[sedde]

Even though i tracked my car loads of times, it is maybe our local track isnt so abusive on the AWD, the RDU has yet to shutdown on me, and even though i will get an oil cooler from you guys, my problem is something else i am sure other users have.

I am having steering problems, as i am getting overheating and the steering locks up on me.
We do 30 minute sessions, and to avoid having it, i need to pop the hood and get the engine cover off, to leave it cool for the next 30 minutes so i wont encounter it again.

Do you have anything in the works for this ?


Thanks in advance.

 

[DBags18]

@Mishimoto


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Azampatti]

Even though i tracked my car loads of times, it is maybe our local track isnt so abusive on the AWD, the RDU has yet to shutdown on me, and even though i will get an oil cooler from you guys, my problem is something else i am sure other users have.

I am having steering problems, as i am getting overheating and the steering locks up on me.
We do 30 minute sessions, and to avoid having it, i need to pop the hood and get the engine cover off, to leave it cool for the next 30 minutes so i wont encounter it again.

Do you have anything in the works for this ?


Thanks in advance.

At the ford racing academy, they've used a plain tube to lead air from below to somewhere. I'm assuming steering rack.

 

[NitroBlueFTW]

One of us needs to sneak into the academy garage and get the scoop on the mods they've figured out. Bonus points for spy shots.

 

[sedde]

At some point i wanted to remove the headlights, but i didnt do it, i might try it the next time.

 

[DeltaT]

At the ford racing academy, they've used a plain tube to lead air from below to somewhere. I'm assuming steering rack.

These are pics of the power steering cooling mods on the RS in the museum/general meeting center part of the RS Adrenaline Academy:

By @The Hotness

The duct at the rack end:

And with the duct highlighted:

Looks pretty simple to duplicate, some ducting and a few tiewraps to hold it in place.

 

[NitroBlueFTW]

That looks simple enough. While it hangs a bit low for street use, that could be easy to mod around.

 

[NitroBlueFTW]

I keep wondering... since it's an electrical assist, could we stick heatsinks on the hotter bits, And blow air over them with some smart ducting(or even computer type fans for lower speed cars(autox)).

 

[DeltaT]

I keep wondering... since it's an electrical assist, could we stick heatsinks on the hotter bits, And blow air over them with some smart ducting(or even computer type fans for lower speed cars(autox)).

It's all doable but there are a lot of curved surfaces on that rack so you start getting into custom heat sink just to get a high surface area bond. Then you have to make sure they stay in place somehow. And it's a tight fitting area. Car crafting at its finest!

The fan/duct idea would be easier and has the advantage of doing some cooling while the car isn't in operation.

 

[Mishimoto]

Even though i tracked my car loads of times, it is maybe our local track isnt so abusive on the AWD, the RDU has yet to shutdown on me, and even though i will get an oil cooler from you guys, my problem is something else i am sure other users have.

I am having steering problems, as i am getting overheating and the steering locks up on me.
We do 30 minute sessions, and to avoid having it, i need to pop the hood and get the engine cover off, to leave it cool for the next 30 minutes so i wont encounter it again.

Do you have anything in the works for this ?


Thanks in advance.

Hey Sedde,

We aren't planning on creating a cooler for the power steering unit, however, we did just go out and take a look at our RS's steering rack and have some suggestions. From what we've seen in our testing, airflow at the lower part of the engine bay is very limited, essentially stopping around the PTU and then following the path of the exhaust out of the engine bay. The power steering unit is only a couple inches from the turbocharger in an area that gets little to no airflow, so we suspect that the turbo is essentially baking the electronics in the power steering unit, causing it to overheat and shutdown.

While we didn't have any issue with overheating the power steering on our track day or up testing up to our track day, we're going to be wrapping the power steering unit and the electrical assist unit in our gold reflective tape to help protect it. Since that area of the engine bay doesn't receive much airflow, some kind of ducting like what's posted above would be a good idea as well. It's pretty tight in there, but if you can get underneath to wrap the PS unit in reflective tape, that may be a good place to start. You can see in the attached photo how close the power steering unit is to the turbo and that the wiring has some heat wrap on it, but the unit itself does not.

