I have the power steering fluid leak on my alternator which has my battery at around 12.5 while running so the alternators going to be replaced with a remanufactured Denso. I will replace power steering pump or hose once I figure out whats actually leaking or rebuild if possible but in the meantime, while replacing the alternator, Ive seen a bleach bottle shield for sale on ebay by one of our members for around $25.
Has anyone tried this, any good results, any bad results or issues, any advice as to the adverse affects?
My car runs perfect and quiet except for this power steering/alternator issue which just crept up around the 180k miles mark. Its a 1997 SC400.

Appreciate the advice as I will be buying parts tomorrow.

Thank you guys

 

That guy selling a cut up bleach bottle for $25 must be making a killing. I cut up my own bleach bottle and made the alternator shield. It has been a little over a year with several weeks of 100+ deg weather and it has held up just fine. And it has been doing its job as even my remanufactured pump has already started seeping ps fluid onto the shield.

 

Seems like a good idea and I do eventually plan to fix it but I figure that it took 18 years to kill the alternator, a few months of leaking on a covered alternator shouldnt hurt. Just was worried about output issues and lower power. Live in PA and sub zero temps are a reality a few days a year as well as days of 100+ Thanks for the advice

 

I've been meaning to try this, too. It's kind of ugly looking, but how often do you actually stare at the alternator? How hard are they to install? Do you have to remove the drive belt and alternator, or can you just loosen stuff up and slide the shield in place then bolt everything back down?

 

duct tape, or zip ties lol

 

Duct tape would be a PITA to wrap around it without alternator removal, and just as much fun to get off later once melted into a gooey clump from the engine heat. Zip ties could work if finding something convenient nearby to attach to, but you wouldn't want enough play in the shield to where it could hit the drive belt.

The shield for sale on eBay shows it bolted to the alternator, presumably via its mounting points. I've yet to mess with the alternator on this car, so I'm not exactly sure how it's configured.

 

yea same here, i've never looked at the engine accessories yet. this summer though, lots of things are gonna be changed, including timing components.

 

I would guess its a common hidden leak.
I was under te car last night poking around getting aquatinted with the 5 speed swap, but also noticed my ps pump is leaking on the top of the shiny alt. making the it nasty. Don't know if u should replace it or rebuild it, but yea it needs to be done.
What washer bottle are we talking about?

 

its a Clorox bleach plastic bottle, pretty standard.

the sc400 power steering fluid leaking on the alternator is certain to happen on any sc400/ls400, so putting the jug in is not a bad idea at all. the alternator is low down and out of the way, since the jug sits on the top and back of it (pulley is in front remember) I doubt you would see if very much unless you were trying.

 

I could imagine that some of those turbo metal heat shields may work to......or do the clorox bottle and paint it black

Or better yet...why dont you fix the PS leak....problem solved

 

It's pretty much invisible with the power steering pump blocking the view of the shield. There is no need to make it look invisible as it already is just because of the way the alternator is placed below the ps pump.

And fixing the PS leak doesn't fully solve the problem. It's well known that the rebuilt ps units spring leaks quicker than the oe pumps, usually within a year after it's fixed depending on the mileage driven. Add to this, the top of the alternator is blocked from view. One won't necessarily see the leak unless you really get in there and look. It usually doesn't leak enough that it makes its way down onto the plastic tray underneath. A seeping ps pump isn't enough to drop the fluid level in the canister either. So most won't have it fixed again for such a minor leak, that is where the shield is useful. It'll protect the alternator until which time the leak becomes bad enough that the pump needs to be replaced again. I'm sure most don't want to have to replace their pumps every couple years due to minor leaks that don't affect performance or lose enough fluid to refill.

 

Does anyone have a link to the alternator shield on ebay, I can't find it....thanks.

 

Dude, there's only one result for "Alternator Shield SC400".