Subaru - Outback :: Intermittent Loss Of Power Steering Ability
Feb 13, 2011
I bought my outback a few months ago from a dealer/mechanic who had fixed the car after it was totaled. So it has a reconstructed title, but it was hit in the back, so all the engine parts were unaffected by the crash. Since I have had the car I have experienced intermittent loss of power steering ability. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to parallel park or turn a corner gracefully, and other times, within the same short trip, the steering will be completely fine and smooth. I have had the issue looked at about three times now by different mechanics. Each time they have either replaced or tightened the belt, which temporarily fixes the problem. But within a few weeks it always comes back. Is there something not keeping the belt tight, or could the issue actually be in the power steering pump?
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Just the other day the radio in my 06 Subaru Outback lost the ability to pick up an AM stations. Is this going to be expensive?
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My 2001 L.L.Bean Edition H6-3.0 is losing power & MPG on the fwy. Sometimes it will feel like something is holding it back or dragging. I've checked the brake calipers and they're not sticking, changed the air filter, oil & filter, transmission fluid, and still cannot find the problem. I've overfilled the gas tank and read this can damage the charcoal canister. Will a saturated charcoal canister cause a drop in power and MPG? What should I check out next?
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My 2004 Subaru Outback has had the head gasket replaced, the O2 sensor replaced, spark plugs replaced. Still I cannot go up big hills anywhere near the speed limit. I think it may be the catalytic converter is bad from driving it with a leaky head gasket.
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1999 Outback 2.5, idles fine but bogs or loss of power when stepping on throttle. Can "feather" or tease to get going and will hold rpm once it gets there...
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A new issue has cropped up with my 2001 H6 Subaru Outback (which I believe is technically a Legacy). We've put so much work into this thing to keep it running and this might be the last nail in the coffin. However, what's going on...
My wife reported to me yesterday that the vehicle was turning itself off while driving. I was not in the car to verify any of this, so this part is anecdotal. After 45 minutes of driving, she said the engine was "hiccuping" and the gages were dropping to zero and then bringing themselves right back up to the current RPM and speed. She said the ABS light came on. The first time the vehicle did this, she reports that it did it many times in rapid succession. She described it as "the gages were going crazy". After turning around to come back home this happened once more, though not in rapid succession. It was a single occurrence of turning off and back on again. She indicated that the vehicle did not require a restart with the key. I suspect that this was because she was driving at highway speed at the time.
She brought it right to the mechanic and - as is the case with all intermittent issues - they were not able to repeat the failure in any way. So, being an engineer, I decided I wanted to experience it for myself and do a few tests.
Today I drove 45 minutes to work, 10 minutes of small town driving, 25 minutes of highway driving, 10 minutes of small town driving. Lucky for me (!), in the first five minutes of driving, the radio cut out, power steering died, and I heard fuses or relays clicking as I was gently braking and gently taking a right turn. I continued the right turn off into a parking spot on the side of the road and stopped the car. I turned the key to the off position, put it into park and restarted the vehicle right away. No problems. All was fine.
The vehicle did not do this again for the entire trip. However, I did perform some tests to see if I could repeat a similar failure with the ignition alone.
1) Turning the ignition off and quickly back on again by hand while rolling at highway speed (~55 mph) will cause the vehicle to kick back into a normal running mode.
2) Turning the ignition off and quickly back on again by hand while rolling at lower speed (~30 mph) will require a restart by turning the key all the way to the "start" position and not just the "on" position.
3) Turning the ignition off with the key (as in 1 and 2) DOES NOT cut out the radio. Note that when the intermittent defect occurs, the radio will cut out and then come back along with the engine and instrument panel.
4) Wiggling and stressing the keys to put strain on the ignition switch doesn't seem to cause anything to happen.
5) The battery is only a few months old and a general inspection of the battery terminals, cabling, and fuses indicates that everything appears to be in tact and clean.
I'm not the most experienced car person, so my terminology is probably a little off and that's all I have for now. I feel like this is a common ground issue and if I could only identify which ground services the instrument panel and radio and spark plugs I could inspect it and clean or replace a connection. My limited research reveals that there are many grounds throughout the engine compartment, though.
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My 2004 Outback power steering was growling and squealing, but it was working ok at the time. I decided to replace the power steering pump before it completely failed and 3 hours later I was done. the growling and squealing was gone. However, when I backed the car out it was hard to steer at first. When I got going it all worked great, until I turned at the corner... hard steering again. When I got around the corner and up to speed everything is great again. The problem did not go away with time. Every time I turn at idle there seems to be no power steering. What is going on?
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I have a 98 Subaru Legacy Outback with 133K miles. It was leaking from the power steering pump and valve cover gaskets. My husband replaced the passenger-side valve cover gasket (which involved removing the air box) and the power steering pump (which required removing the alternator). When we put the car back together and reconnected the battery, it no longer starts! It "clicks" once but won't turn-over. The car does not have an alarm system (but it was an option on this model). We've tried jumping it. The battery is about 14 months old. The alternator is about 10 months old and the starter was replaced about 10 months ago too. We've double checked the wires that were disconnected and don't think we've missed anything.
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I'm about to replace my 2008 Subaru Outback's power steering pump. Only question is: How do I adjust the belt tension? Looks like the pump is stationary, and I suspect the alternator is the key, since the belt turns that as well.
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I have a 2000 Excursion. This weekend, I noticed some intermittent failure of the power steering where it seemed like the pump was not engaging and then would all of the sudden. Deciding to try to head off a failure, I got a reman unit from Oreilly and installed it this morning. It was fine when I tested, had good brakes and went locked to lock quietly without fuss. Let the house and within a mile, I lost steering and brake assist. I stopped and turned around, but what I am noticing is that at idle, I have no power steering, but when the RPM's are up, I do.
