Steering locked while driving

[Rocksalt]

seems to be a very troubling and unique situation I wonder if it is an electrical ground issue as the steering pump is based on that.
A side note: my 2020 still has aluminum pump 24k miles, driven in -30 temps... never an issue.

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[dcmdon]

seems to be a very troubling and unique situation I wonder if it is an electrical ground issue as the steering pump is based on that.
A side note: my 2020 still has aluminum pump 24k miles, driven in -30 temps... never an issue.

That's a good idea, the bump of the kick down impacts something that isn't as tight as it should be.

For what its worth, we have some undeveloped land up here with a 1000 ft driveway. I ran it down that driveway at 30 mph with the truck hammering and bumping pretty well. no problems.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That's a good idea, the bump of the kick down impacts something that isn't as tight as it should be.

For what its worth, we have some undeveloped land up here with a 1000 ft driveway. I ran it down that driveway at 30 mph with the truck hammering and bumping pretty well. no problems.

I'd hook something up to it - perhaps tazer, jscan, AlfaOBD, whatever, and take it for a drive and force the issue and look at logs. There are TSBs out there about lost communication with the steering - remember, it's EHPS - the pump is electric, it's controlled based on current conditions, likely load, speed and so on. The TSBs indicate there's a code that shows up with there's "lost communication".
A bad ground alone should show up with severe bumps, engine movement due to torque, etc. ...but.......... as I've seen doing auto-electric over the decades, never say never when it comes to some of these things. Since the are electrical components all over these things, everywhere you look, grounds are everywhere and critical. The engine itself must be grounded extremely well because the alternator is attached to the engine and you can have 200 amps from that alternator - the positive output is taken care of via large enough cables but what about having to ground that much current out of the alternator?
How is the PS pump grounded?

Still, I'd connect something to it, and see what's coming up when it happens as far as any codes and so on. Transient issues don't always request MIL be set but should still show up in the system.

 

[NatForest Glad]

So today I had an interesting thing happen.

I was driving back from the ski area to my house in NH. It was 10 deg out. The truck was warmed up and I was following a car going 30 in a 50 zone.

So I stomped on the gas and passed it.

As soon as the transmission kicked down I lost my power steering. No big deal I'm going 50 mph and I"m using "Armstrong" steering. I'm annoyed but not worried.

After 5 minutes I put my signal on and begin to pull over thinking I'll restart the truck and "reboot" it and hopefully get my PS back.

As I decelerate through 30 mph the PS comes back. Hmm. I step gently on the gas and accelerate away.

At about 40 mph I decide to see if I can consistently reproduce the problem. So I stomp on the gas, the transmission kicks down and I lose my power steering again.

This time I decelerate slowly, trying to find when it kicks beck in. At precisely 30 mph the PS came back.

Now I'm wondering if its the speed or the kick down that it is causing it. So I gradually accelerate to 70 mph, faster than I've gone so far and no problem. I slow back down to 50 and floor it and the PS fails again.

So now I know that flooring it causes the problem. I wanted to try one more thing and put it into manual 3rd gear at 6000 rpm. I floored it (with no kick down) and the PS functioned fine. Then I put it in D and it shifted to 7th gear. When I floored it again it kicked down and the PS failed. I gradually slowed and it came back at 30 mph.

Hmm. So now I pretty much know that flooring it with it kicking down causes the PS to turn off and slowing to 30 mph brings it back.

I then pulled over to the side of the road and shut the truck off for 30 sec and restarted it. I tried to reproduce the problem and could not.

Thoughts?

Don

This is very good info. I like the testing you did and shared. I have not had the problem in about a month but will test the same way and also remember to do the same testing if the PWS loss happens on its own.

 

[ShrimpHappens]

So today I had an interesting thing happen.

I was driving back from the ski area to my house in NH. It was 10 deg out. The truck was warmed up and I was following a car going 30 in a 50 zone.

So I stomped on the gas and passed it.

As soon as the transmission kicked down I lost my power steering. No big deal I'm going 50 mph and I"m using "Armstrong" steering. I'm annoyed but not worried.

After 5 minutes I put my signal on and begin to pull over thinking I'll restart the truck and "reboot" it and hopefully get my PS back.

As I decelerate through 30 mph the PS comes back. Hmm. I step gently on the gas and accelerate away.

At about 40 mph I decide to see if I can consistently reproduce the problem. So I stomp on the gas, the transmission kicks down and I lose my power steering again.

This time I decelerate slowly, trying to find when it kicks beck in. At precisely 30 mph the PS came back.

