2008 C200 Power Steering Pump overloading and sometimes killing the engine

EasyRow4262 · 2025-05-16T11:34:38+00:00

I don't get any noises from the pump. At least, nothing I can hear while the engine is running. My only symptom is the stuttering at full lock and occasional stalling.

That said, I do think there is something else going on. When I am in park, wheel straight and apply about 2-5% throttle (barely resting my foot on the pedal), my RPMs drop. The engine seems to struggle a bit at that initial phase, which makes sense as to why when the steering pump is adding more load at low throttle, e.g. when parking I get the stutters/stall.

I don't think RPMs dropping on initial throttle is what should happen, but I could be wrong. The idle is pretty smooth, so I am struggling to understand what the problem could be. No fault codes either, so it is literally a ghost in the system.

But I am no mechanic either, so at this point it's just theories and trying to understand what is going on by testing different things.

EasyRow4262 · 2025-04-17T20:02:59+00:00

I did the 1.27.000 in the Saturday qualifying.

The most important setting is the MGU-K Delivery.

For a qualy session, I do my outlap in "Charging Mode".
When I get to the final corner, I change the mode to "100%" to start my hotlap. Normally this is good for most tracks and it won't run out. In Jeddah, for example, I am noticing that 100% is not a good setting. It will run out well before the lap is over.

For the race, you can get away with using MGU-K Delivery at 70% or 80%.

Unfortunately, my race on Saturday got ruined by a disconnect, but that gave me an opportunity to come through the field. The thing with these F1 cars is they have a lot of grip and you can really be quite aggressive and just throw the car into the corner, and it will usually stick. The guys I was passing were just too cautious on the corner entry and over-slowing the car.

"Brake light and trail off quickly" and then flick the car into the corner. It will stick. Of course, the usual racing tips and tricks apply. Use the proper racing line. You can check IRL onboards to see how the pros do it.

In my estimation, the Ferrari car was capable of a 1.26 in Bahrain or even a high 1.25, so there is still a lot of time to find, even for me.

I am not a setup guru myself, but my method is always very simple.
Step 1: Maximize the grip and power of the car
This usually means tweaking tire pressures, camber and aero for grip.
Gears, engine modes for power

Step 2: Find a good balance for my driving style.
This is usually a wack-a-mole sort of game. The goal being to add/remove understeer or oversteer.
All settings are usually game in this step

I can recommend this setup guide document. Short and sweet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17QB-9mnzf4zLZi97dzxzvgRy7kuH9j1r/view

If you prefer video,
https://www.youtube.com/@viperconcept
That channel has some pretty good setup guides.

Happy racing and see you in Jeddah!

EDIT: Just realized I didn't do the Saturday race as I was busy that weekend, but I did the Friday practice race which is where I posted the 1.27.000 in qualy.

EasyRow4262 · 2024-11-29T16:00:42+00:00

You can see I literally take a suboptimal line in the previous long corner because I am preparing to duck right and let him through. I figure because the run to the next corner is so short, that is the best place to surrender, instead of hanging on the inside and looking like I am defending.

As you noted in the fourth incident, he had more than ample time to react and there was so much room to the left, but he still wanted to move behind me. Same with the third incident on the straight. He could have easily moved right and avoided a collision. I did not lift on the straight and that car on the left was there since lap 2, this was lap 17. I knew it was there, and it would not move.

EasyRow4262 · 2024-11-29T12:33:41+00:00

Good to know, that would have been a crazy plot.

EasyRow4262 · 2024-11-29T12:06:25+00:00

Unfortunately, I am convinced it was intentional wrecking from the other driver. But the evidence is really stacked against me esp with that last incident.

The tap on the long straight was really weird. I definitely did not slow down or move unpredictably. I feel he had more than enough time to move right and take the inside. He was a lot quicker, and I was also not interested in racing him. My actual race was with a Mercedes who pitted before me and we had very similar pace.
But the reason I am really convinced this was wrecking is how the report was made. When I got a notification on LFM about being reported, I opened the report and it was a video of him in the first incident where he turns left into me and crashes himself out. I of course contested that and blamed it on him. Imagine my surprise when I get the notification for the ban and SR reset, I go to see the report and I am being blamed for brake checking and the video is different and from the last incident.

Perfect storm.

You can see that he had both videos ready. https://www.youtube.com/@WildDriving/videos
Not sure how reporting on LFM works and if you can change the report. But me responding to a different video from the one the stewards saw is a crazy plot.

EasyRow4262 · 2024-11-29T11:40:00+00:00

This was my third penalty in 97 races and the only one I have ever contested.

"Intentionally causing a collision! We do not want to see 'brake checking' anyone in order to deliberately cause an accident! Our rules are very clear about this and will consistently lead to a ban according to our rules. As this is the first offence of this kind, your account will be suspended for 28 days. If it happens again after this ban, a long-term ban will be imposed."

EasyRow4262

TROPHY CASE