Recently I was driving home and I was approaching a green light where I had to make a right hand turn. As I slowed down to begin the turn, my steering instantly got tight, almost felt like it locked up, to the point where I could not turn it with one hand. I was still able to turn it but it was extremely hard. Once the turn was complete, the steering went back to normal. It was a little damp outside and I may have taken the turn a little too fast, so I chocked it up to possibly I loss traction or something. Next day I'm driving and it happens to me 3 more times. Each time again only happened on turns where I was already in motion and had to brake to slow down to make the turn. Luckily I was ready for it when it happened each time. Now that I'm aware of it I can still drive and control the car when it happens. It literally feels like the power steering cuts out. I get no lights on my dashboard from these incidences. I did replace the battery with an AGM one because I have aftermarket lights and other electronics, but all those electronics and aftermarket lights were disconnected at the time this happened.
Back story: Before I replaced the battery, a few months prior in the beginning to mid-winter, I had my aftermarket lights wired to my battery. I found them draining my battery and I would have to jump my car each time I needed to drive it. One day I was getting zero power to the car like if the batter was disconnected. I checked the battery and the clamps were tight on the terminals. I then shook the battery I would get power back, I would try to start it, but the starter wouldn't engage like it was a dead battery. So I would try to jump it with a battery pack. When I would try to start it with the battery pack jumping the battery, it still wouldn't start, but I would hear a weird electronic clicking noise coming form the engine bay. After a few attempts I noticed that the main negative cable that feeds the car was loose on the clamp. For context, the main negative cable is bolted onto the clamp that attaches to the battery terminal. Once I tightened that bolt, it was like my battery wasn't dead. Now I had new lights on my dash. My check engine light, traction control light and Hill assist light were all on. I assumed the systems were reset or something so I just cleared them with my OBDII scanner. Ever since, my car drove perfect and started up fine.
Now I don't know if my current issue with my steering was caused by my battery connection issue as I just described. Like I said before, I replaced that battery that I was having issues with with an AGM battery now, but the power steering issue still exists. And since its an electric power steering system, I'm down to thinking its the power steering control module, or the rack and pinion itself. I'm trying to avoid going to the dealership because that would be pricey and I already just had an event in my life cost me a lot of money while this was all happening with my car.
My next step is to replace the power steering control module, which luckily is in an accessible location in the engine bay.
Has anyone had a similar issue, or know of any other possibilities on what could cause this?
Back story: Before I replaced the battery, a few months prior in the beginning to mid-winter, I had my aftermarket lights wired to my battery. I found them draining my battery and I would have to jump my car each time I needed to drive it. One day I was getting zero power to the car like if the batter was disconnected. I checked the battery and the clamps were tight on the terminals. I then shook the battery I would get power back, I would try to start it, but the starter wouldn't engage like it was a dead battery. So I would try to jump it with a battery pack. When I would try to start it with the battery pack jumping the battery, it still wouldn't start, but I would hear a weird electronic clicking noise coming form the engine bay. After a few attempts I noticed that the main negative cable that feeds the car was loose on the clamp. For context, the main negative cable is bolted onto the clamp that attaches to the battery terminal. Once I tightened that bolt, it was like my battery wasn't dead. Now I had new lights on my dash. My check engine light, traction control light and Hill assist light were all on. I assumed the systems were reset or something so I just cleared them with my OBDII scanner. Ever since, my car drove perfect and started up fine.
Now I don't know if my current issue with my steering was caused by my battery connection issue as I just described. Like I said before, I replaced that battery that I was having issues with with an AGM battery now, but the power steering issue still exists. And since its an electric power steering system, I'm down to thinking its the power steering control module, or the rack and pinion itself. I'm trying to avoid going to the dealership because that would be pricey and I already just had an event in my life cost me a lot of money while this was all happening with my car.
My next step is to replace the power steering control module, which luckily is in an accessible location in the engine bay.
Has anyone had a similar issue, or know of any other possibilities on what could cause this?
