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As you know, I was overseas for three weeks. My car was not being driven for the entire time. I started driving it again today and for some reasons, the steering wheel feels harder to turn. It could be a psychological thing since I drove with a different car while overseas and that car's steering wheel was extremely easy to turn. It felt like it almost had no feedback. Anyways, is it possible for the steering column fluid to solidify after prolong period of sitting in the driveway?

I just can't shake the feeling there is something wrong with it. Please help!

Power steering might be knocked out. That happened on one of our govt vehicles and it wasn't fun.

But what could have knocked it out if it was just sitting all this time? I'm almost tempted to say it is psychological, haha. Really, are you sure it's harder to turn than before? Do you get any kind of strange feedback during the turning of the wheel, like a grinding or something?

Is your car making strange sounds when you start it? You can always tell that there's something wrong with your car if it makes weird sounds. My family has a third car that we rarely use; it can go months with out being started or even touched and well... I don't see any problems with it. If anything the brake pedal is really touchy from what I've seen pulling it out of the driveway to wash and such.

It might not be in my place to say this; but from what I've seen, different cars have different steering wheel weights. My Avalon's wheel is really light, I can turn it with one hand but at the same time it isn't as responsive as the Accord where the steering wheel is a bit heavier. Maybe you just have to acclimate yourself to your Corolla. It's been a few weeks since you last drove it, your car probably missed you while you were in China and this is it's way of saying welcome back.

Sometimes things just break. The vehicle I referenced didn't have any sort of problems before the power steering crapped out.

Perry, take this as an opportunity to exercise your upper body strength.

The only experience I've had with power steering going bad from not being used was a unique situation where my Jetta's battery had ruptured while I was gone for a month. Everything still worked but the battery's acid had corroded the power steering reservior and hemmoraged all the ps fluid while I was driving so I didn't notice anything. When I came back my ps was shot and making all sorts of looney toons machine breaking down noises. I was frustrated but I couldn't help but laugh because the noises literally sounded like cartoon foley effects. If your car is not making noise you might want to check that your PS fluid just isn't low.

The Z had been sitting unused for 6 years and its ps is the one that got put in 30 years ago. It still worked normally until I removed it to save space.

This post has been edited by JKaiba on Apr 16 2012, 07:42 AM

I really don't think that the power steering on a Camry would just fail out of the blue from sitting. Check the power steering fluid level as per the manual's instructions and make sure you have enough. You could just be low on fluid.

If the level is okay and it's not making any strange noises, write it off as psychological.

I guess the real question, what did you drive in China?

Fulwin?

QQ?

Are the tires on your car here noticeably stiffer than those on the car over there?

My winter tires turn way more easily than my summers do, a difference noticeable even at speed.

That's kind of what I am alluding at. Chinese made cars ran stupidly narrow tires.

Oh my, I didn't even think of that. Check your tire pressures as well, Perry. Your car has been sitting for quite a while on those tires, so they're due to be checked to make sure they're all within spec.

Tire pressure seems solid visually and by touch. There is no noise or any audible sound whatsoever when I turn the wheel or when I start the car. Here is how it feels like: when I drive at low speed (0~30mph) It feels like the tire had only 20psi (think severely under-inflated) and when I drive at highway speed (50~65mph) The wheel wants to remain center and it feels like power steering is completely gone. It takes quite a bit of strength to exit ramp or change lanes.

I am going to take it to the dealer to have it diagnosed tomorrow.

you can be low half your pressure and the tire will still look and feel the same.

and protip: most cars shut off power steering at a certain speed.

Indeed - additionally, at higher speeds, you wouldn't be able to tell if a car had power steering or not, they all feel the same

Visual/feel inspection is useless, Perry. As an example, the tires on my mom's PT Cruiser were at 30 PSI all around and the car handled horribly and bottomed out on the front. You couldn't tell by feel. Inflating them to 35 PSI (as per the manual) relieved all those problems.

Why don't you have a pressure gauge and pump handy? I'm going to laugh when the dealer charges you a $125 diagnostic fee to inflate your tires back to spec.

You should check your tire pressures with a gauge instead of by feel. Whenever I check the tires, my dad tells me to recheck them with the pump. It's a lot more accurate. If you don't have one handy in your car then you should go out to get one, they're not too expensive. Basic car maintenance tools are a must have especially if you don't want to deal with those outrageous dealership fees.

When at a rest are you still able to (relatively) easily move the wheel around with one hand?

Isn't that generally a bad idea because it puts serious stress on the power steering system?

Should be fine. Cars are made to do this, and it's how many people park and do 3 point turns.

When at rest, it is very hard to turn with one hand. That's how heavy and stiff it has gotten. I will take your advice to not take it to the dealership yet. I will probably bring it in to a shop where I know the owner personally and have him check on it first. During a research session, I've found this...

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/132-9th-...g-2005-xrs.html

Same make, same year, even same mileage range (90k~100k miles)!! (different model though) So that guy was able to fix the problem a new battery. I will be sure to remind myself to have that checked also when I bring it in the shop.

Indeed, generally it does put a bit more stress on the system than normal. Its def not something you should do on a "regular" basis, but a once in awhile thing will be alright. Specially on a car with relatively narrow tires.

As for you perry- It def sounds like something it heading on its way out. The pump in all likeliness. The link you cited confuses me a bit. Theres not many reasons why the battery would effect the hydraulic PS system at all- Unless for some reason the low-voltage of the battery was disallowing the use of a sensor required to activate the PS system, if it was on an electronic control (not familiar enough with the car to know if this was the case). Ill give it a more proper read tomorrow when I have the time. Its a good idea to take it to a trusted mechanic however, isntead of the stealership.

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Oh shit. Does your car have an electric power steering system like the S2000? I didn't even think of that. I'm so used to assuming that power steering is hydraulic.

EDIT: Come to think of it, even my SVX had a system that was partially electronic. It sensed what speed you were at, fed it into a computer, and the computer regulated pressure to the power steering system to change the steering feel at different speeds. If your car even had something like that, a malfunctioning computer or speed sensor or a shoddy power system would do silly things.

This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Apr 17 2012, 09:31 AM

Bingo . Perry will just have to let us know what the mechanic finds once he gets it there. Cross the fingers and hope its cheap

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