Hicas Hell

[GTAAAH]

well obviously i shouldnt have posted this in forced induction but well, i wasnt sure which other one to post it in, it is electrical but its to do with ground components and stuff. any way

Basically what happens is i start the car and drive off. Steering all good, nice and light for a while, then it gets realllllllly heavy (after a random interval, usually 2-5 minutes), like as if i ran out of power steering fluid (which isnt the case) then about 30 seconds later i get the HICAS light. Then i turn the car off and on again and the steering is back to easy light steering after which it goes all heavy, then HICAS light, turn off car etc etc

Anyway its gotta be a electrical issue, right?

Can any one suggest anything, because i cant afford to take it to a mechanic and will drive it with no power steering if need be ;

[BHDave]

The hicas controller is getting no speed signal. i assume your speedo still works as you havent mentioned it, which means either the sensor on the back of the cluster has spat it, or someone has chopped the speed sensor input to the ecu.

[GTAAAH]

Yeh the speedo still works. The car was fine for quite a while (been driving it about a month no problems) until the other day it started messing up. But no speed signal = power steering not work? Just that if it was a problem with sensing speed, its unusual that it works randomly and once broken can be fixed by turning car off then on. I read somewhere that perhaps its my power levels on the battery or a alternator insufficiency. Any thoughts on that?

Also, what cluster do you mean?

Edited April 10, 2006 by r32 gts-turbo

[2443]

R32 HICAS is sometimes happned. So, the best way is you remove HICAS from a car because the rear power cylinder makes such trouble. Whatever you fit HICAS controller that can not help you.

[GTAAAH]

didnt want to remove hicas because, well, if i remove it and put the locking kit, without the HICAS i would have no power steering, right? (being that the hicas seems to control whether my power steering is working or not)

[BHDave]

It takes the car a good 5 minutes to realise it has no signal. Mine still throws it up occasionally if i have the car idling in the driveway for too long.

[GTAAAH]

ohh k i guess ill go search a workshop manual or something and try to find this "cluster"

thx

[BHDave]

instument cluster. The speed signal sender is on the back of the speedo.

[Hui]

Hi mate, i got sorta the same problem but mines electrical and i know exactly whats wrong with it. when im driving without too much load on the battery eg during the day all is good and hicas light does not come on unless i got the sysem really pumping or the a/c on in which case the hicas light comes on and the steering goes jerky. At night is the worst with lights on whenever i pump the brakes the hicas light comes on n the steering goes jerky. The problem is the alternator battery power is at 11.5 volts when under load but is at 13 with nothing on so in my case its the alternater causing the hicas issue took a while to figure it out. your case may be different but i hope this helps. If you got a multimeter check your battery voltage with the car running but no lights on etc should be around 13v then turn on your lights, a/c, stereo and it drops to say 11.5 - 12 its your alternator. Also measure the negative from the earth of your car and then the negative from your battery, if theres a difference from when you measure between the + and -terminals of your battery and from when you measure from the + of your battery and the earth of your car instead of the - on your battery then its a earthing issue. Hope that helps good luck

Edited April 10, 2006 by Hui

[map7]

I'm having trouble with my HICAS as well, but it's different again. Well slightly:

It all started yesterday when I changed the drivers side far right brake light. I took it for a short drive and everytime I hit the brakes the HICAS light would come on and I would loose my power steering. This is a big concern as I'm going away this Friday and I don't want problems.

After this short drive I returned home turned the car off for 5minutes and then back on and I've been on two 10minute drives since and it hasn't happened at all. The last drive I went on I put the A/C, highbeams on, pumped up the stereo, put on the demister, wiper blades and the batt didn't go below 12.5volts at all.

It's a sometimes problem that's only happened once and now it's scarying me.

Will I have full steering if it happens again?

Are there any more ideas to why it only happens when I brake?

Can it be disabled by removing a fuse? And would that disable the whole power steering or just the HICAS?

My speedo didn't drop as far as I noticed although I was going very slow and was more concerned about the light and lack of steering so maybe it was the sensor.

I wish the fault happened to a pattern, I hate these sometimes problems.

[GTAAAH]

thanks hui, gotta get home try this out

Hope i dont have to spend money buying a new hicas or some crap, its definitely electrical

Took it for a drive last night, with no stereo for 15 minutes, thrashing the car, goin slow, turning alot and no probs, so ill get get my alternator checkd out at the store round the corner

[Mr GTS4]

i just installed a gtr cluster in my gts-4 the other day and now no power steering. i think its to do with that little part i snipped off the back of the speedo.. oops

[PHATR32]

didnt want to remove hicas because, well, if i remove it and put the locking kit, without the HICAS i would have no power steering, right? (being that the hicas seems to control whether my power steering is working or not)

na the power steering works either ways.

Ive completly removed the hicas, and the steering is fine.

steve

[TokyoTaxi]

It takes the car a good 5 minutes to realise it has no signal. Mine still throws it up occasionally if i have the car idling in the driveway for too long.

LOL. Mine just did this yesterday !! Had the car for like 6 years and this has never happened and after reading this thread, it happens..... Was on phone while it was warming up and talked for about 8-10mins and then when I went to drive away, the HICAS light came on and no power steering. Turned it off, waited about 2 mins then turned it back on again and all sweet

Leson learned, more drivin and less talkin !!