If you guys want to see us try to develop a cooler for the power steering, I'll definitely pass it along to our development team to check out the feasibility :thumbsup:

Let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help in any other way!

-Steve

 

[sedde]

Hey Sedde,

We aren't planning on creating a cooler for the power steering unit, however, we did just go out and take a look at our RS's steering rack and have some suggestions. From what we've seen in our testing, airflow at the lower part of the engine bay is very limited, essentially stopping around the PTU and then following the path of the exhaust out of the engine bay. The power steering unit is only a couple inches from the turbocharger in an area that gets little to no airflow, so we suspect that the turbo is essentially baking the electronics in the power steering unit, causing it to overheat and shutdown.

While we didn't have any issue with overheating the power steering on our track day or up testing up to our track day, we're going to be wrapping the power steering unit and the electrical assist unit in our gold reflective tape to help protect it. Since that area of the engine bay doesn't receive much airflow, some kind of ducting like what's posted above would be a good idea as well. It's pretty tight in there, but if you can get underneath to wrap the PS unit in reflective tape, that may be a good place to start. You can see in the attached photo how close the power steering unit is to the turbo and that the wiring has some heat wrap on it, but the unit itself does not.

View attachment 164897

If you guys want to see us try to develop a cooler for the power steering, I'll definitely pass it along to our development team to check out the feasibility :thumbsup:

Let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help in any other way!

-Steve

Thanks for getting back to me steve, i will try to wrap it and see how that goes, thanks again

 

[Mishimoto]

Thanks for getting back to me steve, i will try to wrap it and see how that goes, thanks again

Definitely let us know how it goes. Do you know what the build date of your RS was? This seems to be an issue that primarily affects the earlier builds, from what we've seen. I'm also curious to know if you've had any issues with it on long drives or just at the track.

Thanks!

-Steve

 

[The Hotness]

These are pics of the power steering cooling mods on the RS in the museum/general meeting center part of the RS Adrenaline Academy:

Looks pretty simple to duplicate, some ducting and a few tiewraps to hold it in place.

Sweet!! Thanks for the mention!

Felt like I actually helped, haha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DeltaT]

Sweet!! Thanks for the mention!

Felt like I actually helped, haha

You did, those pics are the most detailed I've seen, particularly the inner duct ones, thanks!

 

[sedde]

Definitely let us know how it goes. Do you know what the build date of your RS was? This seems to be an issue that primarily affects the earlier builds, from what we've seen. I'm also curious to know if you've had any issues with it on long drives or just at the track.

Thanks!

-Steve

Mine was built at 06-22-2016, and no no hiccups on the road, only at the track.

 

[DeanHart]

Bump

July 17 build

I had this twice on a lapping day - though no apparent loss of function.

Any solutions beyond ducting?

 

[Promit]

Bump

July 17 build

I had this twice on a lapping day - though no apparent loss of function.

Any solutions beyond ducting?

Since this old thread has bounced back and Mishimoto's original idea was gold tape... what about a turbo blanket? Word on the street is they're coming real soon now: https://www.focusrs.org/forum/16-focus-rs-performance/111721-ptp-turbo-blankets.html
I expressed dubiousness in that thread about the effectiveness on the overall driving experience, but it sure seems plausible that it'd reduce heat soak of nearby components.

 

[GroupB]

Any updates on this? have tracked my 2017 a couple times and this finally started happening to me on a track with a brand new surface with tons of grip. It is quite dangerous. The above modifications sound clear enough I just don't have a lift to really get in there. I guess I could get some jack stands and go that route. Would removing the under tray completely help at all? For a simple fix.

 

[White-RS2]

Is it possible to add in an Oil Cooler type of heat exchanger and pump to the power steering with a thermostat activated fan ?
I'm sure Pro Moto Nutron where doing something along those line and also a RDU setup too

 

[morbid]

Have you tried a turbo blanket? I don't think the suggestion of wrapping the powersteering unit in gold tape would be good, as you would want it to have access to air flow and not be insulated. Otherwise, how would the p/s be able to remove heat? I'd try isolating heat sources nearby, and possibly blocking it... like a heat shield between the turbo and p/s.