I guess this probably belongs here and not in the tech section but I wasn't really sure... So this is what happened:

I hit a curb/road divider after losing control of the car in the rain. I hit the car hard enough to go up and onto the divider(which is about 3 feet wide and 12" high) and slide the car down it shortly before getting back off of it. I damaged the front and rear driver wheels and tires as well as fuel lines and brake lines and some of the rear suspension parts on the one rear wheel.

So my local mazda dealership (which I took it to thinking they would know what they are doing) is divided into to separate locations, collision and service. I was told to take it to collision first and then they transported it by flat bed to service for brakes and all of the mechanical repairs.
When I drove it back from the accident it was definitely messed up but the power steering worked.
While it was at the collision center the power steering worked.
After it was transported to the service center the tow truck driver flooded the engine and then when they tech guys at the service center had de-flooded it no more power steering.

They have replaced the connectors but now are saying that it needs everything replaced, rack and pinion, control module and all that to the tune of around $3500 and the insurance company is saying it wasn't due to the accident.

So I guess my question is has anyone ever experienced anything like this and could it have just been coincidence that it happened and not be related to the accident?

**Edit -- I should also add they have already replaced both ends of the connector under the airbox and the eliminated 2 of the 3 fault codes but the system still does not work. They said they called mazda and they are the ones that recommended replacing both the rack and pinion and the control module

 

Could it be as simple as the power steering needing to be reset? One would think that they would have tried that but you never know. Have you tried it?

 

I don't know if they tried and I haven't had it back in over 3 weeks (and it's still with them waiting for the insurance adjuster to come back out and re-evaluate it) but like you said, I would hope they did. How do you reset it? the key ON and 20 brake pumps, all the way left all the way right on the wheel?

 

key on, engine off. turn wheels all the way left then all the way right. It may be right first then left. I forget.

 

Does it give you any indication of success? (any of the gauges bounce or anything?

 

I think it's right then left. And no, no indication.

 

So I reset the power steering, no dice. Cleaned the 2 connectors up front (they replaced the torque connector but not the power connector) and it came on for about 30 minutes. Went off again so I cleaned again and bent the pins on the power connector a little to make more contact. Started car and power steering worked. Shut off and turned back on a few minutes later no power steering or traction control, so I got frustrated and left for an hour. Came back reset powersteering and everything works again?! So I drove around the block a few times and is still on. This thing is driving me nuts..

 

I know saw a link in one of the other posts as to where you can get the power steering harness, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it now...

Does anyone know where I can get the power steering harness online?

Thanks

 

I don't know about the power steering harness, but this website has the workshop manual which includes more diagrams than you could ever need. Take a look.

http://foxed.ca/index.php?page=rx7manual#rx8

 

So the insurance company agreed with the dealership that to power steering failure was due to the accident , so now my car is totaled (because they quoted $4k to fix it).
I have the car back now and I'm trying to figure out if it really needs a new rack and pinion along with the power steering ecu or if it could be something else...

I have cleaned all connectors, that didn't work. I replaced the harness and now the power steering won't work from a cold start, but if you let it get to full operating temp and the shut it off and turn it back on again it will work. If the car sits for more than 5/10 minutes you have to let it run for a few minutes and then shut it off and turn on again to get it back on. I was thinking it is temperature related but
Could it be related to voltage?

Any ideas would be really appreciated.

 

It is most likely related to voltage, I had that issue as well, it ended up having something to do with the ground wire that goes into the steering rack.