Hi,

I've had my 1992 SC400 (151000 miles) for a couple of years now. A few months back the power steering started making growling noises when turning and starting up. From reading other posts, it seems this is a pretty common problem. I thought I had a power steering leak because I could add more fluid and the growling would go away. However, recently, I topped my fluid off and in the middle of driving my power steering went completely out. Now, it is extremely difficult to turn my wheel. I think this may be caused by me overfilling the fluid. Is that possible? Does this mean my power steering pump will need to be replaced or could it also be the rack? Also, looking at the maintenance records of my car, it looks like the power steering system was completely replaced in 2007 by Lexus, so it would seem a little early for the rack to go out. Any suggestions?

 

ps pump went out.

theres a diy on this site, if you search it.

 

if you topped off the PS fluid and now its all gone. there must be a leak somewhere. find out where the leak is. could be comong from the high pressure line, rack or pump.

 

I'll try and check tonight. I'm not sure that it is empty, as I had just topped off the fluid right before the steering went completely out.

 

Had a similar problem. End up swapping out a p/s pump and replaced a rack assembly since they were both leaking.