Perfect. Good to know these things. I've been teetering on the edge on and off for years ever since I drove one around a car park, manoeuvred etc and found it was was superb. I should have found an excuse to take it for a spin on the open road.
I'm just an idiot as far as cars go. lol Why is it then that cars I've had are virtually unsteerable at low speed without the assist? Its not just tyre drag... or is it?
I'd expect a hydraulic assisted steering setup would be harder to turn than non-assisted with the engine off, as you not only have to overcome the mechanical drag of the steering components and the tyre scrub, you also have to push the hydraulic fluid around (a bit like moving a shock absorber)
Because it retains all the original parts, it just effectively adds assistance to the column between the box and the steering wheel. As above I would imagine any vehicle designed with PAS would have gearing and components all set up for it and not designed to work without it.
I'm trying to remember how I got to the garage when it sprang a leak on a french car I had. Maybe it was just groaning but still working.
I had a Peugeot 309 that had a slow PAS leak. OK until I went to the airport for 2 weeks holiday, got the car back and it was extremely hard to steer at low speed. I suppose the steering geometry is set up for stability rather than ease of steering with PAS. So when PAS is retro fitted to a vehicle that is designed without PAS , so less self centring (even a bus) it may well end up a bit floatier than ideal.
I test drove a car yesterday for my eldest daughter that had electric power steering I couldn’t believe how easy it was to turn the wheel even when stationary Far far easier than hydraulic power steering It was quite unnerving for a while.
I've had a few hire cars through work with this, it always takes my body a minute or two to readjust to driving the bug the next day!
I would agree that my Litesteer has less self-centering, and is a little light if I’m being picky. Just tweaked the steering box adjuster a little and it has made a difference, but I still have some cumulative play in the system, likely not helped by sitting at a lower angle on the ball joints due to being lowered on an adjustable beam with standard spindles etc. , I think that also affects the caster angle as it sits lower in the arc, which I’m sure affects straight-ahead stability, something I keep forgetting to investigate. But I’m happy with my Litesteer, it just makes it easier to live with. Talking about regular hydraulic PAS, my ‘04 Subaru WRX wagon is really heavy by design even assisted, lovely feedback, but trying to turn it without power assistance is a nightmare.
Would be the same as any other car with electric PAS: steering still connected, but no assistance. Same situation with hydraulic PAS.
Just to get @mikedjames all hot and bothered, the satellite receiver is a UBlox SAM-M8Q-0-10... https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/sam-m8q-module Look at the MOVs on that. Pfwoor!
Our car has different modes so the epas can be light (comfort mode) or heavy (sports mode). The Touran we have has no adjustment.
That's just the speed sensor, producing say one output pulse per mph. I daresay you can communicate with it, but over a digital (say I2C) link. No knob-twiddling. The other half is the honking great motor controller/torque sensor in a big box with a heatsink on it.
Those MOVs would be be better as TVS diodes as every time you "use" a MOV with a voltage spike it wears out a little eventually shorting out and blowing the fuse all the time.. The 8th generation ublox is good, its just a pity the antenna is likely to be shielded as its internal to the unit- the uBlox 8 on top of my dash in my GPS speedo/average speed display doesnt always get signal.
one less step in installation? will keep working even if you've broken the speedo cable... unless you're in a tunnel obvs.
