My girlfriends looking to buy a 03 wrx but one problem we have encountered in test driving it is the loss of power steering, its heavily modded with turboxs stage 4 with fmic.

The owner says its hooked up and that when the engine gets up in revs it becomes easier which it did but that also could have been due to the higher speeds we were at.

Now he claims its normal and hes not sure if it has underive pullys (which is the only way i would figure this to be true) but i was wondering if anyone else has encountered this or a simular problem???

He also said subaru looked at it and diagnosed no power steering pump belt or line problems, so what could this be???

thanks foe the help!

 

I don't agree with the owner about power steering loss, no matter what speed it occurs at. I had steering problem with my 2005 WRX just couple of months after I purchased it. It goes out when I'm making a left, with no regards with the speed I'm going at. It turned out that the steering rack is bad, so it was replaced. For this case, it could be another thing.

When I searched around at NASIOC.com, I read quite a few threads having same problems with PS loss.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't buy the car and go somewhere else.

 

Personally I wouldn't buy ANY car that is "heavily modded" Typically a car that is heavily modded has been driven hard. I'm not saying it was abused, but you know that it was driven really hard and wont be near as reliable as a stock subaru. Go somewhere else. Especially if the car is for your girlfriend.

 

i know it hasent been driven hard, im sure your thinking you could never know but im pretty sure being that hes running stage 4 without RA gears and the tranny is mint... for now, but as for the power steering lol...

 

^^^

Yea, but not having RA gears didn't stop him from having stage 4. I've not seen a person upgrade so much to that level then not drive it spiritedly in mind.

The power steering loss is not normal from any case that I've seen. I'm given an impression that it's a sign of power steering or steering rack going out.