I took my car to a test and tune night for some autocross. All went well except for one major issue. While doing a series of turns, my power steering couldn't keep up and the it became near impossible to handle. I had someone else drive my car and they commented on the same thing. It was almost like the power steering wasn't working at all when it couldn't keep up.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a fix for it? New or faster pump?

My car is bone stock except for the gst v2.5 flash and an AMS dual exhaust.

 

The RA does not have a power steering "cooler" like the Evo has. This could be part of your problem.

The "cooler" the evo has is just a metal line looped around in the upper air dam area of the car.

You can see it here in this photo, right by where the UICP goes into the FMIC:



I haven't looked into if this can be retrofit to the RA.

From this diagram you would have to get all the lines and the cooler. However I'm not sure if our PS rack has the extra fitting needed to bolt this in.

 

Bummer, is there possibly a ps fluid with a higher boiling point? I know in the BMW's they used to just use synthetic atf.... not sure if the mitsu system is compatible with atf though...

 

Is there any difference between the evo power steering system and the ralliart? Besides the "cooler"

 

The only thing I have heard of that was there was different ratio on the rack but I could be mis-informed ...

 

Has anyone else run at autocross and run into this?

I rode in an Evo 9 and the guy driving had no issue. Things I was struggling to turn into, he could do with one hand.

 

eh, haven't done any AutoX's with my RA, but I do have plenty of time behind the wheel on mountain roads. One thing I noticed is the steering tends to get heavier at higher speeds. This behavior is to my personal liking, because it's slightly more difficult to make 'accidental' steering inputs. You gotta mean it to make the car turn-in on a sharp turn at high speeds.

However, at the same time, i have not yet had it get so heavy that i couldn't handle the steering wheel with 1 hand either... maybe too heavy to use my palm (i.e. not gripping the steering wheel) to turn the wheel more than a quarter to half turn... but too heavy for 1 hand? hasn't happened yet.

 

This problem definitely exists and RA owners worldwide will be quite happy if someone finds a proven solution. Is it really because of temp, or something is wrong with the system power/design itself? For some drivers I know, this issue was the main argument to buy an evo despite they were satisfied with RA dynamics, suspension, price, etc.

 

it's the power steering pump and rack & pinion it can't maintain pressure long enough to keep up with the back to back hard corners.

 

Did anyone ever change the pulley on their power steering pump?

I'm going back to autocross on the 18th and I have yet to find a solution to this problem

 

Yes, I've hit it in my RA. Tight skidpan course, hot car, abrupt steering inputs... and suddenly on one tight right-left the steering got very heavy and a bit lumpy. It felt like the p/s pump was fading in and out, just for a moment.

It definitely wasn't any other car control issue (I know my power oversteer from my lift-off oversteer ). That horrible ASC stuff was OFF... as in, the singular OFF mode we have in the RA. Speed wasn't high, weight transfer was under control, definitely wasn't ABS.

Sucks if it's really the case that the pump can't keep up.


Also sucks that the steering rack gearing is so "road car", if you know what I mean.


I tell you what, a killer RA mod would be a replacement steering rack with less lock-to-lock. Pair that with a p/s pump that could keep up... and you'd have a nice, chuckable weekend warrior in the RA.

Rich