my car was stumbling and acting up, so i ran the car in open loop by unplugging the o2 sensors and it ran fine. So i got some bosch ones for a replacement, changed them out and added some extendors. Took the car out long enough to get into closed loop and romped on it twice.

1st time seemed ok, while cruising i could tell a slight miss, but barely enough to notice or to trip a ses light. when in 6th gear at 1/2 throttle it seemed to backfire up in the headers. At WOT about 4500rpm it sounded weird/different exaust tone, and a slight loss of power, then i slowed down and a check gauges light came on...WTF I looked at them and the only thing that was low was the battery, it was almost at the red, and it was really hard to turn. I thought i'd thrown a belt...but nope still there. what the crap happend?

 

cmon guys, an oxygen sensor change couldn't possibly sap the battey and make the steering extremely hard to turn, what happend?

 

Dead battery killing power steering
Bill

 

can a dead battery affect the power steering? ? but its a brand new optima red top battery, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it...

 

I was told that the 'battery' gauge really is an alternator gauge...so if its showign a problem ,its your alternator not sendign enough voltage...maybe check that...or maybe your belt is slipping some...
Bill

 

either your water pump is leaking on the belt causing it to slip or maybe the alt is locking up.