I'm glad that there is some hope for those striken with this problem and according to MazdaManiac, it will go away immediately after the soldering job since there is no irreversible damage to the steering rack. Now if anyone has this problem locally, perhaps you can seek MazdaManiac's help to try out this soldering fix and update us accordingly. It sure would be really helpful for the rest of the other members. I currently don't have this problem so I can't test it out for myself.

 

if u read carefully, i tink i said i have done EVERYTHING, includin the wire harness.... IT WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Our weather and the states are so different, the steering rack is definitely heat related. If u still really want to know, KNIGHT SPORTS and RE AMEMIYA demo car also have the same problem and their solution is to change the whole rack for them too. Soldering the upper torque sensor is useless to solve our kind of steerin juddering..... Urs is no power steering, ours is steering juddering on cold starts without the steering failure logo. Different type of problems.

in any case, our steering rack problem symptoms are different from the link u have posted. Ours do not have the steering failure logo on the dashboard. It just happened like dat.

 

OK. Welcome to forever with the problem. I don't particularly care.
If you only knew the number of times I've had people say "We did everything" and they really didn't because, months later, they actually try what was recommended and it fixes the problem.
Amemiya is a joke and don't believe that your weather is any more extreme than what my '8 has seen - from 100% humidity to months of day-time temps in the 117°F range and above.

Mine "failed" regularly with no light whatsoever. Judder when cold - fine when warm. Failed then not failed.

Suit your self.

 

i tink i have touched more rx8es with steering rack problems than u have ever encounter with ur steering problems.....

I have a full time mechanic working for me, fiddling with the wire harness more than the number of times that you had ever driven ur car. He has also touched more rx8es than you would ever had in ur lifetime. ...

If Amemiya is a joke, then u r the greatest joker to say that, mazdamaniac.

Reading frm ur posts, i reckon ur 8 is TC-ed.... u have to come to spore to encounter 365 days of hot summer to say u have experienced all kinds of hot weather, not just becos u have a turbo charger running inside ur car, ur car runs hotter than others then u said u have experienced a hotter temp than us.

Whatever the case, i'm not here to argue with u. But to say amemiya is a joke, it goes to show how shallow u r....

 

its not a matter of mileage. We have pple gg close to 100,000km but has no steering rack problems at all from day one til now.

 

You have 4 seasons. We have only 2; very hot, very humid, no rain AND very hot, even more humid and lots of rain.

And considering how small Sg is; most of our trips take less than 20 mins. Short trips do no good to cars.

We have all heard of Amemiya. Are you any better than them to say they are a joke?

 

Boy, you guys are in a circle-jerk over there, aren't you.
Have fun!

 

You are entitled to your opinion.

I think Princess Diana is a joke and Mazda is a joke to introduce a steering system that is so unreliable in this application. Whether is it a simple fault (as the rather simple minded MazdaManiac seems to think) or a complete component failure it does not matter. Mazda, go get it fixed.

-Ringer-

 

I would like to state that I dun think Mazdamaniac is simple minded. I believe he has much more knowledge of mazda cars and rx8 then 20 of you put together. If you have ever venture outside the far east folder(frog in a well)...you will know that he is one of the experts around.

 

Well.. should an expert share his knowledge or just come here is tell people it can be done but doesn't say how? I have been asking but I still haven't been told how it can be done. Since it's such a tricky fix (for those who are not as technically expert as him), would it be possible to list down the steps of the dummy's guide to "fix your steering rack problem" here in as simple a way as possible so we can indeed try it out? Simply saying that it works is easy, it may be true, but doesn't serve any purpose or help anyone.

 

but experts dun put other pple down... Amemiya is a joker??? it only says so much abt a person...

experts oso listen to comments but apparently this one only tinks he is correct, others all wrong... so?

i read from other sub forum too, but thats not the point.... joker...

 

I am a **** stirrer....wahahahahahahahahaha

 

Don't get splattered. haha.

