Does anyone know why the power steering fluid is not part of the owner's manual's maintenance schedule? I would think it's necessary to replace that as often as the transmission and differential oil.

It's also interesting that only every 30k the schedule says replace engine air filter, all other intervals are inspect engine air filter only. I always thought air filters were once a year/10k kind of deal.

I'm happy to see my log book has dealer entries all the way to 65k. Now it's got 86k, I'm wondering if I should do the power steering fluid even if it's not in the log book.

 

check the fluid.

dark/smells burnt=replace with fresh dexron 3/mercon spec trans fluid. (no toyota T-iv need for the PS)

you are however, due for a timing belt soon.

 

I change the P/S every 3yrs and for my 91 LS400 it does require the TYPE-IV fluid.

 

I personally change my air filter every other oil change. Even though I always run Castrol GTX full synthetic oil I still change my oil every 3,000 miles, so air filter for me would be every 6k vs 10k. But that's just me, I love to take care of my cars. I feel if you take care of your car, it'll take care of you.

 

Check the fluid to be sure. When it is getting brown, it is time. I do them incrementally by sucking out what is in the reservoir at each oil change interval. Don't forget the differential.

 

no, it does not. the transmission does, but the PS system on ALL LS400s were factory spec'd for Mercon/Dexron III trans fluid.

go check your owners manual and your FSM.

 

PD is right on. Functionally, there is nothing in the PS system that cares whether the fluid is Dexron, or T-IV, so it really makes no difference which you use, except to your wallet. Dexron is less expensive to use when flushing the PS system, and it is factory specified, so one may as well use it. If you are going to spend extra money on the PS system, use it to install a Magnefine filter in the return line.

 

There are discussions about using Type IV in the PS on other Toyota forums. The tranny is the more critical application when a Toyota Type is specified.IME at ~20K, the fluid is shifting in color towards the brownish side. I find the 10-15K for the partial replacement to keep it nice and red. I've not been so OCD to have it analyzed to see how well the additive package holds up though. ($25 for Blackstone Labs.)

 

That is very wasteful use of full synthetic oil. The big thing for me is environmental waste with oil changes. I'm running M1 5-30 right now but will go to M1 EP 5-30 with M1 EP filter to stretch out the oil change interval even longer. Less oil changes = less environmental waste. I might send a sample to blackstone to know exactly how long I can run the oil.

Sorry for hijacking my own thread.

RA40, do you do 10k-15k for both PS and tranny or just PS?