Power Steering Heavy R32 GT-R : Troubleshooting and Fix

OEM R32 GT-R Hicas pump. The front port here has the adaptor, valve and spring removed

This one was a bit of an odd one.  This car had just recently been redone (engine rebuild, engine bay paint), and the Hicas was removed. The OEM pump was rebuilt, but after the steering was heavy at low speed. At less than 2000 rpm and low speed the steering was very heavy. Just about too heavy to really move the car around. 

Valve and spring out of an OEM Hicas pump on the left. On the right the one we took out of this car. The one on the right also shows some scoring on the valve. If we get some time, we will see if we can take it apart to look at the internals. 

The rebuilt pump was replaced with another rebuilt pump, and they still had the same issue.  The customer brought the car by for us to have a look at. Ernie and Wakita were both here, so we bounced some ideas around. Wakita suggest that unplugging the solenoid on the rack, the steering will be light all the time. Ernie unplugged it with no change in steering effort.   We also noticed that when turned hard to the lock, you wouldn't hear the pump bypassing internally.

We put the car on the lift to do it a look over. To see if we could make sure all the lines were going the right places, nothing crushed or out of place. Check and make sure nothing was binding.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. On the lift, tires in the air, steering was light.  So my thought was that maybe the bypass valve might be bad/wrong. 

Left valve and spring is original. Right is one that came out of car

Ernie swapped the valve over, and steering was back to what is normal for an R32 GT-R.  We are going to have a look at the valve that came out, and talk to a few people to see if they have seen similar things. Overall pretty odd. Especially with two rebuilt pumps. 

I also checked to see if the front and rear valve/springs out of a Hicas pump were different, and they both appear to be the same. 

R32 power steering pump with HICAS. The pump is inverted in this picture to how its mounted in the car. 

TwoSix Engineering Power Steering Pump bench test - https://www.gtrusablog.com/2020/02/gtr-r32-power-steering-pump-test-bench.html

Nissan Skyline power steering system information and troubleshooting.  https://www.gtrusablog.com/2017/05/nissan-skyline-power-steering-system.html

Buy USA Legal R32, R33, and R34 Skylines at Toprank Importers!
Index and Start Page
Nissan Skyline Parts and Toys