sudden steering lock + all dash lights while driving

[pleiadesfella]

hey fellas,

I apologize for spamming this forum with individual threads, but today something very alarming happened while driving my spec b and it's got me stumped.

I had driven the car safely back from storage earlier in the week and to costco just yesterday, and it was fine. today however, I was driving out to town with my dad and just as we got to a roundabout, the steering suddenly locked (like how it is when the car is off), all dash lights came on and the car warned me to put the e-brake down (though it was already down since I started driving), but the engine was still running and the dash was still working. I was somehow able to brute force the wheel and steer out of the roundabout to a safe spot thankfully, but it could have ended REALLY badly as there was a police car right in front of me in the roundabout.

I turned the car off and restarted, all lights were gone and steering was back to normal but the car was failing to hold a warm idle properly (kept dropping to ~300rpms and sputtering) and it shook the whole car whenever the idle dropped. it felt like a misfire, so I plugged my AP in to check what was going on. all values I read on the AP were normal - DAM was a solid 1, feedback knock didn't exceed -1.40, no fine knock learning and most importantly, no consistent misfire on any cylinders. I've always had some odd singular roughness readings on cylinder 1, but today it only went up to 1 and that's it, there wasn't any misfire when revving or even when the idle dropped. I checked also checked my afr and it sticks to ~14.5 at idle and up to 20.33 when higher in the rev range, though I didn't go up to redline. I've always had these afr values since I bought the car, so nothing struck me as odd.

I immediately drove the car back home and did some further testing with the AP plugged in and couldn't get it to replicate the idle dropping or shaking, everything seemed fine. I read codes and got a P0172 system too rich bank 1 code, but there's no CEL and I think that may be due to the catless dp and tune for it. while I doubt running rich would have caused the steering lock, it would explain the bad idle that happened right afterwards. gonna try cleaning the maf and replacing the air filter in the meantime just to see if it changes anything, though like I said my afr values seemed fine. I'm hoping it's not a problem with the injectors or the tune itself.

any ideas on what could have caused the sudden lock and bad warm idle? could it just be related to the running rich code or is it something else? after seeing the OK readings on the AP, I thought it could be one of the engine mounts finally giving up but I doubt that would cause the idle to drop, leaving me to suspect a fueling issue. any help and pointers would be appreciated, thanks

[KZJonny]

At a guess, it sounds like wiring. Or bad grounds/poor power to the power steering pump (for one) and maybe somewhere else causing poor running conditions.

Without a meaningful CEL. That’s at least where I would start?

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Check your alternator. Same thing happened to the wife last year in her 2006 Tribeca. Dash lit up like a Christmas tree and it quit on her. Thankfully, it was an easy fix. Also keep in mind if your sensors don’t get a specific electrical signal they’ll light up cause they think somethings wrong. I’d start there. 

[pleiadesfella]

On 4/19/2024 at 10:54 PM, KZJonny said:

At a guess, it sounds like wiring. Or bad grounds/poor power to the power steering pump (for one) and maybe somewhere else causing poor running conditions.

Without a meaningful CEL. That’s at least where I would start?

I doubt it was power steering related because it felt more like an ignition steering lock, the wheel only turned a couple of degrees at most instead of just being stiff and hard to steer. but wiring/grounds seems like a good thing to check, I'll have that looked into.

 

5 hours ago, SoobyDoobyDoo said:

Check your alternator. Same thing happened to the wife last year in her 2006 Tribeca. Dash lit up like a Christmas tree and it quit on her. Thankfully, it was an easy fix. Also keep in mind if your sensors don’t get a specific electrical signal they’ll light up cause they think somethings wrong. I’d start there. 

yeah after some further thinking, I had a similar idea that it could be battery or alternator related as it was almost like the car thought it was turned off for a second, locking the steering and throwing all the lights (similar to how it is when the car is off but the key is in the on position). the random e-brake warning also makes me think that it was likely an electrical issue.

as for the sensors, there's likely something wrong there too since I got that P0172 code after the incident. I have an appointment on may 2 for a general checkover + front brake replacement, but I'm going to have the shop specifically check the alternator, wiring, sensors and fueling now too.

thanks for the help once again guys. I definitely don't want the steering lock to happen again as that was the most dangerous thing to happen to me behind the wheel. I don't even wanna know how it would've ended if my steering went out like that on the curved onramp I took right before it happened.

