Power Steering Hose Confusion

[basil]

I've got a 96 Camry with the 5SFE (2.2L) engine. The hose that connects the power steering fluid reservoir to the pump is leaking. This is the hose that runs from the reservoir, next to the timing belt cover, then goes down and connects to the power steering pump.

The hose itself is 5/8 inch outer diameter, and is fastened at each end using a typical spring clamp.

The local O'Reilly Auto shows this hose as being a cut-to-fit 5/8 inch power steering hose item. Cost to me will be $6 to $8, assuming they could actually get the stuff. (Right now, they're out of stock all over the area. Grrr.)

AutoZone shows this as the "return hose" and wants nearly $80 for it, which sure makes it sound like a pressurized hose with special fittings on each end. There's no image they can show me, though, and the guy at the counter didn't seem all that interested in investigating. In any event, this hose, by virtue of being connected to the reservoir, isn't pressurized, and the existing hose certainly has no special fittings.

The Discount Toyota Parts web site shows this as an $80 part also.

I'm mystified. What is so special about this hose that it would cost $80?

Can anyone say what they've done to replace this hose?

If I can get 5/8" fuel line (which looks the same as the power steering stuff I saw earlier), will that work? I definitely don't want steering to die while I'm on the freeway or something.

Help!

[toyomoho]

The hose coming out the lower portion of the PS reservoir is the pump intake; the upper hose is the return. Both are low pressure. Get the O'Reilly Auto PS hose as this is designed for the job. If the hose breaks you will still have manual steering but the pump will be damaged from lack of fluid.

[basil]

It looks like Toyota calls refers to the line that feeds fluid to the pump from the reservoir as "the return line" (see page SR-26 in the repair manual) and the line that sends fluid back to the reservoir as "the pressure line".

The local O'Reilly seems to think that fuel line of the correct diameter will work.

However, as much as I hate to do it, I'll fork over the $75 to Toyota for their "return hose", just to avoid having to mess around with this again in 6 months.

[toyomoho]

Pressure is relative. What ever happened to using the PS steering hose from O'Reilly. The hose has to be low pressure otherwise you would blow up the reservoir.

[basil]

You're right about the pressure. I was mainly clarifying the terminology, based on what the Toyota parts rep told me.

As for the O'Reilly hose, they said they could order power steering hose in the appropriate size, but that it might take a couple of days. The person at the O'Reilly location that had the 5/8" fuel line in stock didn't think fuel line would be a good idea, indicating that it would swell in the presence of oil, instead of fuel, and would likely fail after a short time.

Since I wanted to get this leaky car back together sooner than later, and didn't want to re-do the repair in a short time (due to line failure), I decided to pay Toyota's price for the hose. My time is worth something.