[mdss]

Hi guys thought i would post this is this section as i feel that the old thread about vague steering has been beaten to death!



Ok so i have noticed that when the car is cold the steeri ng feels fine and that i had said in the other thread that the steering would become light at high speed over 60mph which is the opposite as the pas is suposed to be more assisted at low speeds but i think there is a problem with the pump this is why:



I drove the car yesterday down a 70mph road and the steering felt like it had some weight to it. I later drove the car down the exact same piece of road and the steering was very light and vague, the same speed and conditions.



I later drove the car at low speed and the steering feel at 20-30mph kept changing sometimes it was light and felt well assisted and at the same speed other times it felt heavier.

I think it it the pump but would love to know what all you guys think.

I have changed the tyres to the yoko's flash recommended and the steering rack and pump have no leaks. The pas belt is new also.



When i bought the car there was a severe pas fluid leak from the pipe below the reservoir coming loose and was thinking that maybe when this happened and the pas fluid was run so low that it has ruined the pump.

Or is it possible(i know it sounds silly) to wire or connect the pas system up wrong as it feels more assisted at high speed compared to low speed.



Sorry for the massive rant thanks for any help.

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[SILVY968]

Hi MDSS,

When my psp went out it was heavy at low speed but got fine at normal driving speed. The assist that the psp gives is needed at low speed and parking speed...without the psp it feels like a car without power steering. Once you get moving the steering naturally gets easier because when you are rolling less assist is needed.

If you are getting sporadic feel, I would guess that the psp is the problem if you are using atf that is water free and the lines and rack are ok.

This might be a case were you replace the least expensive part first...

I do not know if you can reverse high with low assist as it applies to speed, but if you said that the steering changed from heavy to light under the same conditions, it appears that you have an intermittent situation...bad fluid circulating thru the system, or a bad psp. i agree with your conclusion.

Brian

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[mdss]

thanks for the reply the feeling is odd to say he least. I can get a used pump but will wait to see if anyone else says anything about reversing high low assist. I cant see it being anything other than the pump.



Once again thanks brian for your help

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[mdss]

Update guys had they new pump fitted today i drove the car home and it felt better but this may be all in my head i will post up in a few days and tell you if this was the fix i was looking for.

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[bombfactory]

I still have the same issue - even after replacing everything but the pump, which I rebuilt, but did not replace. Steering weight feels fine when the car is cold, but once everything heats up my steering feel is inconsistent - sometimes fine, but mostly too heavy.



I'm going to have my car corner balanced and aligned - I think I have too much caster currently which may be contributing to the heaviness of the steering - and if that doesn't solve the problem I'll go for a new ps pump (can they be had new or only rebuilt?)



If that doesn't solve the problem and the steering still doesn't feel 'right' to me, I'm going to have to admit I'm just not a Porsche guy and sell the car.

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[flash]

after you get the alignment, and before you throw in the towel, mount a different set of tires and wheels and drive it and see if it changes.

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[bombfactory]

Good idea Bob. Maybe a slightly narrower set of 17's would give the car a better feel than the eight and ten inch 18's I've got now. The 18's sure look good though. I know - everything's a trade-off!

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[flash]

certainly the 18s would generate more resistance, but my point is to eliminate a variable by installing a set of tires and wheels from a car known not to have this particular problem. if the problem suddenly goes away, you've found the issue, and can then correct it. far too often it is a tire compound or tread pattern issue. a tire that works on one car does not necessarily work on another.



incorrect offsets can do this too, but they usually have to be pretty far off.

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[mdss]

if i were you bomb factory i would definately buy a used pump and fit it, as my car feels great the inconsistency has gone and the pump change only took an hour, for the price of a used pump it's got to be worth a try.



Also listen to flash about tyre's as i have p6000 on the front and they are known to be very soft sidewalls/giving a floaty feel. I swapped them with a friend of mines and the steering feel improved.But the main difference was the pump both at low and high speed.



Honestly it's worked for me

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[bombfactory]

Question about remanufactured ps pumps - anyone know what 'remanufactured' really means? Because if all they do is take it apart and replace all the rubber seals, I've already done that.



Drove the 968 to work today - it hasn't been out for a few weeks - cursing the steering feel in every corner.



My E36 M3 with 193k miles on it has the same ps pump and I've never had a problem.

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[mdss]

Think the pumps just give up the ghost eventually. Not sure what that term means but i would just find a scarpped car and get one off that, then once and for all you will know. You could always take the pas belt off and drive the car without it then you would probably know for sure, flash did say this could blow the rack seals though, but some of the 968 porsche specialists here said it would be fine.



I really hope you find a solution pal.

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[bombfactory]

While I was rebuilding my ps pump, I briefly drove the car without it. The steering was MUCH heavier than what I'm experiencing now.

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