[pleiadesfella]

update: today I took the car to the shop for the new brakes and to get it looked over to find any issues. they reported that the car had no codes (my P0172 seems to be intermittent and random) and checked all the grounds and electrical connections and said everything was in good shape. they took it for a test drive and the tech said the car was in great shape, he didn't encounter any issues and said the car was running perfectly fine. they suspect the sudden lock may be related to a stall, but like I explained here, the car was already moving when it happened - it was not after a stop and go.

what he said combined with my intermittent P0172 (which causes unstable and very low idle revs) makes me think what happened was the car had a weird mid-drive stall due to the extremely low revs while my foot was on the clutch going into the roundabout. I didn't notice this at all, but I wasn't paying attention to the revs. the engine was running still, but I think it may have pop started after I downshifted and let off the clutch, though I also didn't feel anything like that happen. I think there's no other explanation as to why this happened since the car was idling really low right after the lock incident and constantly feeling like it was going to stall even in neutral.

I called a trusted subaru tuner in my region and told them about the P0172, and they think the air/fuel ratio sensor is the culprit as they've been seeing that code often with the afr sensor being the issue. as for the steering lock they had no clue, but I'm gonna go with the stall theory as its all I have right now.

the car still has inconsistent warm idles (when I got back from the shop today, it was going as low as 500 rpm when trying to park), but no codes right now. I'm gonna replace the afr sensor and see if that fixes it.

I hope this helps anyone having similar issues. I'd hate for this to happen to anyone else on the road.

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

On 5/2/2024 at 5:56 PM, pleiadesfella said:

I hope this helps anyone having similar issues. I'd hate for this to happen to anyone else on the road.

I hope this helps-thank you for posting! This is why this place is so valuable, sharing problems and fixes so that if someone else has a problem it’s documented. I never would have thought an O2 sensor could cause this but it makes sense if it’s not reading properly it could cause this issue…course with these cars when you see a code for one thing it’s usually something else that you’d never think to check….

[KZJonny]

Won’t hurt to get some sensor cleaner and do the MAF while you’re in there.

Not likely the cause if that particular problem, but it never hurts to have it good and clean anyway.  It can hurt idle if it’s dirty.

[pleiadesfella]

yeah I keep forgetting to pick up some maf cleaner every time I'm at canadian tire, gotta keep it in mind! but yeah, while it may be a dirty maf I'm betting it's what the subaru shop said about the air/fuel sensor.

took it out for a drive and a wash today, was running and idling fine until right after the wash when it started idling as low as 300 rpm and shaking the whole car again. I think it's exclusively a warm idle issue as the car pulls fine with no loss of power when actually driving and it cold starts just fine too. the car was at full operating temp when starting it up after the wash, though I couldn't plug my AP in to check anything as I had to pull out of the wash bay. starting it up again after drying the car off, it idled a bit low but wasn't shaking, so the issue is really inconsistent. hopefully the new sensor and a bit of maf cleaning fixes it.

