lawbrum319

I just bought a 92 Sc300 with 113,000 miles on it. Its been a month and already the power steering pump has leaked onto my alternator and I now have to replace both. I have read many postings about the two here at clublexus but wonder if anyone could do a step by step on how to replace them both by myself. I called a Lexus dealership and they said $1100, called Toyota and they said $900. I went ahead and bought my alternator and power steering pump from Autozone and will only have paid $400 for both after I return old cores. Now my only problem is that I cannot find anyone to install my parts -- they want me to pay for parts they get so they can charge me more money.

My husband and I (yes I am a woman) plan on replacing them this Saturday. I am the mechanical one in the family and have done many tuneups on American cars. My husband just had to have this car, he has always wanted one and I do say it looks VERY good. (even better when operative)

Well anyway, It would really help me out if someone could post how to change the two. From what I have read, everyone says they are pretty easy to replace, but they never say exactly how to replace them. Obviously I do not have a manual. After buying the car, replacing tires, spark plugs, timing belt and water pump at the Toyota dealer I thought it would do me good to ask you all before I fork out more money on the service manuals for this fine looking car of my husbands.

Thanks so much!! Amy

lex400sc

Hey Amy, lexcoupe94 posted an article on replacing the PSP, on the FAQ a while back. I've never actually done the PSP replacement myself so I can't tell you how thoroughthe article is, but it's worth a shot! Good luck, I'm sure others will chime in...

sxylxy

I have personally had the same problem and have changed both myself. The PSP is kind of long to explain so def. check out that forum in the link above. It took me about 2 hours, and the only way I knew what I was doing was thanks to the repair manual from lexus. Try and pick one of those up, it'll help you throughout the life of your car. For $200 you will save a lot of money by doing things yourself in the long run. As for the alternator, first things first. Unplug the battery of coarse and disconect the plug from the back, somply squeeze the sides and it slides right out. Then, the pully that the V-belt runs over must be loosened and the V-belt removed, or at least takin off the alternator. So simply use a 14-metric sized wrench I believe, and slide it on, pushing down, the pully loosens and the belt slides off. The rest is rather simple, there's two nuts, I believe it's a metric size 10 wrench that will work for you, just unscrew the one you can see from the top in the front and then the one you can see from the bottom, fairly obvious I would say, and that's it. The lower one's a screw I believe and the top on is simply a bolt that is on a rod through which the alternator is supported. Then, simply remove it by pulling it towards the front of the car. Now this is where I had a problem, the damn thing wouldn't come out from the car so I had to have a buddy disconnect a coolant hose on top so there'd be room to pull the thing out. Now maybe I was missing something, but as far as I know the car was built around the alternator. That's about it, then reverse the process to reconnect it. That's the best I can explain it however your best bet is to buy the manual. Good luck

lawbrum319

Thank you so much for your fast replies. The alternator seems very easy. As for the power steering pump, I am thinking it is harder to replace on an Sc400 than on an Sc300. Does anyone know? And yes I know I am going to need that damn repair manual!! Thanks!!!

FLex

I did the psp and alt. two months ago. It is very easy to do both in a couple of hours. Just drain all the ps fluid with a turkey baster (sp?). Remove the air intake. Disconnect the battery as stated above, remove serp. belt by using 14mm socket on tensioner pulley. If you did not get the new ps reservoir, make sure to clean it VERY well. Look at new parts to see where the bolts and electrical connections are. It is pretty self explanatory. It also helps to have special pliers to remove the spring clamps on the hoses. I got the alternator out from the bottom of the car by loosening some hoses. Good luck.

lawbrum319

This is awesome. I posted last night and by early this morning you all have told me what to do! Thanks so much, I just love clublexus. It should go well, now that I know they are fairly easy to do.
Thanks- Amy

hyperopt

Since you're changing the pump, you should also flush and change the power steering fluid as well, otherwise, your pump may experience accelerated death from all the craps circulating inside the power steering system.

Camshaft

Um, if you have an SC300 you should not have the power steering pump/alternator problem. Your alternator would be under the distributer, which does leak a little grease. Alternator has 2 bolts, a place to bolt on a charge wire, and a plug in the back. Power steering should be first drained, reservoir removed (3 12mm bolts, 2 hoses disconnected with I think is a 19mm open end wrench, and then three bolts holding it onto a bracket that is bolted onto the engine. You only need to remove it from the bracket. In a previous thread, I mentioned how to clean out the reservoir without tearing anything up. Try that, and simple green the **** out of the pump exterior to remove the grease. Maybe you will not have to replace the pump.

lex400sc

Awesome info guys, I updated the FAQ's DIY on the PSP. Let me know if it is accurate. It's hard to puzzle together three accounts on how to do it when I haven't looked at it myself! BTW, what is the price on the PSP? Alternator?

LivnLavish

I went through the problem last oct. and found that you can replace the alternator for about $223 from your local parts store or have it rebuilt at a local auto electric shop for about $180. not bad since the parts dept at lexus wants something like $400. the power steering pump runs $150 for an aftermarket and more than $400 at lexus for a rebuilt one. You can also pick up a rebuild kit from lexus for about 30 bucks. the only problem is that it's almost impossible to dismantle the pump beyond the bearing.
However, I found that most of the time the seals that leak on the PSP are the ones outside of the bearings in the pump.(I confirmed this with a tech at toyota) very easy to replace!! took me about 15min to rebuild the pump.(would've been 5min but I could'nt get one bolt out.) Also very cheap!! around 35 cents if you pick them up at the hardware store. just a couple of orings. as a matter of fact it's so easy that once I have some time I'll do the replacement just to post some pics of the process.

lawbrum319

Good and bad news. Good news that so much info was posted on this thread. Bad is that it wasnt what was wrong w/ my SC300. My Harmonic Balancer was bad. Lexus tech guy wondered why so much was going on a once on my car and checked it. It was causing problems and was fixed. No more problems. Thanks for your replies!