beachdog

I only saw one prior thread that mentioned a power steering failure, here's what happened to my 8.

Last Saturday, driving at about 70 through a construction detour on the Interstate, all the dash warning lights came on and the speedo went to zero. As I approached the next zig in the detour I also discovered that the power steering had cut out. There were no shoulders and I had to drive a few miles to an exit before I could stop safely. Pulled into a gas station and filled up. Restarted and all the lights went out except for the check engine and the power steering was back. Had another 150 miles to go so I kept going.

The car sat for two days and then I started it and everything was normal, at first. No warning lights at all, not even the CEL. The power steering was working too. After about three miles, made a turn at a corner with a lot of sand on the pavement and the rear end broke loose a little. Well, that lit up the ABS, Power Steering, Traction and DCS warnings. The power steering was still working but the warnings were lit the rest of the way home.

The next morning, I drove to the dealer and everything was normal for the 30 mile drive. Steering worked, no warning lights. They put the car on the computer and there were no errors trapped. They sent me home in a Mazda 6 and they proceeded to road test it themselves. They consulted with MNAO. They never experienced a problem all day and called me to come and bring it home.

They turned the car over to me, I got in and started to leave, drove about a 100 feet and the power steering light and ABS light came on and the power steering was dead. I backed the car back into the shop and got the car back onto the computer.

This time there was an error code for the ABS module, DTC B1233 is what they wrote up on the service ticket. It took a day to get the module. Picked the car up this evening and everything seems to be fine. They did the MSP04 flash while they had it.

I asked the technician why the ABS module would cause the power steering to fail intermittently but he had no idea. I suspect that the PCM was getting freaked out by the errors that the ABS was throwing but that's just a guess on my part.

In retrospect, I did recall having two instances when the ABS engaged inappropriately. First time was about a month ago, driving on a residential street at less than 10 mph approaching a stop sign on dry clean pavement, hit the brakes and the ABS engaged for about a second. I knew it was wrong but chalked it up to unseen sand or dampness. The second time about a week after the first, a very similar situation, just it was at the next stop sign. Again, i didn't think much about it. Figured the ABS was more sensitive than my other cars. In hindsight, the ABS was failing for about a month.

The strangest part of all this was that after that fill up right after the "light show" and p/s failure, I noticed that the gas guage seemed to be moving way less than before. At 150 miles I was still at half a tank. Yes it was 6th gear cruising but it was all at 80+. Even with all the dealer road testing and extended idling while on the computer it still broke 20mpg when I filled it this evening. Normally I would have to stay under 70 to break 20 and I would even shut the car off at long lights. Maybe the ABS was causing drag on the brakes all the time?

Don't know if there is a moral to this other than if you notice any abnormal behavior in the ABS, get into the dealer. The 8 might not be very heavy, but with big tires and non-funtioning power steering, the steering doesn't respond real well and could be very dangerous if you're not prepared.

rxeightr

Thanks for making us aware of your problem. Have you had any other issues with your RX-8 ?

shelleys_man_06

What kind of drag are you talking about?

RX-8 friend

DSC and ABS are inextricably interconnected. If ABS starts doing "unprogrammed" things due to a failure, it could also trigger DSC to engage braking on individual wheels - hence poor mileage. If the EPS (power steering - stands for "Electric Power Steering"), sees strange data it could shut down for safety.

So most of what you experienced can make sense.

I wonder what would happen if the battery shorted when you were driving. It might be very interesting.

beachdog

This was the one and only problem that has required a repair.

beachdog

Based purely on the initial gas consumption observation, it would appear that the ABS module was applying some brake unnecessarily. Hard to say how much, if any. If I get higher mileage on this tank, it would be proof enough for me.

dcfc3s

When the dealer flashed your ECU to the M flash, that could also have helped your fuel economy - it has for many others.

Dale

beachdog

The fuel economy was after the ABS died and before the M flash. I filled it about 10 miles after the flash was completed.

zRapture

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