---help!-- Pwr Steering Totally Dead!

[sethaiyaar]

Ok im going right to the point, ill edit and make it nicer later on.

2003 coupe, 5AT.....

Drove down from work normally today, after nearly getting home (500m to go) i was rolling down the hill in Neutral and when it came to turn

right on the round about to my street i put it into drive and took the turn, all sweet...3 seconds later the Steering totally dies and becomes as heavey

and "un-turnable" as it is when the car is turned off. I pulled over, shut the car down and started it up again, same thing.

The car, turns on perfectly, it shuts down, all electrics working, it moves forward and in referse and revers properly....the only two things different about

it is the Handbrake and Battery light are left on when the car is started.

I have disconnected the battery and reconnected it but nothing has changed.........Please guys i need all suggestions on this, all the V-Skyline section gurus

and everyone else to chip in info to help me out. Tomorrow is Sunday will try and call around.

Edited October 16, 2010 by sethaiyaar

[Chris Rogers]

alternator is a possibility. got a multimeter? 13.8-14.3V on the battery?

[sethaiyaar]

Thank you, i will check it in the morning when my mate brings back my multimeter......anyone else with any other suggestions?

been going crazy over google and it seems Handbrake+battery= Alternator

........but would the alternator problem mean the steering would fail?

Edited October 16, 2010 by sethaiyaar

[mosoto]

Ok im going right to the point, ill edit and make it nicer later on.

2003 coupe, 5AT.....i was rolling down the hill in Neutral

Your First mistake right there. You want to kill your transmission, carry on coasting in neutral.

quote from another site:

The tranny hydraulic pump is driven by the input shaft from the torque convertor. Therefore if the output shaft is spinning at 50mph and the engine is idling it won't be delivering the required pressure to the tranny. It's the same as running your engine at 3000rpm with an oil pump delivering 1000rpm of oil pressure. The result is increased wear, burnt tranny fluid and a premature visit to the tranny shop

As for the Powers steering............Do you still have a belt on the pulley?

[Chris Rogers]

thats a fair point as well. I thought those ran one belt though.

[sethaiyaar]

Your First mistake right there. You want to kill your transmission, carry on coasting in neutral.

As for the Powers steering............Do you still have a belt on the pulley?

Really? wow...i sound like a really stupid n00b but i didnt know that.

I will go check that right now....just finding pics of where the steering belt is.

[mosoto]

2003_belts.pdf

[mjay]

you were moving in neutral then popped it into drive? ugh...

and yeh had a similar problem where those lights were on and it was the alternator... although power steering was still good..

did lose power steering like that once though on another car and it was cause the belt popped off..

my guess is you lost the belts for the alternator and power steering...

[180 wanabe]

the only things I think that can kill your power steering all together are

1. Belts poped off or broken

2. no power steer oil in your system

more than likley option 1 if you havent changed your belts allready

speaking of which my cars go 80k on the clock and the belts are looking cracked. the AC one even has a chunk out of it so im getting new ones when I get my larger radiator installed in the next week or so

[180 wanabe]

Now that I think about it the alternator and the power steering both use the same belt so sounds 99% like the belts busted or poped off

[sethaiyaar]

Ok guys, thanks for all your replies and you guys are right...when i had a look this morning one of the belts had snapped off and the other one i guess

got dislocated because of the first one. It explains why i don't have any steering.

As for the alternator i still haven't got my multimeter back!! but i have a good feeling its not the problem. Being a Sunday everything is closed so on Monday im taking a day off and getting my belt from Nissan. Anyone know how much it costs to get a mechanic to do it? (i'll have to factor in 60-80bucks for towing...hmm might take up NRMA roadside assist and get them to tow it...25kms free)

Thank you so much for all your advice and it seemed to be right. My bad mistake i should have changed them when i noticed one of them a little cracked and frayed. LET THIS BE A WARNING TO EVERYONE ELSE!!

[sethaiyaar]

you were moving in neutral then popped it into drive? ugh...

and yeh had a similar problem where those lights were on and it was the alternator... although power steering was still good..

did lose power steering like that once though on another car and it was cause the belt popped off..

my guess is you lost the belts for the alternator and power steering...

lol yeh thats exactly what happened..."ugh..." hahaha i sense the disgust....nah it was the belts. Hopefully not too pricey.

[mosoto]

Ok guys, thanks for all your replies and you guys are right...when i had a look this morning one of the belts had snapped off.

As for the alternator i still haven't got my multimeter back!!!!

No probs m8. I think you will also find broken belt = Alt light. The PS belt drives the alternator hence I don't think you'll have a problem with the Alt once you replace the belt. You might need to give your battery a bit of a charge though.

Edited October 17, 2010 by mosoto

[sethaiyaar]

Orright, looks like the situation has been resolved.

Its 100% the belt, i have a mobile mechanic a kind of know and he is only charging $50 for the replacement. So tomorrow i will go and get my belts.

After trolling our fair comprehensive "Belts" section i will be looking for OEM Nissan or Bando.

For something that i should/would have done anyway it wasn't as expensive as i thought. Thank god its not an alternator!!.....RMBR TO CHECK YOUR BELTS!!

[R6n350GT]

Good to know, thanks for updating everyone.

Just a quick Q, can rolling in neutral with a manual do damage or pushing clutch in with traffic being bumper to bumper??

[mosoto]

No, but coasting in Neutral is also considered unsafe. Coasting with the clutch in is only going to wear out the thrust bearing faster but not impact on a manual tranny

[GeNOS]

what i wanna know is WHY hell you would be coasting in neutral anyways?!?!?!

[V35_Paul]

Maybe he was running low on fuel and was coasting home so he would make it.

But he didn't making it and we learned a lesson. Don't coast in an auto

[sethaiyaar]

what i wanna know is WHY hell you would be coasting in neutral anyways?!?!?!

lol getting a little edgy there eh GeNOS?.....nah it was a hilly area and since i was on the top of it, i thought id coast it all the way home. Lol like paul said, lesson learnt.

[GeNOS]

hardly edgy.

just find it funny that people think it will save them fuel