Hicas Steering Info Needed

[cookie--monster]

Does anyone know if the hicas which controls the movement of the rear wheels can be put out of place and cause the car to drive/drift to the left or right?

I have had the front and rears aligned twice at regular bob janes and it still pulls to the left.

I remember muckin with the hicas in ''service control mode'' a while back,and i could actually see the rears move a coulple of cms,but now im begining to think it could have miss aligned them by not returning to dead center.....

[ricsvtr]

Apparently most skylines (and most cars) pull to the left. Also if the road is angled towards the kerb the car will pull left. If u are really concerned about it u could get some offset castor bushes installed. This is what a suspension shop told me when i took my car there for the same issue.

[barnoon]

Most of the time when im driving the car is fine and goes straight but at random times it will just pull to the left and be completely different ive been suspecting the hicas is coming on at random times and causing this so im going to get a hicas lock bar and hopefully this stops the problem.

[Squishy]

Yes! I was driving my bf's R33 and his SUBS interfered with his hicas causing it to LOCK on one way..

His car is currently "crab walking" till he gets the hicas lock installed!

[arep3]

easiest way to tell if it is the hicas or not is to remove it! GTRGeoff has lock bars for $150. i installed mine myself and have never looked back

[BHDave]

If it's doing it randomly then there is a problem with the hicas, not the alignment.

Lock it or start fault finding......

[Scratch]

I've heard rumours that aftermarket steering wheels can sometimes cause HICAS to come on for no apparent reason, is this true?. Another post i read off the GTR.co.uk forum states that if the battery is disconnected for a while, and the wheels were not straight when it was reconnected then the hicas could give problems as well. Is it a safe bet to assume that disconnecting the battery and reconnecting with the wheels straight, might fix a hicas problem?

I've currently got my hicas lamp coming on at random times when driving, it resolves by me turning the engine off and back on again.

I'd prefer keeping hicas (lockbar = last resort), does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? (Note: i do have a After Market steering wheel, but since its intermitted; i dont know if this is the cause)

cheers

[RANDY]

I guess all your sub-frame bushes check ok OK?

My previous RWD (non-nissan) cars have had similar issues when the trailing arms had stuffed bushes. I'd hit a join in the road surface, then the car would crab-walk, hit a dip, and it'd straighten up again.

As far as my current R33 goes, it's fine all the time. No crab-walking, no shifting... HICAS appears to be working fine, but I don't often push it hard enough to feel it.

cookie, do you have an R32 or R33? 32's have hydrolic HICAS, so you could have a blocked pipe somewhere. The main unit is on the drivers side rail in the engine bay. Might need bleeding or more fluid or something.

If it's R33, then yeah... it's an electric motor, so it'd need diagnosing.

[Scratch]

thanks for the reply randy,

Sorry i forgot to give details about my car! I drive a r32 GTR (93'). It does not crab walk when the hicas warning comes on, the steering just gets a little hard (not very much, barely noticeable), the car tends to turn in a "rounder" angle when the hicas light comes on for some weird reason. Again the issue is resolved by turning the engine on or off, I was stationary at the time so it might not be the sub frame bushes. Having said that, I still think you gave a good tip, didnt think about checking that out before!

The main unit you mention on the drivers side rail, you're refering to the power steering fluid, correct? (the one with the two wires coming out of the cap?)

The manual states that HICAS shares the power steering fluid, low fluid level = hicas warning. I think i need to run that hicas diagnostic routine i found on here. Hope its not a dodgy solenoid, rare as hamstrings.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Scratch

[RANDY]

No worries! I've only seen the unit a couple of times while I was being nosey in a mate's 32 GTR... so I don't remember exactly what's plugged into it.

It could just be an electrical problem... a loose wire or something? Plenty of people with aftermarket steering wheels have this problem, but i've never read what the fix was.

EDIT: Thinking about his futher, (which is hard to do at this hour of the morning) You wouldn't have a blockage... the ECU wouldn't know it. It would have to be a steering-wheel thing, or possibly the low fluid that you were mentioning. Maybe the steering fluid sensor is playing up, or it's not reading correctly (dirty?).

I'm assuming the R32's have the HICAS computer under the parcel tray in the boot like the 33's have... so maybe check the harness is plugged in properly too?

Edited September 10, 2006 by RANDY

[BHDave]

Aftermarket boss kits can cause problems as there is a sensor in the steering column that is rotated with the steering wheel.

If the boss doesn't have the right fittings to rotate the sensor and position it correctly when the wheel is straight then the light will come on, but only if you are doing over 80kph for a couple of minutes straight.

[Godzilla32]

Its the non compatible boss kits that cause the problem not the steering wheel. HKB make a compatible boss kit for them. The sudden change in direction is caused normally by ruts in the road. Cars with wide tyres seems to do it more. I've also been told that having the same width tyres front and rear (GTR) also makes it worse. My car did both of afformentioned problems ie: HICAS light coming on at random times and grabbing ruts in worn roads. However i very much doubt they are related. There are a number of reasons the HICAS warning light will come on and they are all detailed in the fault finding part of the manual.

[Scratch]

I was speaking to a performance tuner here in perth today, and he mentioned something interesting... Apparently the GTR's have a set standard of fluids that have to be used in major components of the car. For example the 4WD system can only use Nissan Matic D fluid. Using normal brand fluids causes the small clutch within the unit (4WD) to slip, and get damaged as a result.

A quick google search later, i found it was due to the vicosity of the fluids and their behaviour based on temperature changes.

He mentioned specific fluids for the transmission and powersteering as well, but i cant remember the names now for the life of me. This rang a bell, because the powersteering is fluid is used by the HICAS system. I'm wondering if this could be something to look at as well.

It seems very very few garages uses these fluid because they are INSANELY expensive and most people dont even know about it. I believe the types of fluids to use is mentioned in the r32 workshop manual. Kinda hard now because i dont know whats in mine! have to bleed everything and start from "scratch"... (jokes on me )

Does anyone know if the fluids are non issue with hicas?

Edited September 13, 2006 by Scratch