Hi all, I am new to this group.. I have a 96 Camry Wagon and it has developed a power steering leak. This is the first time I've worked on the camry (I have an 89 MR2, the camry is actually my folks), so I'm not that familiar with the engine layout and power steering mechanisms. Are power steering leaks common in these cars? Are there any online schematics of the power steering systems? Thanks! Norm

If the leak is a slow leak you should try the Stop Leak power steering fluid. I had the same problem a couple of years ago on my 95 camry V6LE and used a couple of bottles of Stop Leak. That seemed to solve the problem and never happened again. Might wanna try that first. milfman

My dad was the first to notice that the steering seemed to be acting up. Atfirst it seemed to just be really noisy, but then a garage attendant suggested adding more power steering fluid. I went to pepboys and baught some Volvo line Durablend ATF fluid.. it says that it is Dexron III compatible.. and i think the manual called for Dexron II .. either the bottle or a sales guy said that they were backward compatible.. so I baught it and put some into the car.. I can't remember, but either there was very little or no fluid in the resovoir at that point.. I filled it up to capacity.. and the steering began to sound normal again. I thought it was problem fixed.. but a few weeks later, my dad told me to fill it up again b/c it seemed to be acting up. I put some more in there.. and lo and behold it was gone after another 2 weeks. (I dont drive it daily, so I'm not exactly sure how 'fast' this leak is.. ) so my questions: 1) is the Valvoline Durablend ATF compatible with our power steering? If not, any sugguestions as to what to get next time? (hopefully my problem is as simple as this.. but i doubt it) 2) I've got a leak somewhere.. the area near the rear most pully/belt (on the passenger side) of the engine seems to be the most coated with oil.. when I went to the pepboys, they didnt have a 94 camry Haynes (this car is a 94 V6 by the way..).. so I looked at the 96-2001 (next generation i suppose).. it seems that it is this pully that drives the power steering system.. so I think possibly one of the hoses that feed into our out of this mechanism is loose.. or maybe some gasket gave out.. 3) is it bad to drive around with no power steering fluid in there?? will anything break?? I'll probably go to autozone tomorrow to see if they have a haynes that i can look at. Just looking around with my car on ramps.. it seems like that mechanism might be a real pain to get at.. but I've never worked on this car before.. so maybe i'm mistaken.. Any other ideas?? Thanks. norm

Thats sounds exactly like what happened to me. You should try the Stop Leak transmission fluid. It seemed to work for me. With my car it was a slow leak and once the resevoir gets low everytime you turn it would be a loud winding noise. But if its too low steering becomes stiffer. So try a bottle of the Stop Leak or two. It worked for me and its cheap. milfman22

hey... this one is a pain...2 pressure lines, 2 return lines, not much room to work.... snug down the pressure lines, replace the return lines....usually the leaks are the return lines loose/cracked/leaking.... like i said, this 1 is a pain...... boopdad