YoshiMan

Hello all. I joined up on this forum years and years back when I was considering buying an LS400, but it wasn't really feasible at the time so i quickly abandoned the idea and moved forwards with life.

Well, fast forwards to today, I have had numerous project cars over the last 10 years, and decided to sell some of them off and move up to newer, better vehicles. In the mix, I picked up a 95 LS400 for $2700 and am very happy with the result. It's a great car, but needs some love!

I've been reading up on these boards for the last few weeks getting all the information I need to tackle the problems it has, but there is one I am still somewhat confused on:

The car has the usual LS400 power steering problems that come up on them. Sometimes it works great, and sometimes it doesn't work AT ALL.. I have read that the cause of alot of the problems in the first generation LS400s can be traced down to the solenoid filter screens becoming clogged. This being said, I haven't seen anything (in all of the searching I've done) implicating that this affects the 2nd generation models as well..

So my question is: Do the 95 and up LS400s have the filter screen problems too? I'm actually hoping that it is simply the pump going bad, because that would be straight forward to repair. The fluid level is good, and its been making occasional groaning sounds on start up since the weather has gone down to 5 degrees here in Denver.

Just wondering if i should be pulling the screens out to clean them first, or if they don't even exist on these models. Thanks in advance!

LScowboyLS

the only problems I have seen in 95 and up LS400 as far as PS issues is leaking, and those leaks killing alternators - haven't really seen operational issues with PS in these cars (unless you let the leak cause the fluid to get too low, and then you get a real fast audible reminder, the pump starts groaning! - lol)

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

my solenoid worked fine when I swapped the rack out last month, and given the few people i've seen have problems with '95+ solenoids I'd say it's doubtful a common problem.

rfisherman

Are there screens or filters in the '98-'00 steering systems that might clog and need to be cleaned as in the earlier models?

YoshiMan

That's good to hear, happy to hear that perhaps it is just the pump.

I have a laundry list of things that the car really needs before it is totally roadworthy, but the nice thing is that they are all only $100-200 and they are not terribly difficult things to do. That power steering issue is priority one, as it's the biggest safety related problem.

It's kind of hair raising when the system decides not to work and you have to crank on it around a corner, then it magically comes back on, you end up yanking the wheel at full force and flailing the car all over the road!

Hopefully the factory service manuals show up in my mailbox sooner than later, I need to get to work!

SquiddyB6S

The p/s pump was leaking when I bought mine, so the first week or so I picked up a pump and went to it. There is a screen inside the reservoir that NEEDS to be cleaned. Mine was caked solid about 1/8" thick with hard, nasty, old fluid garbage. I tore it in the process of cleaning it, and getting the reservoir apart in the first place cut me up a bit. But it's all good now. It's a cheap job and doesn't take too long. Also, I did not reinstall the little valve for the p/s pump. Rather, I grabbed a properly-sized bolt from my metric spare parts bin, cleaned the heck out of the port on the new pump and the bolt, and used some Permatex Ultra Gray and ran the bolt in tight. No leaks and no sappy valve to break later.