2004 NZE121 - Turning the steering wheel causes engine to stutter

sotf · Postby **sotf** » March 26th, 2017, 2:43 am

Hey Tuners,

I have experienced this at least 4 times, usually after starting the car. When I turn the steering wheel, I get fluctuations in the electrical power (light dim, deck cuts off, etc.) and the engine starts to stutter. On one occasion the engine cut off and all the settings on my deck were reset.

I have checked the battery and its connections, no issues. I carried it by an electrician and after doing some limited checks he said that he would need to see the problem in action to properly troubleshoot it.

Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions? Thanks.

anderson.. · Postby **anderson..** » March 26th, 2017, 9:38 am

You'll need to inform your electrician of any work done recently; like gps, alarm, music, anything. It sounds like a simple ground problem though; add an additional ground from battery to engine and engine to chassis. That oem baby ground the engine has probably broken, mabe where it jacks inn. If that doesn't help then get it scanned from the ecu. Don't play the guessing game and waste money.

sotf · Postby **sotf** » March 27th, 2017, 9:59 pm

Thanks for the feedback Anderson..

cueball1990 · Postby **cueball1990** » March 28th, 2017, 2:50 pm

i had something smilar but not as extreme as you. my compressor was going and when my ac was on it caused my lights to dim when i turned my steering. not sure if this might help but have you checked out your belt and alternator? maybe we can help you narrow it down. you can also check if all your fuses are alright just incase

ramishrrr · Postby **ramishrrr** » March 29th, 2017, 7:20 am

When your car is started, especially on mornings, the engine is put on a fast-idle mode to warm up fast and to permit drive-off.
The AC being on also puts the engine on fast-idle.
The NZE121 has hydraulic power steering, not electric like the NZE 141. This means that it has a steering pump and it takes power from the engine. Turning the steering to extreme left or right takes the most power.
If your engines' fast-idle is not working on startup, whether triggered by the cold-start or AC, then it will buck, misbehave or stall when you turn the steering, simply because the power-steering pump is taking power from a slow-idling engine.
Get your mechanic to check that.
Peace.
RR.

Skillys · Postby **Skillys** » March 29th, 2017, 7:31 am

ramishrrr wrote:When your car is started, especially on mornings, the engine is put on a fast-idle mode to warm up fast and to permit drive-off.
The AC being on also puts the engine on fast-idle.
The NZE121 has hydraulic power steering, not electric like the NZE 141. This means that it has a steering pump and it takes power from the engine. Turning the steering to extreme left or right takes the most power.
If your engines' fast-idle is not working on startup, whether triggered by the cold-start or AC, then it will buck, misbehave or stall when you turn the steering, simply because the power-steering pump is taking power from a slow-idling engine.
Get your mechanic to check that.
Peace.
RR.

Good info thanks

sotf · Postby **sotf** » April 1st, 2017, 2:20 pm

cueball1990 wrote:i had something smilar but not as extreme as you. my compressor was going and when my ac was on it caused my lights to dim when i turned my steering. not sure if this might help but have you checked out your belt and alternator? maybe we can help you narrow it down. you can also check if all your fuses are alright just incase

Belts seems okay and the electrician did not see any problems so far. As previously stated the problem seems to be intermittent so I will have to monitor.

ramishrrr wrote:When your car is started, especially on mornings, the engine is put on a fast-idle mode to warm up fast and to permit drive-off.
The AC being on also puts the engine on fast-idle.
The NZE121 has hydraulic power steering, not electric like the NZE 141. This means that it has a steering pump and it takes power from the engine. Turning the steering to extreme left or right takes the most power.
If your engines' fast-idle is not working on startup, whether triggered by the cold-start or AC, then it will buck, misbehave or stall when you turn the steering, simply because the power-steering pump is taking power from a slow-idling engine.
Get your mechanic to check that.
Peace.
RR.

My local NZE121 has the electric power steering. Some of what you stated, however, does apply to me. I have noticed the issue occurs not too long after starting the car. I recently replaced the fuel pump due to a hard starting issue. Could that have affected the fast-idle on startup? Thanks.

Sundar · Postby **Sundar** » April 1st, 2017, 2:40 pm

sotf wrote:
cueball1990 wrote:i had something smilar but not as extreme as you. my compressor was going and when my ac was on it caused my lights to dim when i turned my steering. not sure if this might help but have you checked out your belt and alternator? maybe we can help you narrow it down. you can also check if all your fuses are alright just incase

Belts seems okay and the electrician did not see any problems so far. As previously stated the problem seems to be intermittent so I will have to monitor.

ramishrrr wrote:When your car is started, especially on mornings, the engine is put on a fast-idle mode to warm up fast and to permit drive-off.
The AC being on also puts the engine on fast-idle.
The NZE121 has hydraulic power steering, not electric like the NZE 141. This means that it has a steering pump and it takes power from the engine. Turning the steering to extreme left or right takes the most power.
If your engines' fast-idle is not working on startup, whether triggered by the cold-start or AC, then it will buck, misbehave or stall when you turn the steering, simply because the power-steering pump is taking power from a slow-idling engine.
Get your mechanic to check that.
Peace.
RR.

My local NZE121 has the electric power steering. Some of what you stated, however, does apply to me. I have noticed the issue occurs not too long after starting the car. I recently replaced the fuel pump due to a hard starting issue. Could that have affected the fast-idle on startup? Thanks.

The fast idle is called a step up. This happens either from the ecu or a vacuum controlled solenoid. Not sure how your car has it but you should check that. Also verify your charging voltage with full load (lights and ac on)

jabs · Postby **jabs** » April 1st, 2017, 5:02 pm

Do a battery and alternator check too

Postby **Dave** » April 1st, 2017, 5:23 pm

The 1.5 came electric and the 1.6 and 1.8 came hydraulic.

cueball1990 · Postby **cueball1990** » April 1st, 2017, 8:34 pm

The nze 121 is steering electronic . The altis is hydraulic

cueball1990 · Postby **cueball1990** » April 1st, 2017, 8:40 pm

cueball1990 wrote:The nze 121 is steering electronic . The altis is hydraulic

To be specific the japanese ones are eletronic. The singapore are hydraulic. At least to my knowledge.

Kronik · Postby **Kronik** » April 10th, 2017, 8:19 pm

i had that same problem, but my battery relocated in the trunk, and my problem was that my fuse to the front had some issues causing minor voltage problems causing intermittent power steering loss, deck resets, lights dimming.

even after i fix that issue, the lights still dim a bit, looking to replace the alternator with a higher amperage one, hopefully that will solve it

cueball1990 · Postby **cueball1990** » April 27th, 2017, 2:43 pm

any update on the issue? i did a bit of research and found that a failing or faulty alternator could cause this problem. why not try servicing it and see if it helps