I am still having a problem with my EF I6 Manual that i explained here early last week in that it is stalling when i have the steering wheel turned.

I can put the wheel lock to lock and it is fine however when i let go of the steering wheel after putting preasure on it the revs dip from the idle speed of about 800 rpm down to about 200 rpm and about 70% of the time the engine stalls.

This problem only happens at idle and just after i have turned the steering wheel.

This problem came about when i replaced my power steering preasure switch due to it failing and pumping out the fluid. When i replaced the switch it did it's job and kept the fluid in however i am not sure it is what's making the stalling problem or not.

I had the battery disconnected at the same time as i installed the switch which some guys reckon is the problem. They think that the ECU takes roughly a month after power loss to 'relearn'. The guy i bought the switch from said that the only time the switch adjusts the idle is when the wheel is at full lock.

When i was originally trying to diagnose the problem someone said that they had a mate who welded the switch hole shut after the switch failed. This made me wonder if the switch is even important to the cars performance.

What i was thinking about doing was just disconnecting the wire to the switch to see if it made a difference to the idle quality as it will still pulg the hole but wont be connected to the ECU wiring.

Before i tried this i thought i would post a few questions:

1. Does the switch only bump the revs at full lock?
2. How much in RPM is it suppose to increase when it kicks in?
3. Does it matter to the cars performance if the wiring to the switch is disconnected.
4. Has anyone actually tried this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Tim

i remember this yeh my friend who works on these alot said he,s had cars come in with low idle or to hi idle and it turned out to be the switch , he said it must complete a circut for the computer to hold the idle

So what your saying is that you can't just disconnect the wire to the switch and expect it to still idle?

i've had no power steering pressure switch for about a year just a plug and a bridge in the wires. got sick of replacing them. never had any problems and never had mine stall on me. and most inportant no more power steering leaks!

my driving habbit is also not to turn the wheels on the spot try to be rolling when turning your wheels. reducing wear on tyres and other steering components.

so if i leave the switch in but disconnect the wires and bridge the wires it will still drive ok?

excuse my ignorance but how do you bridge the wires?

the switch changes state every time there is pressure in the system, which is basically every time u move the wheel when stopped... if your only experiancing a problem at full lock id be looking at dirty throttle body etc as it'll just be the high load causing the problem...
the ECU will have slowly learnt to adapt as the throttle body got dirty, and now its been reset it expects everything else to be right... should only take 10 min to clean and id be doing that before i looked at changings switches etc...

There is no problem on lock it is after i turn the wheels at idle (or decelerating to a stand still with the wheels turned) that it looses revs...

So does bridgin the wires just mean to conect them together?

Ok,

So here is an update...I disconnected the wires to the power steering preasure switch and the problem has gone...

Makes me wonder if the problem is a faulty switch or the ECU doesn't like it for some reason?

If i don't bridge the wires when disconnected what is the outcome?

well if it works then i will try it ,mine started leaking a couple of days ago are they much to replace

I had a mate in cairns that just used to mig up the end of the hole and bingo no more oil leaks, half the taxis running around up there are the same (mainly due to him).

Id prefer to stick a plug in so it could be replaced at a later date if needed. Theyre a bit of a pain to get back in and i ended up making my own spanner to fight in the tight space. Ended up getting a reconned rack and got ford to slot that in soon after though

REPLACE THE SWITCH AND TAKE CAR AND GET ECU REPROGRAMED

The switch is about $70 for a genuine ford or about $30 at the wreckers. I picked one up off ebay for $23 delivered.

It is easy to replace. Just unscrew the old one and quickly screw in the new so that you minimize fluid loss...then simply top up the fluid.

There are in a weird spot but it isnt too had to get at it...i attacked it from the top but bent my hand up under it for the best access...

My problem after that was with the stalling on idle...after removing the wiring to the switch and treating the switch as basically a bung it doesnt stall at all. Though i am not sure what result this disconnection will have on the ECU/performance/ecconomy...

Any body know?

Tim

I just had trouble getting a spanner onto it :S Just my luck. The eb one isnt different is it?