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I have a 2001 T&C, 3.3L, 4-Speed tranny and around 116K Miles. On occasion, I totally lose power steering for about a second or two. It acts like the engine has stalled and I have to muscle the steering wheel. There no belt squealing, no pump noise, and the serpentine belt is relatively new. PS Fluid level is good. It seems to happen at idle RPM.
Of all the caravans I've had, this is a first.
Now, I'm OK with it as long as I don't let anyone else drive it. I know what to expect, and I can muscle the steering when necessary. Once this happened to my on a highway offramp and I was able to control it with no problems. I suspect it is a problem with the rack, maybe?
My question is this: Is this an indication of something going terribly bad, like the total loss of steering control?
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I have a 2004 Suburu Outback with a throttle positioning sensor (TPS) instead of a cable. Intermittently, I lose my throttle. At the same time my check engine light goes on and my cruise control button has a flashing light and my cruise control does not function.. I coast off the road, place the transmission in park, turn "OFF" the engine, wait 15 seconds and restart the engine. The throttle control works and I go on my merry way. After a few hours of driving, the check engine light goes out and the cruise control functions again. This incident occurs about once a week. I have 145,000 on the engine.
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Over the last 6 months I've have to add at least a couple quarts of oil between oil changes but I can't figure out where it's going. it's not burning oil (as far as I can tell) nor can I detect any leaks. I thought it might be a head gasket but I would have assumed I would see some oil residue around the crank case but it looks relatively clean. the car has 174K miles and is otherwise in good running condition. Why I can to add so much oil? I'm also using high-mileage oil for each oil change.
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Strong Gas Odor from under the Hood. Mechanic found no leaks. Contacted Subaru only reply I got was "how many miles are on the Car" and take it to a Subaru Dealer. Odor is intermittently.
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My outback started giving me intermittent extended crank starting problems on cold engine starts a few months ago. I brought it in first to repair shop and then dealership. Battery replaced, all systems checked out, computer update, camshaft sensor shim, and still I have the problem. What this could be?
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Heard a funny intermittent rattle and my mechanic told me that my check engine light should be going on any time now as my cat converter is bad. The part is about a thousand bucks! Looked on line and see some aftermarket ones from walker and some other retailers. My car has 103K miles on it,.
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The car in question is a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback. Just had the heads resurfaced and new gaskets, and timing belt. Runs great. Acceleration is good, stays cool. However, it has developed an intermittent knock/tapping. it sounds like its coming from the top end of motor. I added Marvel Mystery and the noise left for about a week but came back. Is this the beginning of the end? Or could it be a small problem involving the lifters/followers/valves?
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I just took my 2009 Subaru Forester (80,000 miles) in to a mechanic because it was having an intermittent power steering assist failure during low speed maneuvering (i.e., parking lot). This is always accompanied by a loud rhythmic whining form under the hood (kind of like a whaawhaawhaawhaa). By intermittent, I mean maybe 50% chance of it happening when I am maneuvering in a parking lot. By failure, I mean I can still turn the wheel but it's much harder. The mechanic diagnosed it as the following:
dry rot in drive belts, recommended replacement
leaky rack and pinion, recommended replacement
2 leaky front struts
I checked my power steering fluid before I brought it in and the level/color looks great. The mechanic said in addition to the leak that there's a little bit of a catch in the steering at a certain steering position when going faster, but I haven't noticed it myself. I have trusted this shop in the past and had good experiences, but there has been a lot of turnover lately, so I'm unsure of what to do. I went ahead and had them change the belts, but decided to wait on the rack/struts until I did more research/got a second opinion.
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My 2004 Outback now has 120K, has always been maintained and repaired at the dealership (except tires and battery), and has always run great! I've had the plastick-y parts replaced over the last few years including head gaskets when one cracked and made smoke. In July I got a jump from a AAA tow truck, who said my battery tested as needing replacement.
In September my check engine light went on, and the dealer found the code PO420-catalyst system efficiency. They didn't seem to look any further into causes. The cat converter replacement was to cost $2521. They reportedly tested the battery as OK as part of their routine checkup. I declined the new cat converter till learning more. Meanwhile, my check engine light seemed to cycle on, then off, then on, then off . . . every several days.
In December I had the battery checked at Sears, who replaced it under warranty. So I guess it wasn't okay after all. After that my check engine light stayed off for somewhat longer than usual, then back on for most of January. I was just about to give in and get the repair done when it cycled off briefly a few days ago.
I've lost trust in the dealership because of their battery check which differed from others before and after theirs; and for their lack of specific diagnostics. The light is back on and I don't know what to do next.
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I have a 2003 Subaru outback and sometimes when I go to back into a parking space or straighten out after pulling into a parking space my steering wheel becomes incredibly difficult to turn. It used to only do this when I was backing into a space but now it has started doing it when I pull forward into a space as well. This happens most often when I am driving to multiple places and have to park several times over a period of a few hours. I've monitored my power steering fluid and the power steering pump was replaced not too long ago. What's causing this?
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My Outback gets the DTs in the steering wheel. 2003 with 300K highway miles. New tie-rods, brakes, brake master cylinder, alignment & balance (all from great shop with great rep) have failed to eliminate the problem. It comes on suddenly at highway speeds, usually in cold weather (below 20); but not necessarily in snowy conditions. Slowing down to 30/20 mph does not stop the shudder (though it slows and reveals itself as a fierce twitch to the right). Eventually the shudder is accompanied by a rhythmic scraping sound somewhere in the left front wheel well, which maybe is there all along but inaudible at higher speeds.
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