blkstealthpaid4

This problem should have been a recall!When Fantomd mentioned the valve being metal and the original being plastic it made me recall.
When i went to the dealer for them to show me the schematics and it's location they mentioned this problem being very common on the 1st gen LS.I asked him to bring the $260 part idle up valve and that damn thing was metal.They finally realised that this was a problem and made it metal and not plastic like the original.

fantomd

I agree blkstealth, I love my lex , but I dont understand why they didnt recall with p/s pump. Like I mentioned in one of my post, the steering is fine without this valve. I think lex should have recalled the pumps and retrofitted them with pumps without the valve!!. If my valve goes again I will just replace the valve with a bolt and turn up my rmps a bit and it should be fine. Because 260 bucks is crazy for that valve!!!!!

Peace

RODDMOD

If your valve is leaking and you want to save money just take one of the hoses off the pump and loop it back to the air box and take one off the air box and loop to the pump this will keep the power steering fluid out of the intake and the leaky valve leaking to itself, the idle wont be corrected when you hit the end locks but that is no big deal.

fantomd

Good idea , If my valve goes again I will try this first. Thanks for the reply.

silver400

Unbelievable. I thought I had a bad rack loosing steering fluid, plus I was starting to burn engine oil, with all the blue smoke I was belching. Instead, I headed off the hoses coming from the valve, and, magically, both problems have disappeared. No noticable difference in idle, or performance. Saved at least 200 bucks for the valve, but would have spent a grand on the rack on pinion if not for the great discussion and advice that comes from this web site. Thanks, guys!!!!

retrodrive

can anyone show that valve on this diagram?

VQT

retrodrive,

The flow control valve part no. is 44330. My 93 SC400 manual read, if replace the valve, replace one with the same letter inscribed on the front of housing.
Inscribed mark: A, B, C, D, E or F

jahummer

Happened to me at 60K, dealer replaced pump, pulley and rack and pinion.

VQT

How much did you have to pay for that?

I begin doubt that Lexus is the best engineer automobile in the world. They don't even correct the P/S problem even with newer LS/SC.

I guess they think that if I can afford this car, I can pay for their inferior parts. From what I hear, most Toyota have the same problem with P/S pump too

jahummer

this was about a month ago, 1 week after I had the 60K service done

I think that the total bill was over $4K and required 2 days of labor.

retrodrive

Thx guys...I decided to get a rebuilt pump for $150 valve included. I can hook you up with the place ythat sells them if you want.

hyperopt

retrodrive,

Could you hook me up the the rebuild pump?

Thanks

toddatroos

Hey everyone,

I have been fighting the power steering on my 94 LS for about three months now. Here's some things I have found out....

I replaced the pump twice. Both times I had the same problems with the power steering fluid (Dextron ATF!) foaming and overflowing the tank. I replaced the idle vacuum valve for $230, but still had the same problem. I cleaned the screen filter located in the control valve/solenoid (from an earlier post on this forum). This helped, but I still have the foaming problem. I just had the car in the shop and the mechanic said the high-pressure line has a check-valve in it that goes bad or gets plugged up. He said the pressure line is typically changed when the pump is changed.

Has anyone out there heard of the this check-valve or had similar problems? This has been incredibly frustrating and any help would be appreciated.

RODDMOD

Why are you people putting the idle control valve on? You won't notice any difference, just leave the plug in or if you have the valve in now get a plug and plug the hole up after you take the valve out, this thing just leaks and is a PIA, make sure you buy a piece of hose to jump the intake ports to each other. Beleive me you a getting rid of a possiable problem by doing it this way. I say SCREW the valve.

toddatroos

I am not having problems with the idle control valve (leaking or putting PS fluid in the plenum). My problem is the constant foaming of the PS fluid and overflowing the reservoir. I can't seem to find a mechanic who can give me a straight answer on this problem. Everyone knows that the dealership will tell me that you have to replace the entire system to fix the problems.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!