Steering at 100k Miles?

Hey all!

Just wanting to get your professional opinions on this please:

Took my 2018 TRD Pro in for an oil change on Saturday with 100,560 miles on the odometer.

I take it to my local Toyota dealer because they always treat me right.

Their inspection came back good on everything except the steering rack. The tech stated on his inspection that the passenger side of the steering rack is starting to leak. (They stated they will monitor it on the next service and see if it worsens, and if it does, they will probably need to replace it.)

I looked when I got home and first didn’t really notice anything to be honest, I looked a little later in the day and because the light was hitting it just right, I happened to notice a very, very slight dusty film on the boot on the passenger side.

I know you all can’t diagnose this without pictures, but my question is more so - does this seem like something that should need replaced at this point?

I know at the end of the day, these are mechanical parts and they do breakdown and fail over time. But being that it is a TRD Pro that is just daily driven and is just barely over the 100k miles mark just seems a little soon to me I guess. Wanted to see your thoughts on this…

(In the 8 vehicles I have driven in my life for a number of years, this would be the first ever steering rack that I have replaced too, so it could just be that I have been lucky to this point but who knows!)

 

Let it leak until you regularly need to add to the reservoir, and/or starts making a mess in your parking spot. In the meantime, start trying to source a reman OEM steering rack. Mine has been leaking on both sides for I dunno, 20K(ish). I have a reman OEM rack sitting on my garage floor waiting to be installed. I just turned 190K. I might do it for it's 200K birthday. We'll see. It's still not bad enough that I need to add fluid. Just a few drips on the LCAs. It's a huge job, so I might outsource this one. But having the rack ready to go in is a great start. No need to worry about getting some aftermarket trash. I periodically poke my head under to see if it's any worse, and I do a thorough investigation every 5K service.

 

during that 100K time, was any service done to steering system? Fluid change?

 

Thank you both for the replies so far! It is definitely a job I would not want to do by myself for sure. It does give me some hope that I don’t necessarily have to do it until it’s leaking more though.

To answer your question about the steering fluid or maintenance- I have owned this car for almost a year and a half since 80k miles and it has not been touched during that time at least. I read back through the pretty extensive CarFax history this morning and I don’t see that it had ever been done before on that either.

 

Other than what's already been said, it does seem rather soon but shit happens.

 

Dealer said one of the components on my KDSS was leaking and gave me an estimate to fix/replace. 50k later they never mentioned it again and no leak that i can see.

Be proactive or let it go till its clear you need to fix it. You might be able to go another 100k.

 

Yeah I certainly wouldn't do it until it's absolutely necessary. It could be starting to weep. But unless your seeing it dip in your parking spot or hard to steer then let it ride.

 

Thanks for the replies here this is good information!

The other “kicker” to this I will hopefully figure out tomorrow. So I have only owned this car for about a year and a half and my wife reminded me of the extended warranty that I bought for it. The dealer is asking the extended warranty if they will cover it and if they do, it will only be $100.

If that is the case, any reason I shouldn’t go ahead and get it fixed or would you still wait?

I am good either way, but definitely don’t want to cause anything else to fail prematurely because they took everything off to fix the steering rack!

 

How long’s the warranty? Could wait and see if you have a while to go.

I’d also look at the fine print, whether they’re going to use original parts by a competent person or just whatever they find at the lowest price on eBay installed by me could be a factor.

Edit: Oh yea and if the repair is guaranteed for a certain period of time or not.

 

I noticed my 2011 with 158k is weeping out both boots. Who knows how long it’s been doing that, but it hasn’t created a puddle and I’m still not needing to add any fluid. I’m gonna run it until it’s regularly leaving puddles and losing fluid. As much as I love my 4Runner I’m not entirely sold on putting that much money into a 15 year old vehicle.

 

Just to gain knowledge-what was your service of the PS fluid over the years. My PS maint is infrequent, perhaps I need to do more often.

 

Thanks for that! I honestly hadn’t thought about what kind of part they would put in and for how long it would be guaranteed for so I will ask that as well.

I still have almost 40k miles left of the warranty so I still have a little while for sure.

As far as the maintenance over the 100k I don’t see that it has ever been touched actually. So other than just “inspected” by the tech at the dealer at every oil change, I don’t think anything has ever been serviced on it.

 

Steering rack leak at the bellows is common on this platform. Install a new OEM rack. Remans tend to leak again inside of a year. Given the significant labor needed to access the rack, a reman would be false economy.

There's no fluid replacement interval specified in the maintenance booklet. 5yrs/60k is a good round number. Use dexron 3 like Mobil D+M as specified in the owner's manual. Avoid the low-visocity fluids like dexron 6 or Toyota WS.

 

Unless they can show you where the alleged leak is, the dealer has a vested interest in doing the work since they will be charging the extended warranty provider for the job, if the presence of the policy makes you more agreeable to let them go ahead.

 

Thanks for all this information! Good to know that it relatively common as well. I appreciate all the responses from everyone. I am still waiting to hear on the warranty as well so that’s taking longer than expected but I am in no hurry for sure! And if they don’t cover it, then sounds like I am good to let it go for now and just keep an eye on it.

 

it is common if any maintenance - steering fluid change - was never done. steering fluid is closed system and contaminated by: burning on overheating and loosing lubrication ability, deterioration of inside rubber hoses, metal powder shaving of steering pump (that's the worst). all easily remedied by changing fluid every 30K. if it is not done - steering rack replacement becomes inevitable. all that dirt on the wall inside of the steering reservoir.