problem with crazy Steering wheel

[Blue_Jinnee]

Hi Guys,
I was teaching my bother how to park the car today and suddenly the steering wheel became so heavy and the power steering light illuminated, I restated the car but I didn't fix the problem ,I went home and after 1 hr I started the car again the light went off and the power steering is alive again, any idea?
obviously when he was parking the car he was turning the steering wheel the whole way to the end (right and left) like 10 times .

I only have 24,000 km on it and am worried if this problem will come up while am driving .

Thx!

[aris]

What year is your car? if it's still got warranty take it to the dealer...

[pcphilippe1]

Humm is your ride a 2008? If it is you are screwed like the rest of us... I have been waiting for parts since April 27... There is a major corrosion problem in the fluid lines and this causes the pump to fail... I have been on the phone a few times with Mazda Canada. And they have massive orders placed for the pumps and lines. In my case the have received my Pump but they are waiting on the lines that will arrive for the end of June.

In some cases the damage is not to bad and the pump can still work and the car is still drivable. In my case the hole thing was shot and I have been stuck with a darn rental since April.


http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=32875

[Blue_Jinnee]

what year is your car? If it's still got warranty take it to the dealer...

2008.5

[Bean]

Does this problem affect the 2007 models as well?

[Donutz]

2008.5

Take it to the dealership. This is a known issue.

[aris]

2008.5


Take it to the dealership.

+1 to What Jason said

[sas]

It’s like your steering pump was overheated. Manual says to not hold the steering wheel at extreme angles more than 5 seconds. You can hear if the angle is extreme. The steering pump consumes more power and the engine changes sound.
I doubt that the dialer wants to do here much, but error could be read. And yes, be careful when driving until you don’t know the exact cause of the fault.

[Blue_Jinnee]

It’s like your steering pump was overheated. Manual says to not hold the steering wheel at extreme angles more than 5 seconds. You can hear if the angle is extreme. The steering pump consumes more power and the engine changes sound.
I doubt that the dialer wants to do here much, but error could be read. And yes, be careful when driving until you don’t know the exact cause of the fault.

thx !

[Blue_Jinnee]

Update:
I called Mazda to cancel my appointment and they said I need to reschedule it not cancel it because that thing will happen again so they advised me that to pull over and turn off the car and restart it if it's happen again and they will need to order a new pump for me and get it fixed.
i have only 24000 km got it in Aug 2008.:flaming

[thanu31]

why did u cancel:S ?

[sas]

Your dealer is so obliging that I have a feeling that exists an unofficial recall for steering system. Steering pump should work faultlessly. Your case is a bit exceptional. When you are training, you are turning wheels at low speeds and holding wheels in lock position for long time . All this time the steering pump is running under heavy loads. In addition, mechanical oil pump, usually, has a special cooling contour (more long return pipe). Now, the steering system hasn’t the cooling line and oil pump combined with electric motor. I suppose, the engineers were assuming the work of thermo-protection and you have a chance that it was just an accident.
You are under warranty and I don’t see a reason why not to check it.
There is the error B1238 for overheated steering pump but it’s still unclear if this error is remaining in controller’s memory.

[Blue_Jinnee]

Your dealer is so obliging that I have a feeling that exists an unofficial recall for steering system. Steering pump should work faultlessly. Your case is a bit exceptional. When you are training, you are turning wheels at low speeds and holding wheels in lock position for long time . All this time the steering pump is running under heavy loads. In addition, mechanical oil pump, usually, has a special cooling contour (more long return pipe). Now, the steering system hasn’t the cooling line and oil pump combined with electric motor. I suppose, the engineers were assuming the work of thermo-protection and you have a chance that it was just an accident.
You are under warranty and I don’t see a reason why not to check it.
There is the error B1238 for overheated steering pump but it’s still unclear if this error is remaining in controller’s memory.

thx! I have heared that it's a safty feature that turn off the pump when it's overheated.(is that true)

[sas]

This feature could be called as safety but not for humans.
From manual,controller measures the temperature of printed board. For most semiconductors the highest operating temperature is +85 degC. It's not so high, if to take in account that the normal operating temperature of oil pump is 50-60 degrees.
I can't say whether the protection shuts the pump down or not. It's looking too stupidly to disable the oil pump completely.There is used an electronical driver for electric motor and voltage regulators. Most of these components have the integrated protection.

[shootemup]

It’s like your steering pump was overheated. Manual says to not hold the steering wheel at extreme angles more than 5 seconds.

This sounds about right. Holding the wheels at such a sharp angle with the weight of the car on the edges of the tires, creates a lot of opposing force. You should never dry lock your steering by turning it till it stops. Always back off if you hit the stopping point.


You can hear if the angle is extreme. The steering pump consumes more power and the engine changes sound.
I doubt that the dialer wants to do here much, but error could be read. And yes, be careful when driving until you don’t know the exact cause of the fault.

With our cars, this is not the case. Because the pump is electric, it doesn't make the engine work harder to power it; Belt driven pumps do this (if you know Fords, you probably have heard the whinning sound when you dry lock). You won't hear or feel much difference at all when the pump is stressing.

[sas]

Yes, I was thinking if I can mention it and expected that someone will point to it . In winter, I have noticed that sound is still changing, not so clearly as with mechanical power assist but changing. I think, it because the alternator is trying to compensate dropped voltage.