Heavy Steering After Doing Donuts

[cogs]

Text in bold is from skylinesdownunder.co.nz where someone else seems to have had a similar problem to me.

Complete power steering failure, steering is very very heavy. have checked fuses, no power steering leaks. Not sure wat else to look at, any suggestions?

check your hicas man

I've been told my car doesn't have HICAS. I don't have a light for it on the dash but that's not a very accurate way to tell as the globe could've been removed. I just looked at the fuses in the boot and I have a 20A fuse for HICAS in place?? Can anyone tell me if 1993 R33 GTS-4 come with HICAS or not or how I can tell for sure?

Is the belt still there??

All my engine belts are still there, the P/S belt is the top right yeh (looking from the front)?

Check your steering computer under the rear tray....Is it still pluged in? You haven't installed any 6x9's recently have ya?

I have a silver box mounted under my rear parcel tray, is this the steering computer? What does it do?

ok ok, my car is a 1992 GTS, a standard one so it has no HICAS so it has no steering computer in the back tray, y would it? its all started with a dougnut, i did the dougnut and when i stopped the power steering was dead, there is no leaks, no blown fuses no nothing, just no power steer at all, ya cant even hear the engine revs drop when ya turn the wheel. I need serious help

i have run i diagnostic on the ECU and had a code of 55 which is the all clear code.

Should I run ECU diagnostics on my car?

Hmmm, OK, even with control module or solenoid failure the steering doesn't get real heavy, it get a lot heavier but not so much that it's a pain, the only thing that can really be causing your prob if you have total failure is something in the pump itself or the rack, only thing may be to take it somewhere that specializes in power steering.

Doesn't sound like my problem is related to P/S solenoid then as my steering is definately REALLY heavy. What is the control module?

what most would have happend is that u have sheared the key way on the pulley or the pump has sh**t it self!!!

What is the 'key way on the pulley'? Again I'm inclined to think that my P/S pump is f**ked..

Are there any other things to check which are known to cause total P/S failure??

I'm hopeful that when I get my speedo back (sent it away for repair) that it will fix my P/S problem as someone said but I'm not overly confident

If the P/S belt seems fine and is seen to be turning the P/S pump pulley then what else (apart from a faulty P/S pump) controls the flow of P/S fluid in the system? Are their valves and such controlled by computers which can be affected by faulty speed input (ie broken speedo) etc? How is it all controlled?

I've seen before that with my car stationary the P/S fluid in the resorvoir can be seen to be moving around, but now this is not the case, can someone please tell me if the P/S fluid in the resorvoir should always be seen moving around when the car is stationary?

Thanks for everyones input so far

[d00dz]

Check your steering computer under the rear tray....Is it still pluged in? You haven't installed any 6x9's recently have ya?

I have a silver box mounted under my rear parcel tray, is this the steering computer? What does it do?

----

I think that is the HICAS computer.

[cogs]

Okay but I've been told that my car didn't come with HICAS, so is there a way to check for sure?

EDIT: Would the silver box maybe be the 4wd controller?

Edited December 19, 2005 by cogs

[cogs]

BUMP

Is there anything unrelated to the power steering system itself that can cause complete power steering loss (such as a broken speedo)??

I'm starting to think the P/S pump has had it, but it just seems odd that my P/S suddenly died when it showed no signs of problems before. Sure I was doing donuts prior to its failure but surely that wouldnt kill it?

I think I'll go to my mech tomorrow, see what he can do, cause I was hoping a fixed speedo would fix the problem, but if it doesn't then I'm going to be cutting it fine to get my car fixed before they close for christmas break.

[whitesky]

dude, i have had 2 mates with WRX's that had exactly the same thing. Lots of donuts ( on grass lol ) then heavy steering. BOTH of them had f*ked their pumps.

Dont ask me how, but wheelspin plus steering lock seemed to make too much stress for the pumps.

My money is on the fact that your impeller in the pump isnt turning anymore.

New pump time.

[cogs]

ok, i'll get it checked out then, thanks heaps whitesky

[Beer Baron]

easy to check if you have hicas. look under the rear end of the car. if there is a steering rack there, you have hicas.

[Duncan]

GTS4s have HICAS, the light not being on is probably globe burned out or removed in the past. the whole HICAS may have been removed sometime too. Like Richard said you can see under the rear if there is a steering rack behind the diff.

Anyway, all that aside, the issue is that you oversped the pump by doing clockwise donuts. To fix the problem you need to do anti clockwise donuts at double the rate (to include the speed of the earth's rotation) and it will return to normal.

Either that or the Power Steering needs HICAS to be working. And HICAS needs a speedo input. Fix the speedo and the Power Steer will be back

[cogs]

EDIT- Double Post.

Edited December 20, 2005 by cogs

[cogs]

Yeh spoke to my mechanic today he suggested waiting till speedo comes back (its getting repaired) and plug it back in and see if it fixes the problem.

Fingers crossed haha..

I'll have a look under the car tomorrow for HICAS.

Duncan mate that is some weird sh1t to be reading after finishing work at midnight lol..

thanks for your help guys