Wakko47

New guy here, and I did a search and read up on the correlation between the PS leaks and alternators going bad. Dad's got a '98 with 130k and it's been leaking PS fluid for about six months. He's only ever had the car worked on at Lexus, and I told him he's out of his mind to have the dealer fix everything that's wrong with the car since he's on a fixed income. While he was saving his pennies to fix the PS leak (the dealer said it was the pressure hose, IIRC) the alternator took a dump. Fortunately I have a work car so I gave him my car to use in the mean time.

I'm a car guy, own an '87 Buick GN and have had a host of hot rods over the years, but after a nasty car crash messed up my back, I stopped working on cars. I've considered coming out of retirement and sucking up the pain to help dad since he's in a bind. I had planned on putting the car on some ramps and doing the job that way.

Any tricks to this? Is there something I can look for to be sure I find where the PS is leaking? Some threads said it was necessary to pull the pump, others said no...which is it? The mind is willing but the body is weak.

Thanks for the help, gents.

Mugen_1

If you researched it on this forum, you may have seen my thread that was full of pictures from November detailing my problem; the same that you're having. One shop said it was the high pressure line, another said it was the pump. The shop that said it was the pump put some dye in it, I drove it for a few days, and brought it back. The dye helped them pinpoint it to the pump itself that was leaking. I replaced the high pressure line anyway while I was it it.

The pump itself isn't hard to replace (nor is the line), and you can get a re-manufactured unit for less than $200 before you get the core fee back (around $70). The job should only take a few hours. My car has developed another mysterious drip since doing so, but I haven't had time to crawl back under and see where it's coming from.

Wakko47

Actually I HADN'T seen your thread, but now I have and it's VERY helpful. I imagine that if I'm going to be in there I may as well just go for the gusto and swap out the alt, PS pump and the hose. Advanced Auto had two different alternators, their house brand at $200 and the Beck at $280. Which brand did you use? I used to work for Advanced back when it was Discount, and the alternators were crap...don't want to do this a second time.

LScowboyLS

if you want to buy some more time for figuring out where the leak is, and get back use of the car -your local Advanced Auto parts has an excellent alternator with a lifetime warrany (I think the brand is Remy Worldwide) for about $198 + $24 core charge that you get back.

that install is super easy, and that will buy you another 6 month or a year to take your time assessing where the PS leak is and he can be driving the car again in the meantime (the PS pump and/or hose replacement is a bigger job than the alternator, although you have to remove the alternator to fix the PS leak, especially if it is the pump.)

LScowboyLS

that is the one I am running, it works great!

if you break the stubborn harness electrical connector when removing the alternator, don't panic, your local junkyard has gobs of them, that connector is used on a lot of Toyota cars & truck's alternator connection.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

rockauto has a cheap and decent replacement parts (pump/line/alt) and the install, while annoying, isn't horrible by any stretch.

Alternatively you can have it all rebuilt locally, but really the only thing i bothered to have rebuilt was the high pressure hose, any hydraulic hose place can fix it up good as new.

some UV dye and a small UV flashlight will help confirm if its the pump or the line that's leaking.