Odd Power Steering issue..
 

Greets.

I track drive and vigorously street drive my car about 100mi a day up and down mountain roads on the way to work and back.

I would say that on a day to day basis, I know ever single noise and movement the car makes as second hand.

But..

A chunk of mountain got kicked into the road by a truck in front of me that took a right turn too sharp, and I could not avoid the chunk..and it ate my front left tire sidewall, and I had it replaced. Wheel wasnt bent...and alignment (Done and checked by Roger Kraus Racing, Hayward, CA) was spot on afterwards as well once I noticed something.

But...

Since then, I have to very VERY carefully take high speed sweeper turns, especially on turn in. When I turn in, I have to do so LIGHTLY now, because a moment after turn-in, I get a huge rush of additional turn-in from the power steering.

The wheel doesnt move more, but wow, its like I just made a second input into the corner that will quickly bring me over the centerline mid-turn.

The first time this happened, I was almost in a tank slapper..the secondary turn-in led to a correction which then had a secondary turn-in...etc.

Ya..sounds n00bish, but I -can- drive. Ive been racing and instructing for years with NorCal NASA, and now help manage our EMS teams.

Rear struts are OK, if this was my 83 RX7 spec racer, Id say the rear shocks were gone. They're fine.

No bent arms anywhere, no bad bushings...

I also, if I maintain a steering angle in a long turn, a very slight hesitance/resistance in the steering rack to come out of that steering input back to center.


Ive never had a PS warning light come on either.


The power assist just feels delayed or out of "tune" and not very sure of itself.


Ya..explain this to a dealer for repair would be next to impossible..but...ideas?

This is strange alright. One would immediately conclude it was something to do with the "accident", but maybe it's just a coincidence. From personal experience I do know that the anti sway bars have a pretty dramatic effect on turn-in. After installing RB bars on mine I noticed quite a difference in turn-in response to steering angle changes. Might want to check the sway bar mounting points and bushings.

Also, you might try scanning the ECU for any pending or stored error codes. Any OBDII, CANbus-compatible reader should be able to pull any existing codes. Other than that I guess it's a trip to the dealer no matter how futile that may be.

The torque sensor on the rack might be acting up.

Did you try and reset the ECU and the steering sensor...it might go away then

[QUOTE=Go48;2552724]This is strange alright. One would immediately conclude it was something to do with the "accident", but maybe it's just a coincidence. From personal experience I do know that the anti sway bars have a pretty dramatic effect on turn-in. After installing RB bars on mine I noticed quite a difference in turn-in response to steering angle changes. Might want to check the sway bar mounting points and bushings.

Also, you might try scanning the ECU for any pending or stored error codes. Any OBDII, CANbus-compatible reader should be able to pull any existing codes. Other than that I guess it's a trip to the dealer no matter how futile that may be.[/QUOTE
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Ya..ive checked the front bars and bushings/links as well.

All solid.

I'll see what Enginuity sees with a scan.

Reset ECU, thats simple..but the steering sensor...unplug/plug it?

[QUOTE=dannobre;2552731]The torque sensor on the rack might be acting up.

Did you try and reset the ECU and the steering sensor...it might go away then[/QUOTE

Just got off vacation, I will try that.


I will search for how to reset the steering sensor as well.


This should be in the full OEM service book, which I have at work.



I also own the Auto Enginuity (sp) software, I will add licensing for the Mazda tomorrow, as it has the steering diag setup included:

http://www.autoenginuity.com/Mazda-A...ingCAN_sensors

No codes in the Steering CAN.

Driving while logging, doesnt show anything odd, I mean, there is a rise in amps from the PS motor right as the steering seems to overdrive itself.

Almost no torque correction is seen in the chart.

How do you reset the steering sensor?

Resetting the ECU/KAM did it.


:)

Glad it worked.......:)