Steering locks up mid turn, engine stalls

[jonesg]

Alright, so I had a bit of free time today, so I tried to recreate the problem again without getting on the busy road that my garage is right next to.

My gas tank is a little over half full, I tried driving around slow, faster, braking, multiple 3 point u-turns in both directions, etc. - no results, the car works perfectly. Then I parked outside in the sun and held the rpms at 2k to simulate driving, tried wiggling the wheel, tried fast turns, ac on, ac off, and just generally tortured the car and the steering for 15 minutes straight - absolutely no problem, the steering felt great and engine didn't even stumble.

So, to answer your questions guys, it originally happened during left turns for sure, but I remember that the engine stumbled once during a slower but tight right turn. I looked at the rack again and didn't see the solenoid. Also, Vida says I have a standard rack.

At this point, I'm questioning my own sanity. Maybe I get scared once the engine dies and I unknowingly push in the clutch, thus disabling power steering? Maybe it's primarily an issue of the engine stalling during turns, and the steering wheel "locking up" for a moment is just a symptom.

One thing I did figure out by removing the ACC belt is that something on the drive is likely bogging down the engine. With the belt on, if I quickly blip the throttle all the lights in the car dim and then go bright again, but once I remove the belt, the lights stay constant. I'm pretty sure that the alternator is not the issue since I had it fully tested and rebuilt this week - it had a bad freewheel and bearings. I spun the AC compressor pulley, clutch, tensioner pulley, and the power steering pump by hand and they all felt fine.

I'll pick up the power steering pump tomorrow and try it out, but I'm a bit skeptical. I'll try to check out the CEM connectors and try wiggling the wires with the engine on while I'm at it just in case it's a wiring issue. I'll try to do a test drive at a higher speed on the road tomorrow.

I'm just hoping that it's not the CEM that's going intermittently bad, because the car itself is probably not worth the money that the CEM replacement or repair would cost.

did they replace the alt pulley with a clutch pulley or a solid one.?
lights should be constant, unless the belt is slipping or the v regulator is not performing right.

once the engine dies the p/s pump stops, you get instant heavy steering.

[jonesg]

try this , it will rule out messing with the cem.

[firstv70volvo]

Alright, so I had a bit of free time today, so I tried to recreate the problem again without getting on the busy road that my garage is right next to.

My gas tank is a little over half full, I tried driving around slow, faster, braking, multiple 3 point u-turns in both directions, etc. - no results, the car works perfectly. Then I parked outside in the sun and held the rpms at 2k to simulate driving, tried wiggling the wheel, tried fast turns, ac on, ac off, and just generally tortured the car and the steering for 15 minutes straight - absolutely no problem, the steering felt great and engine didn't even stumble.

So, to answer your questions guys, it originally happened during left turns for sure, but I remember that the engine stumbled once during a slower but tight right turn. I looked at the rack again and didn't see the solenoid. Also, Vida says I have a standard rack.

At this point, I'm questioning my own sanity. Maybe I get scared once the engine dies and I unknowingly push in the clutch, thus disabling power steering? Maybe it's primarily an issue of the engine stalling during turns, and the steering wheel "locking up" for a moment is just a symptom.

One thing I did figure out by removing the ACC belt is that something on the drive is likely bogging down the engine. With the belt on, if I quickly blip the throttle all the lights in the car dim and then go bright again, but once I remove the belt, the lights stay constant. I'm pretty sure that the alternator is not the issue since I had it fully tested and rebuilt this week - it had a bad freewheel and bearings. I spun the AC compressor pulley, clutch, tensioner pulley, and the power steering pump by hand and they all felt fine.

I'll pick up the power steering pump tomorrow and try it out, but I'm a bit skeptical. I'll try to check out the CEM connectors and try wiggling the wires with the engine on while I'm at it just in case it's a wiring issue. I'll try to do a test drive at a higher speed on the road tomorrow.

I'm just hoping that it's not the CEM that's going intermittently bad, because the car itself is probably not worth the money that the CEM replacement or repair would cost.

did they replace the alt pulley with a clutch pulley or a solid one.?
lights should be constant, unless the belt is slipping or the v regulator is not performing right.

once the engine dies the p/s pump stops, you get instant heavy steering.

No way the lights should be dimming when revving the engine. Did the car have the stalling/stumbling problem before the alternator replacement? I'm wondering if the system voltage is getting low enough to cause an engine run problem. If you have a meter, measure the voltage across the battery terminals while a friend blips the throttle. Wondering just how low the voltage goes. Also wondering how the alternator or voltage regulator can change the current flow from the battery enough to lower the voltage and dim the lights.

Edit, just read about bad ground and alternator output low voltage. Also, could be positive cable to alternator, in any case might be a good idea to check out battery positive cable to alternator and battery to ground cable for any corrosion and resistance.

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/que ... -low-volts

[BalticBro]

Alright, looks like the new power steering pump did the trick and the car is now fixed!

One thing I noticed was that the hose clamp on the suction hose from the reservoir to the ps pump was loose and the pump was likely intermittently sucking in air and momentarily stalling the engine. I used to have stiff power steering almost immediately and stalling would follow shortly, but after replacing the pump (and the belt tensioner while I'm at it), power steering felt great and even did a 60km trip with 0 problems whatsoever. Hopefully, it's not a coincidence.

Also, I want to make it clear that the steering wheel didn't actually lock up. It was just extremely difficult to turn because the car pulled to the right due to crappy tires, and I was mainly making left turns. My bad.

As for the light dimming issue, I put a multimeter on the jump start terminal under the hood and saw a range of 14.2-13.5V, same with using the alternator case as ground. Interestingly, when measuring the battery under the trunk, I saw 14.0-12.2V so there's quite a voltage drop somewhere. All the battery terminals and everything are spottles btw and the battery is less than a year old.

I'll make a new thread about the light dimming issue to make it easier to find for anyone searching. Thanks to everyone who helped!