Now I'm wondering if its the speed or the kick down that it is causing it. So I gradually accelerate to 70 mph, faster than I've gone so far and no problem. I slow back down to 50 and floor it and the PS fails again.

So now I know that flooring it causes the problem. I wanted to try one more thing and put it into manual 3rd gear at 6000 rpm. I floored it (with no kick down) and the PS functioned fine. Then I put it in D and it shifted to 7th gear. When I floored it again it kicked down and the PS failed. I gradually slowed and it came back at 30 mph.

Hmm. So now I pretty much know that flooring it with it kicking down causes the PS to turn off and slowing to 30 mph brings it back.

I then pulled over to the side of the road and shut the truck off for 30 sec and restarted it. I tried to reproduce the problem and could not.

Thoughts?

Don

You're not alone. Happened on my commute this morning. I was going 45-50mph and floored it to get through a yellow light. Lost the power steering, thankfully on a dead-straight 7-lane highway through town. I could change lanes, so I got over to turn off on a side street. When I got slowed down to turn, power steering came back.

Thing is, though, I floor it at least once a week (firm believer in redline therapy). BUT, when I do that, I'm going about 40 and go to the floor gradually. Today was probably the first time I've been at near-zero throttle and then stabbed it.

 

[dcmdon]

You're not alone. Happened on my commute this morning. I was going 45-50mph and floored it to get through a yellow light. Lost the power steering, thankfully on a dead-straight 7-lane highway through town. I could change lanes, so I got over to turn off on a side street. When I got slowed down to turn, power steering came back.

Thing is, though, I floor it at least once a week (firm believer in redline therapy). BUT, when I do that, I'm going about 40 and go to the floor gradually. Today was probably the first time I've been at near-zero throttle and then stabbed it.

Interesting. I've tried to reproduce it a couple of times since I "rebooted" and haven't been able to.

I still have to check the fuses. I keep putting it off because its such a pain in the ass to open the hood. Ha.

Its good to know that I'm not the only one. I wonder if there is anything like this on the much larger JLWrangler forum. I'm going to look.

 

[dcmdon]

HA!!

I just found this.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/recall-y-95-steering-assist-what-is-that.84603/

There is recall Y95 for the Wrangler that centers around PS failing at cold temps.

It was 5 deg when mine failed.

SHRIMPHAPPENS - what was the temp when this happened to you.

 

[ShrimpHappens]

HA!!

I just found this.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/recall-y-95-steering-assist-what-is-that.84603/

There is recall Y95 for the Wrangler that centers around PS failing at cold temps.

It was 5 deg when mine failed.

SHRIMPHAPPENS - what was the temp when this happened to you.

It was mid 20's F.

 

[Rocksalt]

It was mid 20's F.

I hope you all get it fixed

 

[IamPro2A]

I too hope the problem is found, but I can't help noticing the Y95 recall mentioned appears to ONLY apply to some 2018 model year Wranglers. If it covered newer ones, it would be more of an "ah ha!" moment.

 

[81Mojave]

Anyone with the manual transmission having this issue?

 

[dcmdon]

I too hope the problem is found, but I can't help noticing the Y95 recall mentioned appears to ONLY apply to some 2018 model year Wranglers. If it covered newer ones, it would be more of an "ah ha!" moment.

I didn't notice that it was only 2018 Wranglers. If this is true, then yes, much less of an Ah Ha moment. For now I'll keep driving it. I haven't been able to make it happen again.

Its supposed to be -10 deg F tomorrow morning. I'll let you all know what happens. ha.

 

[dcmdon]

I got on the road this morning and it was -18. I let the truck warm up for about 5 minutes before leaving. I waited about 15 minutes for everything to warm up and then stomped on the gas at 35 mph.

No problems. I repeated several times and still everything was fine. Interesting.

 

[dcmdon]

I had been driving around in NH this weekend. -6 deg F and I no problems when I stomped on the gas to pass someone on a 2 lane road.

Then this afternoon, 24 deg out and I can trigger it again at will. PS comes back every time at between28 and 30 mph.

I've only been able to reproduce it at highway speeds. Not at lower speeds.

 

[dcmdon]

I've documented a bit how my PS fails when I mat the throttle on the highway and then consistently returns as I slow through about 30 mph.

No lights or messages are triggered.

But I was wondering if any log entries might show what is causing this.

I know little about accessing logs on this vehicle. I do have a Tazer plugged in so I was wondering if this might be of use.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Having worked under the flat rate system, I just KNOW that this will not go smoothly if I just bring it into the dealer with nothing but an explanation and a video of it happening.

Thanks,

Don

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