cleff

I am in the middle of replacing the power steering pump and the high pressure hose that runs from the pump to the steering rack on my 1998 LS400. The hose comes in two parts: a long portion that runs from the pump, down around the front of the engine, and up over the front driver's side suspension area; where it connects up to a short section that runs to the steering rack. I am replacing the long section from the pump to this junction. I am not replacing the shorter piece, because it is just too damn hard to reach where it screws into the rack. My question: where the long and short sections connect, is there an o-ring or something that is supposed to go in there where the hoses connect? I don't see one in the new hose (an aftermarket part), but the factory hose has something that looks like a permanently mounted rubber ring (at least, I couldn't get it to come out).

PS - I otherwise love this car; for the last 7 1/2 years it has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why Lexus engineers would put the power steering pump over the alternator, rather than vice-versa. Seems like a really bone-headed design for such a wonderfully engineered vehicle.

bradland

This might help...

dashan

I just did mine on a 96 LS Yesterday.
The new hose end should have something looks like rubber surrounding the metal tube end. I didn't put any extra O-ring there, simply connected the long (new) and short (original) pipes together. I checked and found no leakage of the ATF at the connection so far.

cleff

Yes, I have seen that diagram; but unfortunately it is not quite detailed enough to answer my question. If you look where the high pressure hose connects to the steering rack, you will see an inline coupling where the long and short pieces connect, just before the short one connects to the rack. Unfortunately, this diagram does not give an exploded view of that hose coupling to show me if an o-ring is needed; hence my question.

cleff

Thanks for the insight. Did you use an OEM hose or an aftermarket brand? My original hose (the long portion) had the same thing you described, but the new hose (an aftermarket hose made by Gates) just has bare metal inside the connection (which looks to be aluminum). I guess I'll just connect them up and hope for the best.

dashan

My new long hose is an after market one from ebay.

cleff

DASHAN, did you have much trouble accessing the hose connection to the steering rack? Mine looks very hard to reach, so I'm curious how you got to yours.

dashan

I had thought that it might be very difficult to get the 17mm bolt off the rack since it was in a very tight space. It actually was very easy to get it, using a long arm, 17mm, 12 point wrench.
When putting the hose back to the rack, place the washers, and the bolt to the hose end, cap the end with a small plastic bag (a condom may also work) to prevent the washers/bolt from dropping off the hose, then guide the end above the crossmember, attach the hose end to the rack.

Sherl

So you didn't disconnect at the junction of long hose and short hose? ( From pump to junction, junction to rack)