Power Steering - Affect on Idle

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Apr 23, 2015 | 12:57 PM

98ws6blk

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Joined: Jul 2010

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From: Huntsville, AL

Power Steering - Affect on Idle

So I did a head n cam swap a while back and it has had an intermittent problem where the idle would drop really low especially when turning (like in a parking lot). It also seemed to be difficult to turn sometimes. Anyway I replaced the fluid and it seems to turn a lot better.

Strange thing is it seems like the problem with the idle dropping seems to a decreased as well...

Is it possible my power steering pump was affecting my idle?

Apr 23, 2015 | 10:12 PM

Burken01

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From: Anaheim, Ca

Quote:

Originally Posted by 98ws6blk

So I did a head n cam swap a while back and it has had an intermittent problem where the idle would drop really low especially when turning (like in a parking lot). It also seemed to be difficult to turn sometimes. Anyway I replaced the fluid and it seems to turn a lot better. Strange thing is it seems like the problem with the idle dropping seems to a decreased as well... Is it possible my power steering pump was affecting my idle?

no it shouldn't...

You should find someone with hptuners and run a scan with the car running..

You might have codes popping up that won't show a SES light..

Apr 23, 2015 | 10:19 PM

JakeFusion

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From: Pace, FL

Depends on how big your cam is. Big cams have very little torque at idle and the load of power steering can bring it down, especially if you don't have the idle dialed in.

Apr 24, 2015 | 02:45 AM

eaglegoat

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Joined: Jun 2012

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From: SV, AZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by 98ws6blk

Turning the wheel using power steering changes the amount of load on your engine. That coupled with a crappy tune (no offense to you if you DIY) will cause that dip and/or stall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JakeFusion

Depends on how big your cam is. Big cams have very little torque at idle and the load of power steering can bring it down, especially if you don't have the idle dialed in.

Not enough RAF or base idle/low speed timing, the over/underspeed tables could be hacked, the adaptive idle tables.

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