This happened to me when I first got the car. I held the wheel to lock and it killed the engine! Only happened when I was getting used to driving it. Now I know better and give it a little gas when I have it turned to lock. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
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1981 Mercury Zephyr
1996 Nissan Altima
Last edited by fox81; 12-05-2007 at 01:54 PM.
Reason: spelling error
It's because turning your wheel to lock puts a lot of strain on your power steering pump which in turn puts a lot of strain on the engine. That little 2.3 only had about 85hp stock (give or take 5-10hp) and that power steering pump is taking up a fair chunk of it even through normal turns. At idle, that engine MIGHT be putting out 25-30hp, and the power steering pump can easily require more than that when the wheel is turned to lock.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
And had the same problem with virtually every 4-cylinder car I've ever owned that had power steering and/or air conditioning... 2.3 Mustangs aren't nearly as bad as Saturn SL1s, lol at least the Mustangs have some torque.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
Some had a pressure switch on power steering line. Is that to prevent this? Not wired on my 2.3 conversion?
Yeah, that sensor was only on the 2.3 cars and it was supposed to raise the RPMs a little when turning the wheel tightly at slow speeds. The on on my car didn't work (even turned on the check engine light) but being used to the various quirks of late-80s & early 90s American 4-cylinder cars I automatically compensated with the gas pedal myself, a trick I originally picked up with a Saturn I drove for over a year.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
i thought the p/s pressure switch only shut the a/c off when you need more rpm. i think the IAC is dirty and i just cant open far enough,or fast enuff.
Then mine must be working fine then. cause this also happened when I first got the car. Still not knowing exactly how weak these engines are. I was driving in a very hilly area and my A/C shut off on me. So know I know it did it on purpose.
ahh, grab a can of throttle body cleaner and soak the crap out of the intake while it's running, this should be done at least once a year, carbon and oil deposits make the iac sticky and it cant move fast enough, i.e. stalling and erratic idle, the iac controls cold start high idle, and is only operating when the throttle plate is closed, so if it runs fine when driving and stalls and acts up during idle, it's most likely a iac, tps, or timing issue.
power steering causes engine stall? 
