jbl-1985

I was replacing the oil in the transfer case and came across this under the passenger side. Power steering rack seems to be leaking through the rubber boot, but I have not noticed anything on the garage floor in recent months...

Can the boot itself be replaced? I hate to think the whole system needs to be replaced. Any insights appreciated.

bigboss

I currently have the same problem too.

My Brother's friend who works at Toyota dealership told me, I would need to do a full replacement. What I was told was the seals inside the rack and pinons, Toyota cheap out on it. The new replacement part has the better and improved seals. You can always put a new boot on it but you're not fixing the problem. A full rack and pinon is roughly $800 OEM. reman are roughly $400. He told me as long as the PS fluid reservoir isn't dropping, it should be fine for now.

either way you will need to do an alignment

These were the part number I was going buy for my 09, I almost made an order but he came to check it out and told me the bad news. Please recheck the part # before you order.

4553508010 boot/bellows
9008046340 Big clamp
9046719021 Small clamp

a full rack and pinon
442500E012

hypervish

This is a common problem on the 2nd generation RX's. Unfortunately, you will need a new rack.

jbl-1985

Well, the PS reservior is completely full so I am going to sit on this one for while. I'm going to get a quote from a local Toyota Dealership next week for kicks and giggles...

Thanks for the replies.

NotADood

You don't need a new rack. Toyota updated the seal that leaks and causes the boot to swell. I think the whole is from Lexus is around $100. There is a TSIB on how to perform the repair.

jbl-1985

Awesome - thank you for the info. I found this online but I could not print out the actual TSIB. At least I have the number and I will call the Lexus dealership tomorrow to see what they say.

jbl-1985

As a Lexus master tech, let me ask you: I just got off the phone with the local dealership and the service writer told me that the repairs go anywhere from $600 to $2000 (for a total replacement). I told him I had the TSIB number (L-SB-0016-14) and he said that doesn't do him any good. Really?

Anyway it doesn't look like it's gonna cost $100 - Although $600 is better than 2k. I have an appt on Monday to take it in for them to look at it.

1ito

I recently went in for an oil change and was told The same ,they recommended replacing the entire rack and Pinion due to a bit of seeping, I talked to my co-worker Toyota tech and he said as long as your fluid isn't low and you don't notice leaking on your drive way, you should be good for a couple of years just to keep an eye on the level of fluid, hes seen many come in for the same reason.

nwfsnake

My rack was leaking and my boot tore about 100k miles, though the steering fluid did not seem to be going down. I took the old boot off, cleaned up all the leaked fluid, and replaced the boot with a $15 Amazon part. It has been 30K + miles and the new boot is OK and my fluid level still has not moved that I can tell. I am sure it is still leaking, but the leak must be so small that I am sure it really is not doing much harm. If it gets to the point I can tell the fluid level is going down, I probably will replace the end seal. Unless your rack is making noise or the fluid loss is big, not sure why you would replace the rack!

hypervish

Let us know what the Toyota dealer says.

Glad to hear you may not need to replace the entire rack. Everything that I've been reading on this forum has stated that the rack needs to be replaced, hopefully there's a workaround.

mylexbaby

Changed the rack on our 05 RX a couple of years ago. The risk of letting it be (with a leak) is that there is a path for gunk to get into PS fluid. A reman part from a good independent is worth considering.

5gears-IS

iTrader: (5)

Care to share the amazon part or linky to it??

I noticed my wife's 08 has a split pass side boot. Was this easy to do??

nwfsnake

Search on:

Genuine Toyota 45535-08010 Steering Rack Boot, or just the part number. Amazon has a couple of options now.

Easy to do, but you do have to disconnect the tie rod end. Make sure you mark AND count the number of rotations when you remove the end so you can put it back in the same position and won't need an alignment.

Of course, easy to some is hard to others. This is about a 1.25 on a scale of 10. Note that I also did my own spark plug/and coil replacment at 120K. That is probably about a 6 or 7 on the hardness scale!

If your rack is leaking enough that your fluid is noticeably going down, probably time for the seal replacement if not a whole new rack.

Good luck!

jbl-1985

Decided to get the work done at Toyota. Being in the desert, I figured it best to get it done so to keep the dust out of the internals behind the boot, which was exposed. Even though I wasn't losing significant PS fluid, it was pay them now or pay them later.

In the final analysis, you do not have to replace the entire rack. The updated seal and related parts are listed in TSIB L-SB-0016-14, which is what I had them do. For this, an alignment, tire rotation, and a complimentary 2015 RAV4 rental, the total was $700 out the door. Lexus quoted me $800 for just this TSIB, and $2000 for the entire rack. I still probably paid more than I needed to, but for me, it's over with and hopefully I'll never see a problem with this again. I have to remind myself that this is the first "major" repair I have had to do to this car since I bought it new 10 years ago, so I can't complain too much.

hypervish

Thanks for the update! Glad to hear it didn't require a new rack.