Power Steering Fluid Empty 2022 ORP

I’ve done a few searches and can’t find anything to match my problem. I have a 2022 ORP with about 21,000 miles on it. Last Friday, my husband took it in for the 20,000 mile service and it went as usual, changed the oil, rotated tires, and everything passed the “check-up”. We then drove it to Laughlin, NV for the weekend and it sat from Monday afternoon until Wednesday morning.

When I started it up to go to work on Wednesday, I straightened the wheels while in park as usual when my husband parks it like that and heard a loud noise. I shut it off, restarted it and heard the same noise. Did the girly panic thing and called him out to check it. He lifted the hood and noticed that the power steering was empty. No leaks, no puddles, no problems driving up or down from Laughlin. He emails the dealership service advisor that we’ve used for the last several years or so and sends him a picture. Service advisor says put fluid in and bring it in next week so we can go over everything. (I’ll skip the Autozone story about why was he buying ATF when he should be using power steering fluid, blah blah blah).

Any ideas on this? Where did my power steering fluid go? WTF? Husband filled it up and as of this morning, there aren’t any puddles or drips and he’s not willing to pull off the skid plate to look, he says it’s their problem since it’s under warranty and he’s too old for that s**t now.

I’m just curious and pissed off since they did the complete service on Friday last week. It’s right up there and really can’t be missed. This is my sixth 4Runner and we’ve never experienced this problem. I was forced to check my own fluids when I had a Dodge Challenger for obvious reasons, but this was completely a surprise.

 

You sure it was full to begin with?

 

I bought it new and never double-checked.

 

Did the loud noise break something when turning the wheel due to no fluid? Was it a “something broke” noise?

 

Fill it up and drive it but keep an eye on it.

 

I'd just fill it and watch. I'm going to assume the noise was the pump making noise when low.

 

Nope. Just a loud sound that got quieter when I stopped moving the wheel.

 

Yes, exactly my plan. Thanks!

 

If it was a "whining" sound only when turning the wheels then it was probably just the pump.

I used to have an '04 JGC that ate power steering pumps for breakfast (every 2-3 years) so I'm very familiar of the sound of a pump with no fluid.

As to where the fluid went? That's weird. I wouldn't expect a new vehicle to use fluid and if it didn't leak, I'm curious if they were going to do a drain/refill for your service and forgot to refill. If that were the case though I'd expect it to make noise driving off the lot.

 

I’m sure you’re right. My husband was rather calm about it. He told me he’d contact our service advisor, I’m not allowed to yet.

He spent the first twenty years of our marriage doing all the services on our vehicles, he’s replaced the engine in a Ford truck he had, he rebuilt the 22re engine in my 1986 4Runner, and everything else up until then, so he’s not unknowledgeable, he’s just decided that he’s too old to be crawling under hoods and stuff and trusted the service advisor. He wasn’t worried. I’m just really mad and will now check my own stuff when I wash it every other weekend. Sheesh

 

It’s so weird. It’s just empty. We drove it about six hundred miles last weekend and it was fine. Even if it were a slow leak, it’d have to show up somewhere. My husband will probably check it more closely this weekend just out of curiosity. If we have time. He’s a firm believer in his older years-it’s under warranty, they fix it!

 

Hopefully when you get it back in for service, they will remove the skid plate while up on a lift and look carefully underneath. Personally, I would be reluctant to accept the vehicle with a "didn't find anything" statement from the service department.

 

That’s my hope. And, you’re absolutely right, I won’t accept a “didn’t find anything” answer. My husband says it’s obviously been leaking and it is apparently being trapped somewhere below that it’s not getting on the carport floor. I just wondered if this had happened to anyone else in a year old vehicle.

 

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate all the responses. I’ll update after it’s taken care of.

 

Sounds like an educated checklist checker was your lube tech. There was a time when you could rely on the service department to be thorough and honest. Now all of your lube techs are just making the motions and checking the boxes. Lots of service advisors are forced to be salesman and have stopped caring about the industry that they once loved.

Always double check what your tech has done before leaving. You’d be surprised what you’ll find. The last time my vehicle went to the dealer for service was when they cross threaded my skid bolts and pretty much broke 2 wheel studs after the free Toyota care. I had the service advisor come out while I checked what they had done. Oily hand print on the door and steering wheel to start. They didn’t check any of the fluids, even the oil wasn’t filled properly. I pulled out my torque wrench to check the wheel lugs, after the tire rotation. 5 lugs were only finger tight and 2 lugs fell off when the torque wrench barely touched them. Service advisor looked on in horror and probably quit the next day. That was in 2017 and I haven’t been back since.

sorry, rant over

 

I agree. The mystery of why it’s consuming fluid is Toyota’s responsibility to solve. They just need to know it made a noise and you noticed low fluid.

 

Damn that sucks, you rely on them to top up your fluids, crazy it's just gone. You've had a lot of 4Runners that's awesome, and husband ain't no slouch eh. If I were you, bust out the vehicle ramps, pull the skid(s), dig just a lil deeper yourselves before you wish you did earlier

 

You weren’t on a rant, you’re just sharing and that’s what this forum is for. I’ve read so many posts/threads on here from people saying don’t trust the dealership, etc. So it’s not like I wasn’t aware this could happen, I’d just been lucky for so long and had become complacent. Sadly enough, I’m just going to have to check my truck regularly rather than relying on the dealership.

 

Yep, could be fun.

 

Husband took my truck in to have the power steering problem taken care of. Apparently, a seal failed and they replaced the power steering pump. So, it was a slow leak that was catching in the skid plate and everything else below it. They said that the tech who missed it was putting himself through Toyota school so they were completely surprised that he made such a mistake. They said they’d have a conversation with him.

I guess I need to be happy it was something that was easy to fix.