How to tell if corolla had power steering from factory with vin number

[somerandomguy1]

good evening,

I would like to know if it is possible to tell from the chassis number of a 1990 corolla: ce900056582, to tell if it came with factory power steering.


I am replacing steering rack grommets and according to toyodiy. Com there are two versions of steering rack grommets one for vehicle equipped with power steering and one for vehicle equipped without power steering. If the vehicle did come with factory power steering then i would imagine it would use steering rack grommets: 45516-20010 and 45517-12110, correct?

I would like to know which steering rack grommet would fit on the vehicle as there are two options on toyodiy.com, with or without power steering. The vehicle has power steering, though i am not 100 % sure if it is factory power steering or it was manual steering from factory and then converted to power steering.

Cheers

Jorge

 

[Falcon_LS]

Go to Part Souq and enter the full VIN number. In the vehicle information tab, click on the little "i" which lists all the options a particular vehicle is equipped with.

 

[somerandomguy1]

I dont see that i tab in partsouq
I clicked to the right of options tab and i do see more detailed info though i dont see power steering.
Cheers
Jorge

 

[ekrampitzjr]

You're in Nicaragua, if I remember correctly.

You can probably assume the Corolla was built with power steering. Most car manufacturers made it standard equipment by 1990.

Adding power steering to a car that did not have it has to be really rare. Few people would take the trouble. I had a rear-drive 1978 Corolla 1200 with manual steering many years ago. (Yes, they sold the Corolla here in the US with that small engine for a few years. Most had the 1600 engine.) The steering was light enough that I would never have thought of converting it to power steering.

 

[somerandomguy1]

Ekrampitzjr well let me tell you i went to see a 1990 corolla diesel i was thinking about purchasing, and the steering was mechanical.

Cheers

 

[vw7674]

You will have to check the steering rack. There will be two ports, one like a threaded hydraulic line (like a brake line) for the high pressure boost side, then one close by for low pressure return. They can be capped too if someone removed the pump & lines. Look carefully. Near the
steering input shaft. There will also be feed/return lines running parallel with the rack. Good Luck.

 

[Jetronic]

good evening,

I would like to know if it is possible to tell from the chassis number of a 1990 corolla: ce900056582, to tell if it came with factory power steering.


I am replacing steering rack grommets and according to toyodiy. Com there are two versions of steering rack grommets one for vehicle equipped with power steering and one for vehicle equipped without power steering. If the vehicle did come with factory power steering then i would imagine it would use steering rack grommets: 45516-20010 and 45517-12110, correct?

I would like to know which steering rack grommet would fit on the vehicle as there are two options on toyodiy.com, with or without power steering. The vehicle has power steering, though i am not 100 % sure if it is factory power steering or it was manual steering from factory and then converted to power steering.

Cheers

Jorge

The steering rack would need to be replaced to the powersteering version to do the conversion, so it's a moot point.

 

[mk378]

What Jetronic said. The frame of the car will be the same either way. The rack and bushings bolt on as a set. If it has a power rack now, use the power bushings. It doesn't matter what the car originally had.

This sort of swapping was common with Honda Civics of the early 90s. You could convert either from manual to power or vise versa it just bolts on. With those cars instead of the VIN the easiest way to identify the factory configuration was to look at the trim level of DX, LX etc which was marked on the trunk.

 

[SatinSilver]

Yes the ’94 Civic coupe DX I bought didn’t have power steering. But the upper trim EX had all the power accessories. Those were the only two trims available back then on the coupe. Sedans had the DX, LX and EX trim levels available.

 

[somerandomguy1]

This corolla is japan domestic market model.
In japan from lowest to highest trim:
Dx
Tx
Se
Se limited

If i am not mistaken. This one according to toyodiy.com is tx version. I got the power steering bushing version.

Cheers

Jorge

 

[eljefino]

That chassis number isn't a 17-digit VIN. I don't know if it's a worldwide standard but there's a good chance that car started life in Nicaragua vs the US or Japan, which uses the longer VINs.

You may have a hard time finding a VIN decoder on parts sites that gives useful info. Which, I guess, is why you're asking us.

But like others said, the best way to convert a manual steering car to power is to use (used) factory parts. On a 31 year old car with multiple owners, who knows what happened along the way?

If someone took a formerly power steering rack and "converted" it to manual by blocking off the ports it would be seriously hard to operate. The ratio is "quicker" and you're slugging through all that stalled hydraulic fluid as well. If you have honest manual steering it won't be so bad.

Congrats on the purchase, by the way, I recall you hemming and hawing a few weeks back.

 

[PandaBear]

It would probably be the best if you take a photo of under the hood. Do you see a belt driving a pump with a bottle you can fill with ATF? If so you have power steering. It would be a belt driven pump that has hoses going into the steering rack.