[pleiadesfella]

big update: I think the issue is finally found. this turned from a steering issue into a low idle issue, which turned out to be a leak in the intake system somewhere or a bad o2 sensor.

turns out, my perrin turbo inlet is leaking very badly at the rear, where it couples with the BOV. my mechanic showed me a video of the smoke test, and there's a considerable gap leaking smoke around the metal BOV connection on the inlet. I don't have the video, but I'll post a picture of the inlet itself and mark where it's leaking. it looks like the silicone around it somehow cracked or broke off.

and yes, I'm aware this is a picture of the perrin inlet for the STI... which is what the last owner put on. I don't know if the difference in application between a legacy and an STI would cause such a failure over time as the BOV connection location looks to be the same on both the legacy and STI inlets, only the boost solenoid and evap connection spots seem to be different.

the mechanic also installed a new air filter, cleaned the maf and installed some new clamps, and now the car runs much better at idle and the AP also reports a much smaller leak on af learning and correction at idle. however, it still leaks badly on throttle with correction going to -25% again. at least the car doesn't constantly stall and fail to hold idle like it used to, which I'm now sure is what happened when my steering locked up as I was slowly downshifting.

while I am upset that the inlet is bad, as I think it was installed brand new 3 years ago and I now have to buy a new one, I'm glad the problem is finally found and didn't have to pay for a new o2 sensor as the shop said it was fine and didn't end up installing a new one. just sucks I have to wait until the 19th of june for the install, so the car sits yet again  

I want to go for the cobb inlet next as I don't think killer b makes an aluminum inlet that fits our cars, but if anyone has any suggestions, do let me know. 

Edited Friday at 08:30 PM by pleiadesfella

[rhino6303]

The perrin inlet for the legacy is slightly different than the sti. As you mentioned, one difference is the vacuum fitting locations. The other difference is the BPV tube location. The legacy tube is further forward than the sti. The inlet itself does look to have a minor difference in diameter too.

[pleiadesfella]

now that's interesting. I was looking at the basic pics and the BOV connection location looked the same to me, but there really is a difference. I wonder if this put some odd stress on it? I doubt it, but there has to be a reason why a relatively new perrin inlet failed like that.

my next inlet will 100% be one specific to the LGT. thanks for the insight  

Edited Friday at 09:09 PM by pleiadesfella

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

If it wasn’t right to begin with, then that’s probably why it failed early. Honestly you’re probably better off just getting a new oem one. Might save you some money but moreover lots of headache. A new oem one should last a while, I’m 99% sure mines original. Only 94k on the clock but after nearly 20 years still going strong (knock on wood). Silicone ones are cool but I don’t know how much they improve anything? To me not really worth upgrading outside of bling. Could be im just naive but for all the issues you’ve had and troubles you went though just keep it stock to get the car running as it should be. 

Edited Saturday at 03:28 AM by SoobyDoobyDoo

[pleiadesfella]

after looking into all my options, I've decided to order an OEM inlet straight from the dealer. I read some stories about how aftermarket inlets almost always need to be trimmed in some way to fit onto the turbo, and I really didn't want to deal with anything like that. not to mention its $150 cheaper for me to get an OEM one from the dealer compared to the aftermarket options online, and I should be saving on labor costs as the OEM inlet is smaller and much easier to install. I just hope it doesn't affect the tune since the car was stage 2 tuned with the perrin inlet.

thanks for the input guys, the car should be back on the road next month  

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Was it an OTS tune or custom one? I wouldn’t think that it’d be affected that much…? Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in. I know the MAF sensor is sensitive but after the Maf idk that it’d make that much of a difference?

[pleiadesfella]

its a custom protune done by a shop out in montreal. I've read people say you don't need tunes for inlets, but then cobb has a warning on their site saying their inlet needs a tune while perrin says a tune is not needed for their inlet. since my inlet is a perrin, I think I'll be fine going back to OEM without a retune but I also doubt the cobb inlet is really that different to the point where it requires a tune lol

[KZJonny]

You should be fine. I really doubt the OE inet flows that much less than a silicon one, that it will push you outside the limits of the tune. Things that push you towards flowing MORE cause problems by running too lean.

If you 're all of a sudden a little bit rich, it is at least safe. I'd be surprised if you change so much the maps can't account for it, but you shouldn't create knock anyway.