Please read all of this I need help!

OK so here is goes


About a month ago my power steering started to act strange. The power steering light has never come one once this whole time. I asked around and turns out the coolant over flow hose is right above the power steering connections. I took out the air box out and cleaned them, they didn't look dirty or corroded at all. Needless to say it didn't change anything, I am not mechanically inclined and I don't know much about cars.

Drove it around for a while didn't go away. The best way to describe the problem is the strength it requires to turn the wheel. If the steering wheel is centred turning left or right is harder then normal. If you continue to turn it gets easier and then gets hard as you continue to turn father. When coming out of a turn to straight the wheel it gets harder at the same points going back to straight. This issues never changes its never hard all the way around.

After about a week I took it to the dealer......they said I had a bad steering rack. I found it kind of funny that the steering rack was bad and no power steering light came on. So they were asking around 1500 to 1700 for just the part and around 400 for install. I said **** you, and got a part form http://www.partsgroup.com/ off a recommendation from the evolve forms. Said the guy was trust Worthy. At the end of the day I spent just over 800 for the part and the install with the diag fee.

After getting it installed from the dealer it was working fine, then it came back in about 3 to 4 days. THE EXACT SAME ISSUE the same thing as described above no power steering light either. When I say the exact same issue I mean it no change in the problem at all it was like the left the old steering rack in.

Called the dealer they said bring it back in and we will check it for free. Thet said the new power steering rack that I got was bad and wanted me to pay for another install and get the part from them. I said no and was going to look into the issue my self.

I dove it around for about a week and a half and it went away, the power steering came back and was working fine for another 2 or 3 days then it went out again. I figured it might be a sensor or ground or something.

So I took the air box out again and I saw 2 grounds one of them came out of the cable the when right down to the steering rack the other came off the battery. I cleaned them both and put it back together, nothing changed and this is all I know to check. So I called the guy from parts group and he said he sees this all the time, suggested cleaning the cables under the coolant over flow because that's normally the case. I told him I tried that and then he told me he actually cuts them solders them together wraps in the e tape and then shrink raps them to avoid moisture. I don't know if I want to do that.

So my question is simply are there any other things I can check or is there any one in the Chicago land area that can help me out. I have a feeling I am missing something or there is a sensor that needs to be replaced any help would be great I cant afford the give this dealer 2k for a steering rack replacement.

 

i have no clue either all i can think of is,... get in your car drive it to a cliff pop the clutch step on it towards the edge jump out in time ( thats the important part ) and watch it fly and then call your insurance say your car is missing.. and get a new one

 

Trust me I have thought about it.....or something close.

 

I had the same problem... ended up splicing/crimping the power and torque sensor wires together to eliminate the problem.
No issues since.
I thought there was a replacement harness/connector in a TSB... let me check...

 

You mean the 2 under the air box to the left. One set goes down right to were the steering column connects to the rack and the other set goes to the middle witch I assume are the power cables.

When you spliced them together did they look dirty or clean, also where is the torque sensor located? It is on the steering rack....god I hope not. If it is can it be replaced?

 

Yes... the two under the air box.
I removed the wires from the connectors and spliced some wire I had laying around.
I used to carry contact cleaner in my trunk because I would loose power steering every other day.
So the connectors appeared pretty damn clean.

Here is a thread that'll answer many questions:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ighlight=power
Post #66 shows what I did to correct this problem.

Also, don't forget you have a power steering control module in the PCM box that could be causing this too.

 

I have the exact same problem with my 04 6mt. I'm going to start with changing the harness hopefully that solves the problem.

 

Ok I am going to try to splice the wires together tomorrow after work. I will report back on what happens if anything. Should I splice both together or just the torque sensor wires first?

Also where is this PCM box and how can I test if its bad?

 

This is something that me and MazdaManiac disagreed on (though our issues might have been different).
He will say that the torque sensor wires (the small three wire harness) is all you need to do.
But when I was having my PS issues, I was only cleaning the contacts for the two large power wires.
This is why I ended up splicing them both.
But its up to you... try with just the torque sensor wires and see if that takes care of it.

the PCM box is to the left of the battery.
The PCM is the unit on top, the EPS control module is underneath it.
Only way to really test the module itself is to swap it with another.
If you have local RX8 buddy that can assist, swap with his and see if it works.

