Mazda Power Steering Gear Box

You love the way your Mazda drives. The smoothness with which you are able to handle the steering really makes you feel like you are in control of your vehicle. Lately, you have been noticing that your steering is getting a little more stiff and difficult to maneuver. You are using more force to handle the steering wheel and suspect something might be wrong with your steering system. You are most likely correct in your predicament. It seems as though your Mazda steering gearbox is giving you some trouble. Let’s find out what the difference between power steering and manual steering and what could be causing your gearbox damage.

Your Mazda steering gearbox is vital to your steering system because it will allow you to easily maneuver the vehicle. Typically a gearbox will consist of two components: the steering box and the steering gear. You can have two different types of steering boxes, which can either be a Mazda power steering box or a Mazda manual steering box. Let’s take a look at both of these systems.

The Mazda power steering box will either be hydraulically powered or electrically powered. Power steering is much more common in vehicles today because as vehicles have becomes much heavier and switched to front wheel drive, the effort needed to turn the steering wheel has increased greatly. So power assisted was invented to help easily turn the vehicle without using great physical exertion. Hydraulic power steering (HPS) works by a pump that is driven by the engine. This pump will deliver pressurized hydraulic fluid to either side of the steering mechanism to steer the car and reduce steering effort. Whereas, electric power steering is more efficient because it only provides steering effort when needed as opposed to having a pump constantly running like in HPS.

The Mazda manual steering box will require much more effort to steer the vehicle because the force of the steering will come from how much pressure you manually apply to the steering wheel. So it won’t come from either hydraulic or electric power like in the power steering system. Typically manual steering was used in older, lower light vehicles that could be steered with manual force. There are several types of manual steering box types but typically a rack and pinion, worm and roller and a recirculating ball and nut are used.

Your Mazda steering gearbox could have been damaged because there was not enough oil inside it and it was leaking out. Leaking can lead to stiffness. So can cracks in your gearbox. Another thing that could be wrong with the gearbox is that the packing shims inside it that can be affected when the cover retaining bolts are tightened. Since your gearbox is so important you want to make sure you get a Mazda replacement steering rack when it shows damage. We are here to help and you can check out our inventory for either a Mazda manual steering box or a Mazda power steering box.