Archives

So my GF gets off work late at night, and while our commute doesn't lend itself to P&G due to hills, apparently she's been taking advantage of the light traffic by FASing, shutting the car off on a longer downgrade and while coasting to the last turn in town before getting home. I was quite surprised to hear this as normally she drives like a banshee!

Anyway, to the point: she mentioned that the power steering glitched when restarting the engine at one point. As far as I can gather, this is what happened, exactly:

1) Turn key off
2) Turn key back to On position
3) Coast a while
4) Bump start to accelerate after making a turn

At this point, the power steering light was on, and she noticed she didn't have power steering. She shut the car off and turned it back on with the starter, and power steering was back.

A few nights earlier, she had done the same thing, except turned the key back to "On" just before bump starting, and apparently this didn't happen. I can't see what difference that would make, though.

This is a 2008 Mazda3s, 2.3 liter, MT of course. The power steering is a hydraulic system with an electric pump. Anyone experienced this?

For some reason on the mazda 3 the electric power steering pump will only kick back on after the vehicle has been turned off if the vehicle is going 20 mph or less. I have gotten used to driving w/o power steering plenty of times though as the mz3 is quite light...

Yep. Stupid programming. There's no reason for it to be that way, except someone thought they were brilliant.

If you bump-start at speed, it stays off until you drop below 20 mph. It's great when you hit that mark as you round a corner, and the power assist suddenly kicks in. If you're not ready for it, it can be a bit scary.

My bro-in-law has a 3s.

Ah, well that explains it. Thanks. I can definitely see how it would be unnerving to have it turn on while in a corner. I guess that's part of the benefit of electric power steering systems, though (even with hydraulic racks), the ability to turn them on and off while the engine is on.

Same thing was noted in our review of the Mazda3.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6215

Awesome, thanks. I hadn't seen that before.

I have an '08 Mazda3 2.3L 5spAT. I had to take it in after the power steering crapped out on me too, not by hypermiling though. Just normal gridlock/Pothole Hoboken,NJ traffic. It took a month for them to get the new pump and line under warranty. Apparently this is a common problem for '08 and '09 models, as the PS line can get dirty and stuck - something that would happen a lot I imagine if you're turning the engine on and off.

You probably won't have this problem if the shutoffs are more than 30 sec (like beginning to end of red light). Mine seemed to work fine after having the car shut off and parked for an hour, but they replaced it anyway.

I would love to convert my protege to power-less steering


...I didn't want to say "manual" steering as that would sound very redudant :eyebrow:.

Ah, well that explains it. Thanks. I can definitely see how it would be unnerving to have it turn on while in a corner. I guess that's part of the benefit of electric power steering systems, though (even with hydraulic racks), the ability to turn them on and off while the engine is on.

Yeah but this car handles so great who needs to turn @ less than 20 mph :woot:

Yeah but this car handles so great who needs to turn @ less than 20 mph :woot:

There is ALOT of truth to that statement. :D