Another thing you could try is testing the wire harness between the module and the steering motor with a meter.
See if one wire reads significantly more resistance than the others.

 

Well I have a feeling I am going to have to splice both but I guess we will see.

Here is where you're going to find out how limited my knowledge is. I have a multi meeter I just wouldn't know how to use it.

 

Checking resistance is pretty simple, basic rule is never do it under load/power.
Move the dial to the 'ohm' setting and put one probe at the end of one wire and the other probe at the other end of the wire.
If the readings shows 'OL', you know there is an open in the wiring.
Also, an unusually high resistance (OHM) reading compared to the other wires will also tell you something is wrong.
By checking the harness from the control module to the motor, you are also checking the resistance through the wire AND the connector under the air box.

And no offence... but if you don't know the basics on how to operate a meter, do you really think splicing these wires is a job/task you should be doing?

 

Trust me I wish I had a choice in the matter, who else is going to do this for me?

 

I saw you're from the Chicago area... I'm sure there are plenty of members around there.
Have you posted in the Chicago regional thread to see who is around you?

 

Ok so I just yanked the cables out and tested with the multimeter. Each cable when connected from end to end tested ok I think. Got a reading of .6 from each cable including the power cables. Here are the settings I used.

 

OK

So I just spliced the 3 torque sensing wires together and the power steering is working. There is a slight hint of resistance when a full turn is made, lol I cant remember what it felt like when it was working correctly to know if its 100% ok. Just goes to show how long this damn problem has been going on. It is working MUCH better then it was before I spliced the wires together, thanks for the help everyone now I hope it stays working. Like I said it was working fine for about 3 days when I got it back from the dealer.

 

Okay, so how did you splice them.....exactly?

The reason I ask(and Jon will understand) is I wanna make sure that it was done well enough so that you don't end up with the issue again in a short amount of time.

For instance......did you solder them? If not, how are the held together....just twisted?
No matter what you did.......then did you wrap them in electrical tape to keep them clean and dry?

 

I think this is a very good question to ensure you did everything properly and won't give you problems later on.

 

I was going to take pictures of the whole process, cut the wires striped them then wrapped them together, then soldered them, and then wrapped them in electrical tape.

 

Its good that you soldered them... ensures a solid and stable connection.
I like to use shrink tubing, then wrap with electrical tape... mainly because I like to make sure its sealed.
But as long as you covered it well with electrical tape... you should be fine.
Also, you might want to route the coolant tank overflow hose further down, past the wires just in case.
Just buy longer tubing.

 

^.............ha ha ha........great minds sometimes think alike!

Yeah, I'm glad he soldered them, that's what we were really after. Shrink tubing followed by electrical tape is better, but electrical tape iteslf is better than nothing.

Jon, I'll bet that you have soldered individual wires together, had heat shrink over each one, and then had heat shrink over the entire group.........and possibly even followed that up with electrical tape.

 

Damn... you know me too well... that is absolutely true too
And yes... followed by electrical tape!

 

Ok well I got some bad news it came back. Not as bad as before but still hard to turn at least now I can do it with one hand. I might need to replace the wire harness and the cable that the harness connects to. What are the chances that the power steering rack is just not getting enough power? You think the alternator would have been checked by the dealer before they said the steering rack was bad but I dont know. Should have get the alternator checked before I splace the power cables togeather I have a feeling that there a bit to big to splice togeather with just solder.

 

Well... this goes back to my original assumption when I experienced power steering lose and was only cleaning the contacts for the power harness.
I can't guarantee that splicing the power wires at this point will correct your issues, but its possible.
And like I posted in the link above when I dealt with this... I used a heavy duty crimp to connect the wires and its a real strong connection.

Is it possible that it could be the connector for the torque sensor at the motor... sure.
Is it possible that replacing the whole harness can correct your issue... sure.
Is it possible that it could be the power steering control module... sure.
This is one of those problems that we've seen many different solutions for and no real easy way to distinguish which route to take.
If it were me, I would actually splice the power wires just because its free and keeps me from spending money on something that may or may not fix it.