Brannon Bowden

Ok, so recently I have been having issues with my power steering trying to steer left on its own. If I turn the wheel slowly left at some point it will take over on its own and turn the wheel left 100% very slowly and jerky. The car has always had a slight jerking back and forth in the steering, typically when backing out of the driveway very slowly first thing in the morning. Just over the last month, has it actually started pulling to the left while driving.

I read the guides about cleaning the harness plugs, and at the intermediary. I went through yesterday and cleaned them all with contact cleaner, although I was unable to get the main connector off the actual motor. From reading, it looked like that is probably not the culprit anyways, so I skipped it. All of the connectors looked very good and clean, but I cleaned them again anyways.

Tested the car, issue still persists. Crawled under there this morning and measured the resistance at the torque sensor, got 15 ohms exactly for left and right. I then measured the resistance at the EPS Module, and measured 16.5~16.9 for left and right.

Does this seem to high of a reading at the EPS? Not sure if this extra resistance is expected when going through the harness. Trying to narrow down where my actual issue may be.

No check engine or power steering lights atm.

Thanks for any help and guidance.


Brannon

Brannon Bowden

Guess I also forgot to mention this is a 2004, with no DSC.

Went ahead and pulled everything apart again, re-cleaned each of the connectors, including the one on the PS motor, it decided to come right off today. Added dielectric grease to each of the connections. At the torque sensor, the ps motor, and both intermediary connections.

Checked the resistance at the intermediary and it was also reading 16~17. None of the service manual notes I can find mention what the resistance should be, besides right at the torque sensor.

Additionally, I took the car to a tire shop, in case it was just a really bad alignment issue, but they felt that it was not, and that it was definitely related to the power steering. The thing they mentioned, which is true, is that when your preventing the car from steering left, and you goto make a right hand turn, you feel a sort of "jump" in the steering, like it suddenly realized you wanted to turn right and the assist kicked in. Not anything bad enough to cause an accident, just additional details to see if it may help with any ideas.

They were nice enough to spend several hours with my battery unhooked, which reset the ecu, at least the reset where it will not idle while it tries to recalculate the air/fuel ratios.

I read about having to a neutral position reset, but only if you have DSC which I do not. Anyone able to confirm?

I do have an extended warranty on the car, so if it comes to it, I will take it in to have them check it out, the deductible is just high enough that I would hate for it to be something simple that I didn't try.

dxjp

I have the same problem as you only with right turns. same bump in the turn in, and the jagged self turning when parked. Today I installed the updated harness, and drove about 20 miles. It was the exact same, but I shut the car off while I went shopping, and when I came back it was a noticeable improvement. Dont know if its cured, and waiting for more people to chime in. I dont mind buying more parts, if there the right parts, and not a process of elimination to get the problem solved.

I did the harness as I knew mine was stock, (04 model 6spd). I had it completely stop working, and did the harness clean which got it working again, and so i bought the upgraded one knowing I might have problems again.

Ill post back if I notice it has resolved the problem, otherwise Ill be looking for the PSCU, and hope I dont need a new rack.

Brannon Bowden

dxjp~ did your light come on at any point? Thats the bit baffling me the most. I will say after completely cleaning and using the dieelectric grease, the issue isn't AS bad as it was prior, but driving is still annoying. Let me know if you figure anything else out, it's going to be at least another week or two before I can afford to take the car to the shop. I have seen the modules on ebay for 160$ but not sure if it's worth the risk.

dxjp

My light never came on until the total failure. Before the failure it would come on at start up. I would shut the car off and restart it, and then the light would go off. I had a feeling all along it was at least the harness from reading all the threads. Now that I have replaced it I still need time to test it fully, before being confident that that was the cure.

I have a few if those eBay sales watch listed incase it's more than a harness. Look the harness I got from mazmart, was a hundred plus shipping about. So that's the cheapest place to start, if cleaning of the old harness hasn't improved anything. Next would be the module, and pray it ain't a rack.

dxjp

Nope its still there. Just started it in a parking lot and it went spastic again. Dont get me wrong it is better than it was but not 100%. Guess next step is the module.

cturbo28

iTrader: (1)

I would try and clean all the connectors first. Also I would put some dielectric grease on them when re connecting.

dxjp

Did you at all read the post's. We both did that, as well I installed the upgraded harness.

Brannon Bowden

Just wanted to update all, the issue ended up just being an alignment issue. Evidently it was off far enough to be confusing the power steering.

It took me two tire shops and having it inspected before they confirmed the alignment was off and did the alignment. After they did it, the car is back to driving straight.

Carbon Fibr

I was just reading through this thread and was going to chime in to say maybe alignment or faulty rack.
glad its fixed that could be a dangerous problem.

dxjp

Yeah its not my alignment for sure. Put it on a rack, and is dead on. I can hit 120mph and plow on the brakes, and it stops straight no hands. Just at an idle it wants to freak out, or sometimes it has that notch going right.

Next stop module I guess.