elfking

Pretty much as the subject says:

I have a 88 Turbo II.

I start my car up in the morning, power steering works great. I drive the car to work. (20 min away.) I get off the freeway, and the power steering no longer works.

Its only seeming to happen after the car has been run for 20/30min or longer... Now before you jump to the good old PUMP conclusion...

I DO NOT want to remove my P/S if I can fix it. I like having power steering.

Things I have replaced and tried:
2 new-used pumps.
2 p/s ecu's
2 times resoldering the joints on the p/s ecu. (once on each of the ECU's I tried.)

Ive flushed the fluid more times then I want to coun't (it used to be black liquid coming out until I flushed it quite a bit.)

I am thinking maybe one of the valves in the P/S lines might be sticking closed or open once the fluid warms up... I don't really know a whole lot about the system. However I read some threads on people having problems with those valves sticking sometimes..? Its just a little thought kicking around.

I get no beeps from the P/S ecu unless I disconnect the electrical lines in the engine bay.(Duh!) But I wanted to make sure the ECU was working in the resepct that it would beep if there was a problem...

I have no leaks in the lines and the belts are not loose. If anyone has any tips on what to look for that would be awesome.

Edit: My friend has a mint 87 N/A who would let me swap in his P/S ECU to do some more testing.. which I might do. Though I am not sure if these are compatable, I think they are...

Thanks for the help.

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

If I am not mistaken the PS is speed sensitive on the 2nd gens would this be what you are experiencing... Works fine when you are driving slow at the beginning of the day but goes away on the interstate? maybe I read it wrong.

elfking

It works fine when its cold, but even when im driving slow as soon as the car has warmed up and I am in a parking lot trying to park. I get no power steering.

So I know of the speed/rpm sensors and the different types. But even so when im at a stop I can't turn the wheel once the car is warm...

Thanks for responding though, at least this post is being seen.

Icemark

cold solder joints in the Power Steering CPU is what causes the problem of either not working when cold or not working when warm.

I been trying to trace down which joint fails exactly, but it is very time consuming and have only narrowed it down to a couple of joints.

as far as the power steering CPU the 87 and 88 use the same computer regardless of turbo or non turbo. The 86 power steering computers would also be compatible but has slightly different maps for boost.

elfking

Alright, well I will give the swap a try, if that DOES work then I guess I shall be taking apart the CPU again. I will see if I can locate the failed one to at least give back a little here. Thanks for you're info I hope to get this P/S working like normal someday.

I will update the thread if I manage to figure out which bad solder joint or if it is infact something else. Though It does make sense that it would be a solder joint after warming up etc...

Icemark

Yeah, I have ruled out the power relay, and the connections to the plug from the circuit board already. I m leaning towards the chip or its power supply.

elfking

I quickly re-soldered the connections at the plug already as well. I thought it might have been an easy fix. I guess that was too good to be true. I will try one thing at a time and test it.

I will let you know what I find! Thanks again for all the helpful info.

ilike2eatricers

Yank it out you wuss. You'll get used to it real fast

Funkspectrum

iTrader: (5)

^^^^ yea....

I did it....you should too!!!!

elfking

Bah I knew you manual rack people would start screaming soon. I forget did you actually pull the pump and just loop the lines togeather, or I think I remember just you having the pully gone. I have no muscles, I work on computers all day sadly.... haha oh well... I may end up on the evil side soon enough.


I fixed my door handle, did you?!?!?! Same question, are you just running a P/S ready rack with the lines looped????? Im thinking about it if I can't get this bugger working.



The real way to get in and out of our cars.

Funkspectrum

iTrader: (5)

No....I haven't fixed the door handle or pulled the PS pump off. I'm lazy....

Hmm....who the hell is that lump in that picture?

ilike2eatricers

I just have the belt off and undid the lines and released some of the fluid in there and reattached them.

