Originally Posted by ShadowBlasko

So, on the way to work this morning my power steering pretty much failed completely.

No warning light (and the light is functioning) but very sporadic operation of the PS, which is worse than having none at all in my opinion.

The problems started about 2 weeks ago, and have been becoming more frequent as time goes by. The primary problem is that the power steering really doesn't want to come "off center" when it goes bad, so changing lanes is a rather sketchy thing right now, as I never know if I will have power steering or not when I move the wheel off canter.

For the last couple weeks I have been trying the "Manual Calibration" technique of turning the ignition to accessory, cranking the wheel all the way to the right, then all the way to the left, and then starting the car. This seems to work in most cases (at least for a short time) but today it stopped helping.

So... I pulled up this thread, pulled out the air box and cleaned and treated the connections as indicated in the top of the thread. On first re-assembly, after cleaning, the PS warning light was on, and I had no power steering at all.

So I took it back apart and tried again, and now the warning light is back off, but the power steering is still sporadic in its assist. It is better than it has been in the last week, but still hesitant to come off center when I start to turn.

I checked the U joint and it seems ok, and there does not seem to be any binding issues.

I guess the next step is to go ahead and replace the wiring harness... but I thought I would go ahead and post what I had done so far, and what was occurring, and see if anyone had any other suggestions.

-Someone on here said that owning an RX-8 with over 110,000 miles was like being married to a stripper... and I am starting to agree. Since 110,000 (two months ago) I have had an O2 sensor fail, the power steering fail, and a serious degradation in braking.

I hope I am not just seeing the tip of the iceberg here. My last car was a 1990 Integra, and when I sold her to the teenager next door she had 525,000 miles on her, and he is still driving her.

-Shadow

Originally Posted by stodulski

After fixing the power steering issue with this DYI, my check engine light came on! Maybe I hit something in the engine or a connection? Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by bladeiai

I hit a curb about a month ago and during the repair process my power steering failed. The dealership said I need a new power steering rack and pinion and new power steering control module(also they said they called mazda usa and that was their recommendation).

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.

Originally Posted by stodulski

After fixing the power steering issue with this DYI, car check engine light came on! Maybe I hit something in the engine or a connection? Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by Grace_Excel

If you say the once your car gets to operating temps, your EPS starts to work, which means your module and the EPS rack works. You have three choices, two of those you have done so you're left out with hard wiring(soldering the connections) the harness. Before you do that, check your electrical connections for continuity with an volt/ohmmeter.
The power steering will not have anything to do with your CEL. You will have to have your CEL read.

Originally Posted by bladeiai

Thank you very much for the reply. Just out of curiosity... what about using a conductive paste in the connectors? Has anyone tried that with any success?

Also when soldering the connections do you actually solder the wires onto the plug on the torque sensor? (I didn't see any wires so I wasn't sure how to go about attaching it) Or do people usually solder only the top plug connectors?

Originally Posted by Grace_Excel

Splice the plugs and solder the wires together, I've never read anyone mention soldering it on the torque sensor nor use conductive paste, only dielectric grease.

Originally Posted by bladeiai

I actually gave the paste a try and it didn't help. I have no powersteering from a cold start, but if I let it warm up and then shut it off and restart it will work fine until I accelerate or stop too quickly, then it shuts off again. I'm going to try soldering the wires together next I guess. I already replaced the harness and cleaned everything 15x, and tried dielectric grease, conductive grease...

Originally Posted by Grace_Excel

You may have a loose connection somewhere. I was doing the same thing you are doing now after I had my engine replaced. Cleaned here, cleaned there, pretty much cleaned all connections everywhere. EPS works when I start the car, then once I hit a bump or turn the wheel hard, it stops working.

I tightened the clamp for the battery's positive terminal that has the 60 amp EPS fuse in it because it was loose and bent the contact points(I don't know if that made sense) in all the female ends of the harness for a tighter connection, once clamped together, I used zip ties to keep the connection tight and closed.