So. can drive without power steering or not?

 

If can...i think will train biceps big big...hahahaha.

 

When your car is stationary, try manipulating the steering wheel. that's how it'll feel albiet slightly less when the car is moving but still roughly the same amount of resistance. If you are on a slope, switch off engine, put to neutral, lift hand brake and let the car slide down a bit while manipulating the steering (of course leg on brake at all times to standby). that should give a sense on the difficulty. =)

 

YOU GUYS NEED TO CLEAN THE CONNECTORS AND YOULL BE FINE!!!!!!!! THIS HAPPEND TO ME TOO!!!! clean em and dab em with some bulb grease! its ONLY 1 connector under your airbox above your radiator!!!!

 

just did the soldering of the upper connectors. cut off the connector and solder the wires together. lets see if it works.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm new at this, so forgive for my idiocy.

I'm picking up my PI-purchased May'05 4AT today. Had the steering rack replaced for SGD2.6k (pending discounts if any when I'm actually at the payment counter).

I've been living with the vibrations for about 6 months now, and the vibrations get more aggressive on the cold with each new month.

I know nothing about the implications of ignoring the vibrations (and I'm certainly to worst person to advise others on what to do), but trust me it's disconcerting when I'm in the carpark and passerby's see my holding on to the wheel and it's vibrating like a *****-on-steroids.

Nevertheless, I'll ping with the damange if anyone's interested. But please note - no need to comment if I've been spooned over the price. I trust these guys... and I'd gladly pay a small premium to have a problem rectified even if it costs be a few % above the cheapest out there.

Cheers!

Squirt

 

ermmm dont get ur story.. u had the replacement rack before you bought ur car and u are still experiencing the problem or u waiting to replace it at that price u mentioned?

 

at 2.6k, did ur workshop use the IDS system to do the setting to ursteeing rack??

 

Pai Sei. Guess I wasn't terribly clear in my ealier mail.

Bought my 4AT brand new in May '05 from a PI. First thing to go was the engine mount in Feb this yr. Steering rack started to act up in April, and only got it remedied on Monday.

Aside from these, the car's been a good girl to me.

Final $ Damage to replacing the Steering Rack - $2.4k with alignment + laour. Took a day and a half to get the car back.

I'm really not sure about the IDS system. I'm not that knowledgable on the knicks and knacks on car mechanics to be honest. I just took the opportunity to share the costs for anyone interested based on the here and now...

Hope this helps ...

 

imho what mazdamanic says is quite true...from a technical aspect if we suspect it is a weather induced problem..most prob it is wire harness or connector prob not the rack it self. changing the rack will only temporary solve the problem but not the cause. And since vibration is felt but the steering still might work, most likely is sensor or wire harness to sensor.
Just my lousy 1 cent view.

 

The problem is, the vibrating problem dun stem from the connector.... juz ask those with steering rack vibrating to solder back the wires again.. (take note, its the rack juddering problem, NOT with the steering logo appearing on ur meter panel console), DOES IT SOLVE THE PROBLEM???

They are 2 different issues altogether....

now the thing is, get one car with steering vibrating problem (not the small steering logo problem) only to solder the wires on the connector again... to see if it works



PS: i have tried mine and it doesnt!

 

as CHOW YUN FATT would put it............

WELCOME TO SINGAPORE!!!

 

hmmm thats intriguing. cos if ur rack is judding, it means it is accepting erractic signals from sensors.if we suspect steering rack to fail, it will not even judder. soldering the connectors might or might not solve the problem..but it definitely sounds like a wiring problem to me tho.
Another gunho method that i can think of is to remove the harness..chk the integrity of it and break all the connectors and directly spliced it to the car wiring. Then use heat insulating tape to tape up the splice part lol.

If it works, it means the wire harness got intermittent connection problem due to heat, loose connector blah blah,if it still doesnt solve the problem..time to spend monie to change out the rack cos most prob is electric motor or control module.

my lousy 0.5cent view lol