I noticed a puddle under the driver’s side of my '95 Toyota Avalon’s steering rack.
A local indy shop is willing to make the repair if I supply the rack. New “Toyota” part is over $850- out of the question.
Space is extremely tight on this FWD car, so there’s no easy way for a DIY repair. It took me over one hour just to change a stabilizer bar bushing due to lack of room to turn a wrench.
What is a good brand? NAPA wants $215. Rock Auto lists racks for less: Brands like AAE and BBB. Prices are $150 or even $102! I’m paying $300 plus alignment to have this done. I’d hate to do it twice!
@Tester: Thanks. I was going to try that, but this is a BIG leak.
I had topped off the reservoir last week with Prestone P/S Fluid with Stop leak and added u/v dye.The next day, half of it was gone!. I cleaned the entire assembly this weekend with degreaser, and after removing the clamp at the end of the driver side bellows, I saw fluid with the u/v dye.
I had hoped it was a leak in a supply or return line, but no such luck.
Yes, there is a CarQuest in the area.
Actually, compared to my others, this is a young car!. I still have a 1979 Toyota Celica and 1982 Cressida. All three look like new. This is the biggest repair yet on the Avalon.
My favorite is the Celica. This summer I even went so far as to obtain EPA 609 certification via Essco, bought two cans of R12 off of eBay, and recharged the A/C.
Replacing a steering rack is seldom an “easy” task, on any car. Lots of stuff in the way usually. If spending a diy’er hour to replace that bushing took a major toll on your weekly time budget, you are right, best to leave this job to a pro. It’s usually a diy’er doable job, but definitely time consuming. Budget to have a wheel alignment job done too, almost certain to be needed.
If I had that problem on my Corolla of similar vintage first place I’d look for a replacement part is the local pick and pull or auto recycler. If so, it would probably be the oem original and you could probably get it for $100 or so. It’s possible to rebuild steering racks too I think. Esp if the only problem is a leak.