Does it help? I have read other places that if you take it off and upgrade the suspension it will make the car grip better, but will be harder to drive around town. Turning circle 2 postcodes wide.

I am asking this becuase my Z has had the 4 wheel steering removed. It has been done correctly. I saw the bill from APB which I hear is a good garage. No cost was spared because it cost £1400 to have it done.

What do you guys think?

Dodgy?

 

 

Stuart

WOW! £1400....all you have to do is pull a fuse and it goes into safety mode and locks up straight.....Then at least you have the option of turning it back on again later!!!

 

Mixed reports on this, some say its better, others say it doesnt make much of a difference. Certainly it wont affect normal driving around town as there is only about 1 degree of movement in the wheels anyway. Its for high speed stuff.

He had the struts replaced too with custom made height adjustable racing ones. That was most of the of the cost.

 

Stuart

Stu, baffled as to why someone would do that to be honest?!?!?!?!? 4WS and HICAS are distinct features of the Z, why would you want to remove them?

 

 

Tim

;-)

 

Dont know, but I was under the car today. Cleaning the back boxes. Sad I know but I am bored out of my skull. A student with £14 in the bank and a thursty car. Bad mix.

Any back to my point.

Under the car and I noticed a very small amount of steering fluid where the rear steering was. I want to find out what was wrong with it and how much it will cost to put the 4WS back on.

Back end feels like shit over 60mph.

 

Any one know anywhere?

 

Stuart.

 

 

Stu, I'm confused mate, what exactly have they removed? What year is your car again? If it's 89-91 your HICAS/4WS is mechanical, later and it's electronically controlled.

 

So they've put in adjustable shocks, that's quite common, most people on here have done that but I am sticking with OEM coz I've got the actuators to stiffen them anyway. What's the point in having to manually piss about with the shocks when you could quite easily wire in a switch similar to the yank setup instead of pulling the handbrake up 1 click!

 

Are you sure that you don't have the 4WS? If you are seeing steering box fluid it would suggest to me that you still have it in place?

 

 

Confused Turbo?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Tim,

Early HICAS is hydraulic, later is electrical right ? Not sure about the change date, but my car is a '92 and it's hydraulic.

 

There's also a bit more to adjustable shocks than just increasing the rear damping slightly, you might want to adjust the fronts too, which I think is what the US switch would do. However, I believe that the US cars may be able to automatically adjust the rears under acceleration to reduce squat. Again, not sure whether the UK ones will do this. I looked over the wiring diagram and there doesn't seem to be any link to the ECU.

WOW ! You guys are really up on the tech side of these cars , I am LOST :-). (I only just managed to change the fuse !).

 

Anyway i seen above that you mention that the HICAS went electronic in 92 ,I have a 92 TT but i think its mechanical as there is a pump on the left of the engine bay ? How can i tell if its one or the other ????? , It would be nice to know ?, What are the advantages or disadvantages of the both ? and seeing we're on about the HICAS could you tell me if the light comes on when its in use as i've never seen it come on (Only when the ignition lights are up ) but never seen it come on when i am driving ? ??? IS is normal ? Dont think there is a problem as she handles so well.

 

Cheers you guys and i love this forum its a great help to sombody like me who know S*it about the machanics of cars (but learning every day a little more) .

 

Cheers DAZ

If the light comes on you have a problem. Usually low fluid I think.

It is a UK 1991 TT.

I am gonna try and do the HICAS test on it an see what it does.

 

Stuart

I'll just shut up now then!!! LMAO! AndyP is right and me wrong! HICAS was changed in '94 from oil pressure actuated to electronically actuated...oh I'm a duffer with dates!

 

 

Tim

;-)

 

Right to get into Diag mode you

Gear in N

Start Engine

Turn wheel left and right 20 deg from centre 5 times

Then pump the brake pedal 5 times.

Turn the wheel more than 20 deg left or right to see the rear wheels turn.

 

Or do I turn the wheel the same time as pumping the brake?

 

How do I know when I have done it?

Does the light come on? Has anyone ever done this?

Help!

 

Stuart

Got it working. Went in to diag mode and the back wheels are not turning. I am gonna phone the company who disable it and ask them why? and can you put it back on!

 

Stuart

Stu, I think that the wheels only move 1 deg. which is not alot! I would have thought that this would be quite hard to spot. My Brother had a 4WS prelude and when he was parking you could see the back wheels really turning quite a bit, but the Z system doesn't work that way.

 

Ring 'em up and find out exactly what they've done, I would say that if you've made it into diag. mode in the 1st place that your 4WS is working...unless your getting any error codes?

