R33 gtst heavy power steering fix!!

[Ty1]

Hey everyone! This isn't really a tutorial as such but hopefully this will help out other fellow skyline owners with this very annoying and sometimes misdiagnosed issue. After replacing all the seals in the power steering pump, replacing the fluid, all power steering hoses and tie rods/rod ends i was at my wits end. My issue had been going on intermittently for around 2 years but suddenly started to happen more often. In car parks and low speeds it seriously felt like driving a fu#@ing tank! There were a couple of threads which lightly touched base on this and recommended getting into the hicas diagnostics, which sounds like a painful process and really wouldnt be able to tell you a fault within the hicas ecu itself. Even with my hicas electronically locked, the ecu still controls the power steering. Most of you probably already know, but the hicas ecu is located in the boot just above the fuel tank. After pulling it apart on the weekend i could see straight away that 2 of the capacitors had leaked onto the board therefore giving my ps mixed signal(in the first pic its the 2 capacitors on the right with the brown corrosive gunk underneath them). i've attached some pics so others know exactly what to look out for [emoji5]

[PranK]

Nice find! 

[PranK]

So, whats the fix? New board? 

[Ben C34]

52 minutes ago, PranK said:

So, whats the fix? New board? 

Replace the popped capacitors. Cmon man!

[Ty1]

I Should of been more specific lol yes the capacitors need to be replaced which is like a $1 part and not a big job at all. Best to take it to someone who specialises in these sort of repairs unless your super confident with a soldering iron. With the board being made of fibreglass it can generally withstand a bit of corrosion and be cleaned up without damaging it. For anyone in brisbane, i took mine to pcb repairs at jindalee. Cant recommend them enough [emoji106]

 

 

[GTSBoy]

Welcome to R32s 5 years ago.