Hey guys, I'm just now clocking 63,000 miles, 5,000 of those with 20's and slightly larger o.d tires. With the new tires and rims, I've noticed the power steering lose power when I'm at idle, making a turn, or just sitting still playing with the wheel. Like it's working only half way. I've checked my fluid, and had a fresh replaced belt, but have no idea what else could cause this directly. Anybody have a clue? All help is appreciated.

 

bump.......

 

Mine's doing the same thing. I've got roughly the same milage, about 90000km. It just doesn't seem to have the same power. Makes parking a real chore sometimes. If it goes, it better go soon, before the warrenty runs out!

 

I'm with you there! But I see it going out right as the warranty expires. Seems to happen alot. I'd like to enable a high idle feature or something, but it seems complicated to tie into. It just seems like it needs more rpm to run it now, because when I'm moving over 15mph it's just fine.

 

Anyone else have this problem? I have warranty but I don't see me being very happy at the dealership with 20's on my truck. I'm hoping it may be a small problem or a more common one?

 

Mine only does that when it's low on fluid. The steering boxes in these tend to leak a little. Use ATF, not power steering fluid.

 

http://www.pscmotorsports.com/

This is a link I saved from a previous thread regarding upgraded power steering pumps and boxes.

It seems like some people have an inordinate amount of problems with this issue, and most have no problems.

 

LongRanger, thanks for the link, that helps alot. Do you happen to know where azle, tx is? I noticed that they offer tech services, but I've never heard of the town.

 

Azle,TX is NW of Fort Worth on hwy 199 about 30 miles out.

 

Pretty simply put - your pump is having to work harder to move the larger wheels/tires, thus feels sluggish.

The pump is probably barely enough to move the stock equipment - when you change tire size, the lack of power becomes amplified enough for you to notice.

Mine does the same thing...no problems though - just not as easy to turn as before.

SQ

 

I've had three steering pumps on this truck. Doest look like PSC has anything for an 03. Any suggestions?

 

NY 07 with 17k on it does this since I changed to 35" tires. It never feels like it is going to lay down but it surges sometimes when at low RPM's

 

Well this takes me back to the high idle question. Since I have a smarty, can I enable it? I also have a 6-spd, so I heard there is more to it than just pushing buttons. Anybody know how to enable this and know if it would help any? Thanks again

 

I've been told that we have to ground pin22 on our ECM to get the HighIdle to work on our 6spd trucks. If thats what it takes I'm out. In addition I dont think high idle will work if the truck is in gear or if you mash the break or throttle . Not sure on the Dodge but my high idle would immediatley shut off if any of these things happened on the Ford I had. Darn computer!!!

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the full function of the high idle feature. And grounding an ecm pin is out of my territory, it just seems unsafe and unthoughtful.