ehsankhan

Hi guys. I would like to express the fact that I really try to take care of my car. So here's what happened:

My radiator got cracked a while back after I hit a speed bump that was a little too high, and my radiator cracked and coolant went everywhere (a splash was even visible on the inside part under my passenger glove box). Well I didnt notice until i was driving I thought saw a little steam from my engine, checked the temp, and it was right under red. Luckily my mechanic was around the corner. So problem done, he welded it shut and all was fine.

But now its been like 2-3 months, and a couple of days ago, I came home and parked like I always do. Next morning before my exam, my car steering was extremely stiff. Im a decently strong guy, and it took a good amount of strength to turn it. So, I was pissed. I didnt want to take it to him because it is pretty far to drive like this, and I never thought towing it is good in my area because it has steep speed bumps.

So long story short. I read around and see that the coolant pipe could have gotten to those wire for the 2 gray wires under the air filter box. But my question is what else could it be, possible the steering rack. And my battery does seem to have some whitish-teal gunk at more so at the negative terminal than the postive, could that be a problem? And I open the air box partly but There is a cable that goes from the battery to the fuse box and it is clamped 3 times to the air filter box on the way there. How am I supposed to get through that?

Any help is much apprectiated.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Moved to Troubleshooting. DIY is only for when you have a set of instructions to give.

Power steering failure is almost exclusively due to that connector getting fouled, and especially after a coolant overflow, it's a near certainty. Focus on that first, because a new rack is $2k and a new control module is >$1,400.

As for disconnecting stuff, just look carefully. Everything you see disconnects, though not everything has to disconnect.

ehsankhan

I see. But I am still unclear, so I have taken photos:

Here is the front where I unscrewed the nuts of the housing.

Green- housing nut (removed)
yellow- grommet but it is stuck in there and quite difficult to remove so havent.
blue- coolant overflow pipe ( I flipped it the other way after it did the damage)



So now in the back side you can see the orange coolant spill, and a hole from which I unscrewed the base.



And this is the cable attached to the housing that I am unsure that it should be removed. I pulled one out, the others remain.

ehsankhan

And here is the damage on the connectors and battery terminal. After seeing this many I would like to confirm my suspicions that it is "JUST" the connectors on nothing more serious (steering rack):

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

That is just a typical anchor point. Connecting it or disconnecting it doesn't have any impact on what does what. It just holds the harness in place to keep it from moving around while driving. A zip tie can do the same easily if you break it.

Yeah, that's a mess. clean everything electrical and reconnect. I would feel confident that it's your connectors being fouled. Worst case, it's a nearly free fix, and if it does n't work you aren't any worse off. If it does work, you made yourself anxious over a large repair bill for nothing.

ehsankhan

thanx riwwp for the help.

so I got the box out and clean it extensively. and as for the connectors i had no access to electronic cleaner so i used vinegar and a little water. wait till it dried a bit and then sprayed de-grease on the female connector ends, waited again, then poured water on them and waited for them to dry.

Can you confirm if this is the right way,? If not, I haven't turned on the car or the battery just in case.

And also you see the connector that is all the way at the bottom (the one plugged into the cylinder), It wouldn't budge, even after I took its strap off, and it still wouldnt come out, so i just left it there and I poured the vinegar water solution on top of it and followed up with the de-grease and water rinse technique. Is that effective enough?

PADILLA GST

Verify the drainage hose coolant canister. The vapor hot is bad for the P/S main connector and P/S shutdown. Change the hose and put to drainage in other place. ( clean the p/s main connector with contact cleaner) removed the battery terminal for reset the ecu. Good Loock

Razz1

Replace the overflow hose with one that is two feet.

Run it to the bottom of the car.