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I noticed a problem while taking turns with my Toyota Camry 2003 Altise sedan ( has done 108k kms and regularly serviced). I was driving at around 40 kmph and was steering right and suddenly the car came to a grinding halt without me finishing the complete turn. Luckily there was no oncmoing traficc because the halt was very sudden. I reversed the car and then was able to drive on.

I'm wondering what may be the reason for this happening because my wife had indicated that she had been slowing down totally while taking because she had noticed this problem earlier in the week.

Appreciate any comments as to what is causing this problem. Thanks

3 Answers 3

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I'm thinking there could be two possibilities here:

  • One of the constant velocity (CV) joints may be going bad, where it it binding so much during a turn, it could lock up and cause vehicle to stop. While backing up and then going forward again allows the joint to release and thus the car can go forward again.

  • The differential in the transmission may be having a similar issue. It may be locking up during large differential load, causing the car to come to a stop.

In either case, during straight-line driving this issue wouldn't appear because neither of the binding issues would be a problem.

Both of these suggestions are a bit on the "out there" side, as I've never seen it happen. I do know that many 4x4 vehicles which, while the transfer is engaged, will experience surging/binding when the steering is cramped because of the way their CV joint is made. Car CV joints are made a bit differently, but if worn out it might cause the same kind of issue.

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A simple explanation would be along the lines of a faulty power steering pump, or the power steering pressure relief controls not releasing full lock pressure. If full pressure is not relieved, the high pressure can act as a brake on the engine by forcing the power steering pump to work at maximum pressure it can reach and loading the engine.

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  • I don't think this is the problem, Allan. He's saying the car itself stopped while the engine was running. He then put it in reverse and then forward again. I don't believe the car itself ever shut off. Nov 16, 2014 at 22:43
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Power steering, check for leaks and if it hasn't been replaced in 2 years then book it for a service. My Holden 2001 used to do it under hard lock and you could hear it struggled if it was really cold and did it really fast.

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