CMRine04

I have a 04 RX-8 GT 6/speed and I ran into a small issue this week. My car had to sit in the garage for the past week and a half so I decided to take it out. I made it about a mile down the road before everything shut off. I had no lights, no gauges, no radio, nada, zip, nilch. A call to a friend and a few unsuccessful jump starts later, we just towed my baby home since it was so close. She has been sitting for the past 3 days or so while I let the battery slow charge outside of the car and inside the house. Today, I bought new battery terminal connectors and put those on, reinstalled the battery, and she fired up. She threw the DSC/TCS lights at me but I also had a lack of power steering which was a little concerning but I figured nothing wrong. I put her in the garage and did the left/right steering wheel maneuver to reset the DSC but the power steering light remained on and I still had no power steering. I've tried to reset it doing the right/left steering wheel maneuver but no luck. The fuse on the positive battery terminal doesn't appear to be blown either. Do I need to turn the car on, right to left the wheel, turn off, then back on to reset the power steering? Any ideas as to what's happening?? Thanks for your input, y'all

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

No, power steering doesn't need a reset. That sounds like the power steering system just isn't getting electrical power. Start checking fuses, you might have blown one dealing with the battery issues as the power steering system pulls more power at very low speed (under 5mph at least) than the alternator puts out, so it has to rely on the battery.

CMRine04

I unhooked the battery and let it sit unhooked for about 5 minutes. I reconnected it and went through the procedure to reset the DSC/TCS. The P/S light is still illuminated though. I checked all the fuses, especially the one next to the battery and none of them are broken. I unhooked the fuse and plugged it back in to no avail. I drove the car up and down the street, getting it to 30mph and going full lock left and right both times to nothing as well. I'm really getting frustrated as I cannot find the issue. The plugs under the airbox are clean as well.

chris2004rx8

I am having the same issue with my 2004 rx8 6-speed manual. if you get it figured out, let me know so I can try the same trouble shooting procedures CS

Khurram

Check and inspect the power steering connectors.

The connectors are right in underneath the coolant over flow hose. It gets faulty due to coolant dripping directly on it.

Disconnect the connectors clean them nicely and connect them back together..

If this don't resolve the issue, then you may need to have your power steering module inspected and Rack and pinion would be the last part i would mess with.

Cheers,

rock7

Try checking the power steering plug that is located under the air cleaner box meaning take out the air cleaner box and its base it should a big plug sitting on the fans or upper on the radiator support. I had this problem. And thats how i fixed it i think the plug wasnt making good contact with each other so just try unplug and plug it back again a few times. Try cleaning the wires inside the plugs also.good luck.

senordos13

Same issue here. It used to stop working, or stutter really bad. I used electrical connector cleaner on that connector and I haven't had a problem since!

Spray it down good. Use a Qtip and clean them out. Mine was pretty gunky.

paul

chris2004rx8

I cleaned the 2 plugs underneath the air cleaner box. still no luck with the power steering. I also ran a new overflow hose coming off the coolant reservoir. if you guys know of any other trouble shooting procedures, please let me know. its not as fun driving without it. thanks