Funkspectrum

iTrader: (5)

You don't even have to loop the lines if I remember correctly. I think you can just cap both lines with a bolt and hose clamps. I was going to try it but like I said...I'm too lazy right now.

elfking

I read people doing it either this way or looping the lines togeather.. From what some say if you use the pump still.. As in leaving the pump lines connected to the pump you're pushing around the fluid in the pump.. Making it a bit harder to do, but not unbarable as you've obvously been doing it. But im definately keeping all this in mind if mine pisses me off enough.

Ive heard of alot of people closing off the lines as well, its just again ive read it being easier (to turn) if you loop the lines. I think I saw a post of Hailers draining all the fluid and packing it full of grease. So you can pretty much do what you want with that rack and they still keep giving...

Im still optimistic on my p/s ecu... tonight ill be doing some soldering thats for sure. Otherwise you guys will see me bitching at our next meets about you converting me to the dark side.

elfking

So I took my friends CPU out of his 87 N/A tonight and swapped it into mine. No difference. When the car is cold I have perfect power steering action. We drove to my work, and I got off the freeway at the light taking a corner. Dead, same exact symptoms. So I am ruling out the CPU since it works perfect in his car.

Im thinking it something either stuck in my power steering lines or I was kicking around the idea about remembering someone mentioning valves in the power steering lines????

I was thinking maybe one of these valves has some crap stuck in it and when it heats up its either getting stuck one direction or another? Maybe im talking out of my ***, but I think im going to pull the whole rack apart this weekend and look.

The power steering is working a little even when warm, its just no where near as much as my friends. Bah! I thought it would be an easy fix... but no... haha..

If there's any other ideas kicking around, please spout them out.

ilike2eatricers

Maybe your belt is expanding after warming up and is slipping? Wild guess but worth a shot and easy to check. Measure the tension when cold and then when warmed up to see if there's a significant difference.

Icemark

Nah, that would get a error code beep of the pump failure

Icemark

Well the next thing I would be looking at is the power to the power steering CPU. Putting a meter on the power, ground connections and seeing what it does.

After that if it is still getting power the whole time while driving, I would look at replacing the pump.

elfking

I will look into that next then.. Another weekend project, I take it in the FSM they're going to list the wiring for the P/S CPU? In order to figure out which wire is power, I don't want to be shorting out anything and making it worse.

Icemark

See at this point, the lack of error beeps, is what is suggesting that either the power steering CPU is not getting voltage, or something has failed and the power steering CPU doesn't know it.

So that is why I was suggesting the next steps.

BTW: I am playing with a couple replacement parts internally that let you change the speed in which the power steering pump shunts off. For example right now in my vert I have the power steering turning off at 15 mph. So for all the "hate the power steering feel" people this would let them have power steering while driving in a parking lot, but then no power steering at anything higher than parking lot speed. I'll post here when I have confirmed the tweeks work on all speed sensing units

elfking

Well as far as voltages, I do have a slight problem with the IGN voltage at night with the lights on, but it does this during the day as well when the IGN voltage is staying in 14v range.

AT night with everything on, brakes, ac/heater the IGN wire see's 12.8v, but if you blip the throttle it shoots right back up to 14v. So if that were the problem holding the RPM's up would make the p/s work, or at least give out an error beep as we were talking about. I agree with you its very strang that the CPU is not beeping at all, acting as if its not getting power...

I tried disconnecting the CPU all togeather and it does make the steering harder then with it on when driving. But its definately not working as well as it should be. Which is one of the reasons I went through the trouble of swapping the power steering pump a second and third time thinking I may have just picked up crappy pumps. They all do the same thing, so im pretty much convinced its something electrical.

I may pick up another pump and or cpu at the pick n pull this weekend and just go for it one more time... but im guessing its something electrical as well since it works when cold.... strange strange strange....

Mark, as for you're adjustments to the CPU. Thats definately a good idea for those who don't like it.. Most of those guys take if off so they can "clean up the engine" or "free up hp"(the whole 1/2hp) that the power steering is using up... but if its not too expensive im sure some who could use it.

Thanks for the info once again... I will update if I find out anything new.