So recently I decided to overhaul the power steering system on my Sc300. I already havea PS rack thats maybe 1 year old, so times to do the rest, as there was a leak from the high pressure and low pressure line.
I bought the components to make a power steering hose, and made my own high pressure line, and I bought the return line from the dealer, and sourced a power steering pump online.
I used the same exact parts for my power steering hose as this guy, everything fits fine, there are no leaks.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...so-pretty.html
I installed them all and got some nice AMSoil ATF fluid of the right grade for our power steering system, and installed everything.



Now after everything was installed I went through the typical process for bleeding the PS system. Had the car up on two jack stands up front, turned the car on with the power steering reservoir cap off, and turned the wheel from lock to lock for maybe 30-40 minutes. Eventually I turned the car off and put it back on the ground and went out for a drive, surpise, the PS system was moaning like Chewbacca. So I hopped on the forum and read some more about bleeding the PS system, apparently it takes a lot longer than expected according to a few other people who have done it before. So I jack it back up and repeat for another 30 minutes. Same result. Eventually, I think I found something where 1jzpwrd said it bleeds faster if you leave the tires on the ground, so I did that for maybe 20 minutes, it got slightly better but ultimately the same result. Then I tried the same thing on my driveway since my driveway is slanted, same result.

So I'm wondering, for all of the rest of you who have done the High Pressure Power Steering replacement with either aftermarket or a unit you built yourself, how was the bleeding process for you? Are there any tips or tricks to follow? Is your system noisier than before, or is it more or less the same? I don't really want to drive the car with it being this noisy, and I'd like to find the solution to this problem, is it perhaps not bleeding that I need to be doing, but is it maybe something else I should be looking to fix?

 

I haven't rebuilt the system like you, but after replacing the rack & pinion twice (the first reman was leaking in short order), I was told to expect a day or two of that insane noise while driving for the rest of the bleeding takes place. I don't know whether a set amount of time like you tried would do the same thing, but the day or two rule of thumb held true in my case. It might be something that takes time more so than duration, if that makes sense.

 

So will it bleed out when being driven with the reservoir cap on?
I really haven't driven it very far at all because of the noise, I just make sure it gets out into the neighborhood.
When I replaced my rack I didn't get any noise or anything. So you drove around with the noise for a day or two and it went away?

 

Yeah, it bled itself after a short amount of routine driving over a day or two. Cap on. If I hadn't been warned ahead of time, I'd have thought the car was dying.

I'm not entirely sure "bleeding" is the right term in this case, as I think it's just a matter of the fluid working its way through the system.

 

Ok, well I took it out for a bit last night, I'll try to slink out each night in it hopefully when no one can see through the windows and see if it goes away after a while.

 

I had a similar issue after I replaced the lines that go from the res to the pump, it would make noise even after I bled it for 30+ min. I drove it for a couple days and then bled it again and after that just let your car sit with the PS res cap off overnight and you will notice (at least in my case) the air will slowly escape and the level of the fluid will go down.

 

Yeah I did leave it open last night, and just looked in now, noticed the level dropped a bit, so hopefully this goes away soon. Had to make a U-turn in a cul-de-sac last night and some deer was staring at my car like he knew it was junk.

 

Did this work itself out?

 

What worked for me with zero noise is pull the return hose from the reservoir. Cap the reservoir inlet and run the return hose to catch container, you will have to put a longer one on or add another to the existing hose. Get a drill with a adapter to put a socket that fits the nut on the power steering pulley. Remove the belt and anything that gets in the way of the drill. Fill the reservoir all the way up and hook the drill up to the the pulley. Run the drill until the reservoir is almost empty, it goes quick. Keep flushing new fluid through until it comes out clean with no bubbles while making sure not to pump any air into the system. Run the reservoir almost empty, reconnect the return hose and fill the reservoir to the correct level and you should be good to go. If you have access to a angle drill that makes it a lot easier.

 

I never found out because my steering rack developed a hairline crack and started leaking fluid. It's possible the extended noise was coming from the steering rack the whole time and wasn't an issue of properly bleeding the system etc.