Waah power sia. Bro, by installing an ATF cooler, can this prolong the life of the steering rack ? I'm driving a 6AT, have you seen any 6AT with this problem yet ? Thanks.

 

You 6AT should have came with the 2 ATF cooler? hmmmmm?

 

Hi all,

Had this problem. was bought from PI - 4 AT.

As everyone has described, the problem just gets worse n worse. I didnt think it was worth delaying the change of steering rack... For under 2k its well worth it... imaging kenna one accident because of steering givin way... repair cost even more..worse still cause physical injury or loss of life.

Had it changed a year now at MG. No problems at all....can drive in peace and not worry before taking every corner.

David

 

Not to sound optimistic. Maybe there wasn't a real safety issues; the power steering does not operate above a certain speed. But of course i want it repaired regardless.

I wonder could i just simply do without the power steering at all. I actually would prefer to remove the whole assembly to save weight.

 

Just keeping my fingers crossed that the deterioration of the steering rack could be slower cos i was looking at keeping the car for another 1 yr (max will be 2).

Would installing an ATF cooler helps since someone mentioned that it could be the high temp nature of our ride that caused the steering rack to fail early?

Another cheapo thought that crossed my mind is perhaps to look for fellow bros who are scrapping/exporting their ride to exchange the rack to benefit poor bros like me? With a top-up of cos lah... haha!

 

no point exchange rack. wait you also get problems, then LPPL, have to spend twice the cost and time. unless his rack is a few months old.

 

Of cos must look for bro whose rack still relatively new or rather low mileage clocked... seems that most racks start to fail ard 40,000km onwards so as long as the mileage on the new rack is 20,000km or below maybe still ok depending on how long one intend to keep the ride...

Sure got ppl just change rack but end up selling the ride shortly. I for one, spent a bomb to overhaul my old ride but end up selling in less than 3 months cos i fell in love with the 8! Haha!

No one got any comments on how an ATF cooler would help?

 

i doubt a ATF cooler will help. the transmission is way behind.

 

How would any cooling solve this electrical problem?

 

You guys should search outside your regional forum.

The PS problem is the harness, not the rack.
There is a countermeasure intermediate harness that solves the problem temporarily, but eventually the connector becomes soaked with coolant again and will fail.
Mazda North America has taken to authorizing dealers to fix the problem permanently by soldering the wires of the upper connector halves together.

DO NOT have your rack replaced. This solves nothing and is not the problem.

 

how many pple here have this problem with the 2007 RX8 so far?

 

wOah....mmmm....a thought for the cause now..

thanks!

 

Thanks MM.....

 

How do you get the harness? How to install?

Thanks!

 

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/power-steering-failure-107481/

 

the issue is that there is no power steering warning light on for me. it just judders. it might not be the same problem.

 

You won't get a failure light until it totally fails. You are just having intermittent resistance issues.

 

I suspect the problems are not one and the same. Our power steering light does not light up, the power steering still works except that it shudders and jerks by itself (sometimes violently) on cold engine starts. Goes away after a couple of turns left and right. Anyway, those who are having this problem can try this fix and please update the rest on your results.

 

You are not paying attention. This is the harness. Those are the initial symptoms.

 

the harness cun solve the problem. it is only temporary.... we have touched so many and changed and solder watever wire or harness you can find, linked to the steering rack, it still doesnt solve the issue.

FYI, i'm on my second rack and the problem came again. and IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WIRE HARNESS becos watever u can do, my mech oredi done it. it is juz a short term solution even if u manage to solve it...

 

Can turn off the power steering. Or better still remove it?

 

2nd rack and happen again? will it end? whats your mileage by the way. that means every 40000km must spend 2k to change rack?

 

You are on your second rack because you haven't fixed the harness yet.
Solder the upper torque sensor connector and you will have fixed it.

 

MazdaManiac, would like to check with you if the upper torque sensor connector is NOT soldered, does it cause irreversible damage to the steering rack?

If not, and the steering problem will instantly vanish when the soldering is done, then why does Mazda spend so much money and labour to swap in a new steering rack for those of us under warranty when all it takes is a cheap soldering job? Don't misunderstand me, I'm not questioning what you said. I'm just trying to find some logic in all this.

So if I am to assume that if the upper torque sensor is not soldered, the steering rack will be irreversibly damaged, then why did it happen twice to coupe07's steering rack? (Assuming Mazda Agent here did the soldering when they changed out the 1st damaged steering rack)

I know, too many assumptions here, but just throwing in my spanner to get some ideas/solutions flowing.

 

Because they are painfully inept.