me read the PS cap.

canucklehe

I dropped off car to my alignment mechanic friend last night, so he could drive to/from work. PS has not acted up for my last few drives. On one hand I'm happy, but on other hand, very frustrating never knowing when it's going to rear it's ugly head again. My friend did rack on his 93 Camry 4 cylinder and had similar issues for about 2 weeks and then it went away. Maybe I could be so lucky...but doubting it since this is my second reman rack.

mythotical, I put in Dexron III ATF, as per Lexus specs. I even used synthetic on second reman job.

if my creaking is lower balljoints, I see I can get a pair for about $30. OR...I can splurge and get a pair of lower control arms with balljoints, new bushings, for $100. Are these LCAs & bushings that prone to wear? It hurts every time I crack open my wallet for this car as it always feels like good money after bad.

mitmaks

Could be worn/loose belt, air in system.

canucklehe

mitmaks, belt is in a bit of a tough spot to easily check, but tension seems snug.

mitmaks

I have not had good success with Lucas steering additive. It's too thick and just makes problems worse. I would flush whatever you have in there and fill with ATF, preferably synthetic. Make sure to bleed air out of system.
BTW, did you replace strut mounts when you did the struts?

LeX2K

He used Quick Struts so complete units.

Need to isolate the problem, you must either remove the tie rod or the strut itself to find out if the bearings are binding up. It would not surprise me, Quick Struts are known for quality problems.

Another possibility is metal particles and gunk trapped in the PS lines, when changing a rack you should do a thorough fluid flush before you remove the old rack, then do it again after the new one is installed. If all else fails then replace the PS pump with a Maval rebuilt part number MAV1604126. Hopefully the replacement racks you used are good, seems unlikely that two of them would be bad but you never know.

canucklehe

I only used the Lucas on OLD rack, and it actually worked and bought me about 6 months of time. I flushed system by pumping fluid through PS after old rack was removed. I started engine and poured fluid through resevoir. Reman mfrer said that was fine. There are 4 hoses on my resevoir and i wasn't sure which one(s) to disconnect to flush with rack in place. When I put in new rack, I used synthetic Dexron III fluid.

lexus2000, I'm not having much luck being cheap. The car isn't worth more than $2k, so I find it tough to splurge on expensive parts. Reman racks also have a high failure rate apparently. Strut seller tells me they've never had one returned and were surprised to hear of my issues. They have offered to upgrade me to Monroes if I pay an additional $100. I might do that, but first want to confirm that the ENTIRE quick strut is all Monroe components. I found it difficult to find FRONT quick struts. Many rears are easy to find.