Fortunately, it is pretty easy to fix although how the system works was definitely confusing to me when I first started working on cars (and this car). What the ACV actually is, is a hollow bolt-like piece with a plastic attachment containing two nozzles. It has a valve inside. It inevitably starts leaking eventually because of the high pressure. Two hoses connect to these nozzles. One goes from the intake to the ACV and the other goes from the ACV to a small intake port in the front of the engine at the top. I believe what this system does is raise your idle by about 200rpm if you turn the wheel idling. Honestly it's useless.
The SC400 and, I believe, a few Toyota trucks have the same power steering pump without an ACV. Instead, it's just plugged which is exactly what you need to do to permanently stop this problem. Everyone who I have talked to that replaced the ACV only had to plug it later when it failed again.
Above is a picture of the ACV next to an M14-1.50 drain bolt which is exactly what you can use to plug the hole the ACV goes into. Below is a picture of where it is on your vehicle taken from below. It is under the PS pump and above the alternator.
To add to your confusion, this picture is tilted to the right (I think). I have no idea how that happened and I do apologize but I guarantee you that you can find it. Look for the two hoses. You're going to take these off first leaving the ACV simply bolted into the block as in the picture above.
It comes off with a 17mm box wrench. The reason you need a wrench is because you have very little room to work with but just take it slow and you will be fine. Two things to keep in mind here. First, watch out for the metal refrigerant (?) lines in the area. You don't want to break one while turning the wrench.
Second, push the wrench on the bolt part of the ACV as far as you can before you untighten it. The reason I mention this is because I accidently stripped two edges by not doing so and if I wasn't able to find another angle for the wrench, I would have been SOL. You're going to need a lot of force to loosen it but you can do it with your hands. Find a good position (you have the car jacked up obviously) for leverage but I don't recommend pushing off of anything except maybe the sway bar.
When you take the ACV out, power steering fluid is gonna come leaking out so be ready. Cover the alternator with a plastic bag because it WILL get leaked on a little bit. I should have mentioned that you should have the cap off your pump.
Go ahead and take the ACV out. Remember, lefty loosie righty tighty. Now you have a couple options. Most people plug the ACV itself by breaking off the plastic parts, taking out the valve, and tapping a bolt into it. If you do this, leave a few millimeters of room in the hollow part on the side that is going back into the block. If possible, it's best to weld this but I'm 99% sure it will be fine if you put the bolt in along with something like JB Weld to completely liquid proof it. Most people take this route because the original part obviously fits. If you do this, I recommend getting an extra ACV from the junkyard as a precaution. I was lucky in that when I went to the yard, the car they had there had an already-plugged ACV. I was good to go. Here is what it looked like.
In this case, someone screwed a bolt into it - tapping it - and cut the head off. They left a little bit of room in the hole on the side going into the block. You can cut the round part off if you want it to look better but it serves no real purpose.
There is, however, an easier option. To be honest, I didn't need to go to the junkyard at all and it probably would've looked nicer BUT the original part is the original part. Anyway, the easier option is an M14x1.5 drain bolt like I mentioned before. I compared the two threads (you can see for yourself) and they are identical. The drain bolt is also short (whatever you use, don't tighten it so much that it goes in too deep - when it starts getting tight, tighten it and leave it) and comes with a rubber gasket.
Now you also have to plug the two intake holes that the hoses originally went to. You don't need the hoses anymore but it's always good to save parts unless they're bad.
The above picture shows the 'coming from' nozzle. Again I apologize because in this picture there is a hose on top of it, but what I did to plug it is simply use a hose that I cut and stuck a bolt into. The bolt screwed in so it worked perfect and I used the original clamp. If you can't see it, look below the 'L', there is a clamp holding an L-shaped piece of hose that is plugged with a bolt.
You can use whatever works.
Case in point - the 'going to' nozzle which has long ago been broken on my fine vehicle. Ignore the tape too - it's temporary for a couple-millimeter sized crack in the rubber. I plugged this hole in the intake with some sort of grooved plastic thing that had a smaller hole into which I stuck some metal thing. Like I said, plug these holes however you can because you don't need them anymore. Some like to screw a bolt into this part. It's plastic so it shouldn't break.
I recommend once you're done that you disconnect the negative battery terminal for ten seconds and put it back on before you start the car up. You want to reset your ECU so it reads the new way the air flows.
In my case, the change was huge. I noticed I had lost some power which came back after I did this procedure. In my case, the 'going to' hose wasn't connected to anything, creating a vacuum leak.
Another thing it did was mess up the idle and throw up a 0170 code. My check engine light went away after I plugged my ACV. My car also doesn't create a huge puff of smoke every time I start it in the morning meaning it's not sucking ATF into the engine. I don't think that will damage your engine but I prefer to keep that out of the engine. The leak stopped aswell and considering I was filling up the reservoir every TWO DAYS, I'm glad for it. And so is my new alternator. In short, delete your damn ACV system! Thanks for reading.
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