Worst issue ever...
Have cleaned several time, and even replaced the harness with a new one. I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have to get a new rack I think the problem is the torque sensor in the rack itself.

 

I have a problem wit my power steering, before it used to be the harness then I cleaned it and it went away, but now the steering becomes hard randomly and after turns, I cleaned the wires all connections I even removed the EPs module and checked it it seems fine so Idk wat else -_-
The power steering light goes off as soon as I start the car .I checked the resistance in the terminals and they seem good according to what I read they should be, I don't know what else it could be any help would be appreciated thanks

Also u can remove the torque sensor from the rack so why couldn't someone just sell the sensor its self?

 

I bought my 8 about two weeks ago. My PS was out and the PS light was on along with a light with an exclamation point in parentheses. I read this whole thread and cleaned all the connectors and sensors twice. I checked all the fuses except for the in line fuse that is connected to the positive battery cable. I woke up this morning 07/28/13 and walked outside popped the hood and just stared down praying to the power steering gods. I remembered reading something about that white wire is the PS power wire. I didn't think about the fuse on top of it. I took it out and popped the plastic top off of it and it was blown. I couldn't get to Auto Zone fast enough. I walked in, bought the fuse, and plugged it in. I hopped in my car and cranked it up. The steering wheel automatically went loose. I couldn't ******* believe it. It worked!!!!! OMFG I FELT STUPID. I checked every fuse but that one. If that wouldn't have worked my next step was to solder the wires. This forum is awesome and I thank all of you guys that know what the hell you are doing. If not for you guys I wouldnt be able to afford this car. "Drive your spirit like you drive your 8 and you will have no problems in life"

Joseph A. Mazzanti

JAM

 

I've stated that in my previous post. Many seem to just focus on the connectors and the steering rack, and miss that fuse that's been looking straight at you...

 

^..............Yes, but the real question is................why did the fuse pop in the first place.

 

Yeah, what kind of electrical overload would cause that fuse to pop?

 

An easy answer might be that the weather seal somewhere in the power connector failed and let in water and provided an electrical path to ground momentarily. That would certainly do it.

 

if it's just straight up dead isn't that obvious ? I always check fuse before I check anything else cuz it happened to me a few times on other stuff, made me feel completely stupid that I wasted all that time for nothing. lol

 

Well much to my dismay... The day before yesterday when I started my car up I had a weird sort of grind every so often in certain spots when I turned the wheel. The best way I can describe it is it felt like there was something getting caught in a gear somewhere or as if the teeth on a gear where damaged at certain points. So I drove the car a few miles and it went away.
I thought it was really weird but thought maybe something got in there and it might be an desolated issue as it didn't happen again for a few days.
Well I got in my car to go to the store tonight and it happened again, a little worse this time and then after about a mile the power steering shut off...
When I got where I was going I shut the car off when I got back in started up and seems to have no issues again.

I can only imagine this must be the begging of it failing again after having the rack replaced only a few months ago. I'm kind of at a loss for what to do.

 

Just in case it's not the rack that is grinding, get into the driver's side front wheel well with a can of WD40 and hose down the lower steering shaft u-joint. If the grinding disappears when you lubricate it, then it's just the u-joint. $50 for a replacement from Mazmart and a couple hours of work to replace.

 

Could that cause it to shut off the power steering completely though?

 

Also I'm not sure how I would properly diagnose it as it went away for several days on it's own, but then came back worse today.

 

So I don't think this is the u-joint... As it doesn't seem to make any difference now if I spray wd-40 on it. When the power-steering cuts out it goes away completely (hard to turn but no grinding, smooth as normal). I also noticed when spraying the wd-40 that the rubber boot that used to be on the top of the power-steering rack where the steering wheel shaft goes in was never installed. Does that matter?

Update: I just went out and tried again and I'm almost positive it isn't the u-joint (correct me if I'm wrong), I can't even turn the wheel because the power steering is fighting so much against me. I have to pull the fuse to get it to be drivable...

 

Ash and I discussed that dust boot at some point in the past. There is no dust boot for the RX-8, even though there is on nearly every other Mazda. Unsure why it was left off.

Yeah, that sounds like it's not the u-joint. It was just a quick test to rule that out. Since a fuse pull resets it, I'd bet that it is a loss of data over time due to dirty connectors.

I'd bypass the connector and make it a hard-wired connection if I were you.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear, this is the plastic/boot thing that is missing:


And I meant pull the fuse and leave out, as in kill the power steering all together. I know what the dealership is going to say... They told me I should replace the rack and EPS control module just to be safe, so they are going to say it's the Module and not want to fix the rack... (I am trying to get someone to let me try their module to rule this out)

Which connector are you referring to bypassing? The fuse? If you mean the connectors above the radiator they have all ready been hard wired/soldered from the last go round with this crap.

 

Yes, those, so you already solved that.

 

I'm starting to think I'm just going to have to get another RX-8 because this one is hopeless. It doesn't need a mechanic, it needs an exorcist.

 

Then there is that.




I'm thinking here, but can add nothing that you or anyone else hasn't tried or thought of.

 

your wiring harness has a problem

not the short one, talking about the main harness that goes around your car.

 

How is that possible? Why would that have suddenly happened and what in the main harness would affect it?
I am not saying I don't believe that it could be, I just don't under what part of it would effect this? Isn't the steering system relatively self contained?
I was under the impression torque censor sends signal to control module to let it know how much force and in what direction to apply it, I'm assuming that the input from the ECU would supply things like speed and maybe braking?

Where would I begin to look for an issue like this?

Thanks to all for the help.

 

Another update...
So the rack started basically fighting to try to keep the wheel straight, any attempt to turn in either direction was met with grinding and force trying to return to center. This lasted for a couple minutes before it shut off completely. Now it seems all together dead.

A local forum member was kind enough to let me try using his power steering control module, but it remained dead/no change.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do? I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do at this point...

 

I'm telling ya, check the whole harness for short, especially the part which connects to your EPS wires.

reason why is that I've been trouble shooting couple of 8s lately that has this exactly issue. and the short in wiring does affect it, I don't even bother to find out which one, I just check them 1 by one and found 2 of them has a short that's totally not related, changed the whole harness, and everything was good again (it hurt the guy's pocket cuz that whole harness cost a lot)

it might not be your problem of course, but it's worth a shot. and finding a used good front harness shouldn't cost that much.

because issues like this are 90% the result of some sort of short circuit, u can only hope the short haven't totally killed ur newly installed rack & pinion yet ...

and before you ask, no it DID NOT BLOW ANY FUSE. wires didn't melt, nothing, just some weird internal short.

sucks that you live so far away ... I can look at ur car for a bit if u're closer

 

Does anyone know if you can take one EPS control module from a car and put it into another? I tried swapping with someone and it didn't work, but I think it may be because you can't just swap them with out recalibration.

 

Well the official word from my local Mazda dealership is that EPS control module is toast. It's not putting any voltage out or if it does its drastically low compared to what it should be.

The price tag for the repair is $1333.50. This is in addition to the $2,300 ish I paid to have the rack replaced already.

Does anyone know what kind of input the EPS control module gets aside from what comes form the torq sensor?

 

huh? they mean that thing that sits under the ECU is toasted ? and it take 1/2 hr (taking my sweet time) to remove and install a new one

the part itself does cost couple hundred bux. and you do need IDS to set it after install. but it takes less than 10 minutes

sometimes I really wish I live closer to u ... I have IDS and u can just get a used EPS module and I will charge u 1/2 of what dealership charges u. lol