Lexus Repair: Power steering, lexus ls400, shop mechanic

Question
I have a '93 Lexus LS400 - I was refilling the fluid every 2 weeks and car was making whinning noise that was getting louder. Took it to the shop mechanic cleaned it up to find leak, but after a day, reported there was no leak and could not find problem. I picked car up everything looked and sounded fine(like it should). The next day the sound came back. Took it back, he checked for leak but says there is NONE and the fluid level had not moved but is very foamy. What can I do to stop the noise? Is there a certain type of fluid I should be using? Why is it so foamy? Help PLEASE.  

Answer
It's leaking somewhere. The foam in the fluid is air from the leak. As the air goes through the pump, it whips it into a froth. Without being there, I obviosuly can't tell you where the leak is. But you're leaking somewhere.

As for the noise, if nothing else make sure the belt is good & has alot of tension on it if nothing else.


Despite what you might believe on a bottle. You can't add anything to stop a powersteering leak in my experiances. At several different places the pressure in the powersteering rack can be extremely high.

Check the hoses & clamps where you can. Including the cooling fan loop. (I believe that is one of the hydraulic cooling fans.) If you're lucky, it would be something like the low pressure hydraulic fan supply, or return line leaking. If you're unlucky, it'll be the powersteering pump itself, or the rack. You don't want it to be the rack. They're quite a penny to replace!