 

 

Tim

;-)

 

 

[This message has been edited by Timmy_Turbo (edited 05-07-2001).]

I have a invoice for the £1400+ job and £300 was for Modifying rear steering pipe work and fit adaptor. ?!?

I am definatly gonna phone them and ask them what was going on.

The back wheels do move enough to see it in the diag test. I have seen it in a gif and on mpeg.

 

Stuart

Really confused

Hi Stuart

 

I just spent the last 2 hours trying to get into the DAMN HICAS Diag mode !!, Its driving me nuts , How did you get into it ? Any tips ?

 

Darren

 

Enabling Diag Mode:

With the car in Neutral or "N" for auto's turn the Ignition on.

Immediately start the engine.

Turn the steering from left to right ( at least 20° ) 5 times or more and return to center.

Press the foot brake 5 time or more.

If you completed all the above in under 10 seconds the HICAS is now in self-diagnoses mode.

Next Depress and release the foot pedal.

Turn the steering from left to right at least 20° and return to center.

For Manual, press clutch and select any gear then go back to neutral. For Auto, Disengage and engage parking brake level, then select 1st then Park.

You now move the car straight forward at least 3 meters at 1MPH minium and the HICAS light should start flashing.

 

 

Decoding the HICAS light sequences

One of two things should happen.

 

The HICAS warning light flashes at 0.25 second intervals only.

The HICAS warning light flashes with another sequence.

With 1 there is currently no fault.

With 2 you have a problem!

 

The sequence is coded in time. Here's the sequence.

 

From diagnoses start there's a 5 second period of 0.5 second flashes

Then a 5 second gap with the HICAS L.E.D. off.

The next 9 seconds store the fault data. A 0.1 second flash at the start of the second means no fault, else there's a 0.5 second flash.

HICAS Fault Codes Second number Faulty Part

1 HICAS solenoid valve R.H.

2 HICAS solenoid valve L.H.

3 Fail-safe valve

4 Power Steering solenoid valve

5 Vehicle speed sensor

6 Steering angle sensor

7 Steering neutral position sensor

8 M/T : Clutch sensor

A/T : Parking brake sensor

9 M/T : Neutral sensor

A/T : Inhibitor sensor

 

 

The sequence then starts again. All this runs for 5 minutes or until you switch off the ignition or go over 20MPH. The car will then be out of self-diagnoses mode.

How does the rear steering work?

How much is it to replace the unit at the back? Taking to my dad you was with me when I bought the car, he remebered that the person we bought the car off said that the rear rack (or somthing like that) was worn out and APB said that it will cost a packet to replace.

 

Stuart

If the actuator under the bonnet, oil-lines to the back, HICAS-ECU and cylinder behind the diff. are still there they probably just locked the system with bars similar to what Stillen (from the US) sells.

 

If the previous owner had all these things removed it's probably gonna cost you a small fortune to get it back...even if you get the parts from a breaker.

 

-Eric

i had a price for hicas rack from a dealer 2 years ago... 1050 quid... i didnt get it, as they misdiagnosed the problem, but i think i would eliminate it rather than replace it if mine went wrong.

 

i only know of one person (that told me) that they removed their hicas and had a load of work done, can you email me who you bought it from ?

 

if not the same, then they might be able to help you with some parts...

 

------------------

UK 92 TT White

Mongoose K&N AVCR

KYB Eibach

Stuart,

 

Mail me asap - you can bring your car round to my house and we'll put it up on ramps - that way we can compare the differences between the Hicas on mine and the Hicas on yours. Makes sense to me anyway

 

Let me know fella,

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Craig. I bought the car of a person called John Thompson, in Rochale.

 

Stuart

thats the guy.

 

let me dig through some old email, i'm sure he described exactly what he had done and why for me

 

it did sound reasonable

 

------------------

UK 92 TT White

Mongoose K&N AVCR

KYB Eibach

I have a copy of the invoice. I could scan it and put it up. This tell you what has been done but not why? I want to know why it was taken off and if it can be fixed and how much?. The car is in good condition, it has 140,000 miles and on the original turbos, smooth acceleration and silent engine. Exhaust makes a bad ass sound. Just the 4WS I'm miffed about.

 

Stuart

Forgot this bit.

The only thing I can complain about it the number plate, which basically spells HOMO agggghhhhhh! Embarassing!!!

Mr Thompson said he will pay to get it changed cos he want to keep it. Dont know why!

are you on icq ? 14953485

 

------------------

UK 92 TT White

Mongoose K&N AVCR

KYB Eibach