i have a 997 synergy built race car . it is not a cup car . we are having problems with the power steering . in high speed corners or heavy brake zone corners the PS is stuttering or balking. it goes off and on in intervals of like half seconds . i know the pump is ok and there are no leaks . after the run the PS reservoir is extremely hot
any ideas as to the cause ??

 

Air in the system, did it ever run low and then you topped it up?

 

hmm, would air in the system be dependent on load? (OP mentions only in brake zone/corners.) i would think system air would be evident at any time...

can you describe symptoms a bit more? "stuttering"?

 

going into high G corners particularly down hill as you turn the wheel starts out feeling ok but then it gets really hard to dial in steering ,then all of a sudden it just truns and is easy . this repeats itself at short intervals until i unwind
thanks

 

ok, i'll explain this as best i can and i'd be willing to lay $ that it's the issue... a couple years ago, i had a set up/alignment that didnt "geometrically" work. whenever i would go over a big bump on the street, at speed, the force was strong enough that when the "normal" bottom of travel was reached, the drop links would stretch/bow, allowing even further travel past the normal bottom suspension point, then would restraighten thus locking the suspension in that bottomed out position. i.e. the force of the bump was enough to bend those links once allowing compression all the way down BUT the coil over springs weren't stong enough to re-bow the links allowing the return travel back up to normal riding position.

and when the suspension was locked, it was so low that the LCA (or something, i cant really remember) pinned against the toe/steering rod making it feel like no power steering. oddly, when this would happen i didnt even notice the ride height and spent weeks focusing my attn on power steering issues, electrical issues, etc. D'OH!

finally fig'd it out one day when i stopped the car right after a big bump and my "steering went dead" yet again. as i was sitting there, i played with steering wheel, turning left to right when all of a sudden, BAM! heard a loud noise and car nose sprung upward, power steering felt fine again.

i changed my geometry, switched to beefier drop links and have not had problem since. however i DID save someone's VIR weekend when his GT3 was doing the exact same thing on the track. he hit a gator - normally as we all do - but felt the exact same symptoms. limped into pits thinking he broke something after seeing the front end extremely low. i told him to get in car, turn wheel left/right. BAM!

 

thank you very much i will look into this