Prophet

So when being a dink and sliding, and spinning out, in an empty lot near me, I have noticed the power steering will cut out and I get the system failure light and traction control light. Only way to fix it seems to be shut the car off and turn it back on. Things will be fine for a bit that it will happen again. Never happens any other time. I did a search and founds lots of other power steering related threads, but not on this specific issue. And before some one asks, yes the TCS/DSC system is off when I am doing this. And, I am sure some will think what I am doing is dumb, but, I am having fun and not hurting any one. Just learning better car control.

Any info on this would be great. Thanks in advance.

Razz1

Your ECU is programmed to go into safe mode.

Did you graduate from Tonka?

Prophet

No, from Illinois originally. You from the area?

So, as far as the steering killing, it's the "safe mode". Seems odd that a safe mode make the car harder to drive. Any way around it? Only seems to be an issue when I loose it and the car spins.

jasonrxeight

never had this issue before. something is not right.
check if you have coolant coming out the overflow tube on the expansion tank dripping onto the PS connector.

elysium19

iTrader: (1)

agreed... People slide and hoon all the time, the power steering should stay working....

Wingznut

iTrader: (1)

As in... You hold the button down for 8 seconds?

madmitchr3

I'm going to bump this thread seeing as how I've experienced the exact same thing. It's happened twice, both times it's been while I've been playing around with the traction control off and done a 180. The only fix is to turn the car off and on. Anyone figured this out?

godesshunter

Happened to me once during some hooning fun when I first got the car. After about 2 or 3 donuts back and fourth in a row it cut out. Stop, restart fixed it. Just figured it was some steering overheat protection or something. Never gave it much more thought than that. Its the only time I ever whipped it back and fourth like that. And the only time it happened.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Battery drain.

At low vehicle speeds, the electric steering assist is at it's highest, and the power demanded will noticeably exceed the amperage available from the alternator. This means that it has to pull from the battery. It usually doesn't persist long enough for normal driving to ever run into a problem about, but I could easily see that hooning would run the battery down far enough that there is no longer sufficient battery voltage to keep the power steering operational at the loads that the ECU is requesting. The alternator is still working, so the rest of the car seems to be fine. Just no power steering because the alternator can't put out enough and the battery can no longer supply the difference.

Just a theory.

madmitchr3

So this means that I'm not allowed to do donuts in my lightweight, rwd sports car? Hmmm...

RotoryVirgin

There's a feature that cuts off power steering if the wheel is turned too much while not moving. If you're whipping it around in place without moving the front wheels much or at all it could cut out when you try to change direction.

madmitchr3

Any idea what the point of that feature is? Also, I wonder if other cars like the MX-5 or BRZ's do the same thing? It just sounds like very odd programming to me.

madmitchr3

Another thing, I'm pretty sure when Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the 8 on Top Gear he was doing donuts and 180's without any problems.

RotoryVirgin

I didn't watch the review, but maybe he was doing wider donuts with the front wheels moving? I think the point is to prevent over stressing the power assist components when turning the wheel while stationary.

This is all speculation though. Even in a tight spin the wheels are moving, but one more than the other. I'm not sure what triggers the PS to cut out exactly.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

"Allowed" ? Allowed or not relates to permissions, and there isn't anything Mazda did that is telling you that you aren't allowed to do donuts. Your local police will probably tell you that you aren't allowed to, but Mazda doesn't have any say in that.


If you mean "I can't abuse my equipment to the point of breaking very expensive stuff", then I'm not sure what you are complaining about.

madmitchr3

Ok everybody relax, I'm not running out and doing donuts in the middle of the freeway. And as far as abusing equipment goes, I just find the whole power steering cutting out thing very bizarre. I've never heard of a car doing that before. What exactly is being accomplished by making it harder for someone to turn the wheel and try to essentially counter steer out of a tight drift? The whole point of me bumping this thread was to see if anyone had figured this out, clearly that's not the case. For all you know RIWWP, I could be messing around in my own private parking lot, no need to attempt to judge my driving habits. I don't really care why it does it at this point, it's not really an issue. Especially, since it obviously only cuts out during a more extreme scenario.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I don't see anyone condeming you or judging you, I'm just not sure why you think that Mazda has the ability to grant or deny you permission to do donuts.

My abusing equipment comment is just from the simple facts that doing donuts is very hard on your axles, diff, driveshaft, engine, cooling system, and tires. Having something simple like a power steering power cut happen before a diff shattering is probably a good thing, regardless of your opinion on doing donuts.



My theory is that is has nothing to do with programming, and simply that you are over-taxing the battery to the point that the battery can no longer provide the electrical current needed to power the steering assist motor, and it cuts out. There is plenty of evidence that at low vehicle speeds the power steering uses more current than the alternator can provide. Make poor battery connections with lots of resistance and try to drive around a tight parking lot and you will see what I mean. Power steering cuts out all over the place. Restore the connections and it's back to normal.

Doesn't sound too complicated to me. This isn't exactly common in a lot of cars simply because electric steering isn't common among cars in general, and it's even less common among sports cars.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Try being a hooligan instead of a hoonigan - see if that helps .

yokohamaboi

iTrader: (1)

This happened to my friends 09 R3 it will always cut out when we head to the ware houses. I would do the same stuff he does and mine never cuts out. I think this is a S2 thing and not for the S1. Mine's a S1 08.

godesshunter

Though it sounds theoretically correct, Not too sure. When doughnuting, the engine is typically at high rpm. Its the engine speed that determines charging output. Not vehicle speed.

madmitchr3

I've been chuckling about this for like 15 minutes now

poacherinthezoo

RIWPP's battery theory seems plausible. I know a similar issue was encountered by people driving the mazdaspeed6 during autocross events. I'm 99% sure that the MS6 doesn't have electric power steering, so the cause may be completely unrelated but it might be worth a look through the mazdaspeed6 forums.