Bloody Hicas

[zertek]

hey guys,

quick and simple, on both my R32 skylines my hicas light comes on after about 5 minutes of driving then i lose my power steering, i can turn my car off and back on and it goes back to normal but quickly screws up again. lost for ideas on what it could be.... im getting rid of the hicas soon but for now i have a drift practise at mallala this coming saturday and i need power steering before then....

help

Edited February 11, 2008 by zertek

[Adriano]

You can do a diagnostic check with the hicas ECU

[Duncan]

almost certainly your steering wheel isn't on straight.

hicas computer thinks you have been turning right or left for 5 mins and goes into error mode.

Have you changed your steering wheel? Wheel alignment problem

[zertek]

i know that but i dont know how. might just remove it if i can source a lock bar before saturday. but im sure someone here knows how to sort this problem, ive heard about it happening in alot of imports with hicas...

[zertek]

almost certainly your steering wheel isn't on straight.

hicas computer thinks you have been turning right or left for 5 mins and goes into error mode.

Have you changed your steering wheel? Wheel alignment problem

YES!!! dude your a genious! stripped the car for drift and put the steering wheel back on a bit of an angle, was going to fix it later. that has to be it.... thanks mate u rock my sock

[Duncan]

lol i guess its good to have your socks rocked.

drive the car say 10m in a straight line to make sure 100% the road wheels are straight, then take the steering wheel back off and put it back on straight.

[zertek]

lol i guess its good to have your socks rocked.

drive the car say 10m in a straight line to make sure 100% the road wheels are straight, then take the steering wheel back off and put it back on straight.

yea done... but the freakin hicas is still packing its dacks... ill try wheel alignment next.

[heller44]

have you tried a hicas diagnostic to see what it brings up?

[Hibino]

Am having this exact problem.

Only recently bought the car so I don't know it's history but I'm guessing its stocko steering wheel (definately a nissan wheel) and 99% sure it's straight but will check tomorrow.

Will fitting a hicas lock bar (which I will be doing anyway) fix the steering going heavy? Or will I have to remove the whole hicas system?

Thanks a lot

[zertek]

found my problem just for thoes that were curious.

fitted the lock bar, looped the power steering lines, removed and unplugged the rear solenoid, filled P/S fluid, clipped the green hicas computer wire (to kill the hicas warning light) and somehow still had heavy steering. what all the tutorials i have read fail to mention is if you dont plan on removing ALL the hicas gear and just looping it at the back like i did. then there is a solenoid in your engine bay under your intake manifold that you have to unplug also... then reset the ecu. i did this yesterday and my steering is back to normal

[Shaun]

found my problem just for thoes that were curious.

fitted the lock bar, looped the power steering lines, removed and unplugged the rear solenoid, filled P/S fluid, clipped the green hicas computer wire (to kill the hicas warning light) and somehow still had heavy steering. what all the tutorials i have read fail to mention is if you dont plan on removing ALL the hicas gear and just looping it at the back like i did. then there is a solenoid in your engine bay under your intake manifold that you have to unplug also... then reset the ecu. i did this yesterday and my steering is back to normal

What do you mean by reset the ECU? The HICAS computer or the one behind the kick panel?

The reason i ask is because i have removed all the HICAS gear (i mean everything from under the car and in the engine bay, and the inpellers from the rear of the power steering pump), and i still have heavy steering. It'll drive ok for 5 mins as you said, then the heavy steering kicks in. Ive also got an aftermarket computer, so i cant reset the ECU if thats the one you meant.

Its not my steering wheel either.

Its pissing me off.

Shaun.

[bubba]

How odd.

I've removed all my HICAS stuff except the HICAS ecu in the boot. Hicas light on the dash is on but my steering is fine.

Does your speedo work?

[Shaun]

I just replied in the other thread. Yeah my speedo worked for a while, but the shaft on the sender just snapped (as outlined in the other thread). I understand that you need a speed input from behind the dash, so i did the navara modification thinking i'd found my fix. Unfortunately, while the speedo worked, my steering still didnt.

What about the solinoid at the rear of the car. I removed that and just left an electrical connection hanging there. Is that ok? Thats the only electrical thing i removed; everything else was pneumatic.

Shaun.

[bubba]

Hydraulic not pneumatic

I removed that solenoid also just leaving a plug there. The only thing I can tell that I did differently is that I haven't removed the impellors from the pump yet (which shouldn't make a difference), just looped it back into the resevoir.

My steering has been fine ever since I did it up until a couple of weeks ago when the needle snapped off the speedo. Put a new cable in when putting the 25 box in on the weekend along with 280k dash and steering is back to normal.

Oh, is the HICAS unit still plugged in? it's in the boot under the parcel shelf..

All I can think of that would flip the power steering out is loss of speed signal, hicas ecu disconnected and steering angle sensor off/screwed. When I put my boss kit on I noticed steering angle sensor thingo is a pretty fragile setup..

You may have already said but, how long has it been happening for? before or after you installed lockbar?

Edited February 12, 2008 by bubba

[sidewayssam]

How odd.

I've removed all my HICAS stuff except the HICAS ecu in the boot. Hicas light on the dash is on but my steering is fine.

Does your speedo work?

is the hicas ecu that little box with wires next do the rear window wiper motor just under the parcel shelf, i was looking at it the otherday and was wondering what it is

[sidewayssam]

Oh, is the HICAS unit still plugged in? it's in the boot under the parcel shelf..

oh didnt see this

[Shaun]

Hydraulic not pneumatic

I removed that solenoid also just leaving a plug there. The only thing I can tell that I did differently is that I haven't removed the impellors from the pump yet (which shouldn't make a difference), just looped it back into the resevoir.

My steering has been fine ever since I did it up until a couple of weeks ago when the needle snapped off the speedo. Put a new cable in when putting the 25 box in on the weekend along with 280k dash and steering is back to normal.

Oh, is the HICAS unit still plugged in? it's in the boot under the parcel shelf..

All I can think of that would flip the power steering out is loss of speed signal, hicas ecu disconnected and steering angle sensor off/screwed. When I put my boss kit on I noticed steering angle sensor thingo is a pretty fragile setup..

You may have already said but, how long has it been happening for? before or after you installed lockbar?

Im an idiot; i meant hydraulic.

Yeah, i removed the rear impellers, but i should have looped the rear back into the reservoir via the piece of pipe that runs in front of the radiator that acts as a cooler. I dont think it wold make a huge difference though.

The hicas computer is still plugged in.

The stering wheel boss is a hicas one and was working ok for several years before i removed the hicas. I suppose it could have broken though.

The problem is, i removed the hicas hardware and installed a lock bar when i was doing major mods which included an engine swap with aftermarket computer etc, so its hard to pinpoint a possible cause. When i finally got the car on the road after the engine/gearbox/computer conversion, the steering was heavy. Are there any other sensors that would affect the steering if broken? Oh, my hicas light is always on. Can you just cut a wire (green?) on the hicas computer to get rid of the light?

Shaun.

[bubba]

I'm out of ideas dude, as for cutting wires - I don't like doing that I'll just pull the globe out of the dash when I can be bothered

[1400r]

Ive got no hicas stuff left in my car at all

hicas lines removed and redirected in the engine bay, s13 on hicas rear craddle and hicas computer unpluged in the boot to get rid of the light

I also get heavy steering sometimes (not every time I drive for longer than 5 min)

however I think it may be the little solenoid on the steering rack itself

as when I did the 25 swap I had to redo the wires to it and just crimped them together ( I know )

other than that the only thing I can try is plugging the hicas computer back in and cutting the orange wire (Salad's "how to" on NS)

to get rid of the light and see if that makes a difference

[Shaun]

Ive got no hicas stuff left in my car at all

hicas lines removed and redirected in the engine bay, s13 on hicas rear craddle and hicas computer unpluged in the boot to get rid of the light

I also get heavy steering sometimes (not every time I drive for longer than 5 min)

however I think it may be the little solenoid on the steering rack itself

as when I did the 25 swap I had to redo the wires to it and just crimped them together ( I know )

other than that the only thing I can try is plugging the hicas computer back in and cutting the orange wire (Salad's "how to" on NS)

to get rid of the light and see if that makes a difference

Yeah, im out of ideas as to what the problem is in my car. It pisses me off though. My car has been off the road for about 4 years while ive been doing major mods; should be getting tuned next week though, so ill be looking for a fix then. Ive just driven it off boost (and unregistered) in my street last week, and noticed the heavy steering after a few minutes of driving. If i knew id have these problems, i dont think i would have disconnected it.

Shaun.