You said the two reset procedures:

The +ve terminal disconnect & what else?

btw, light goes out but is PS restored? My light has gone out before and power steering was still MIA until like 2 minutes later and then the light came back on.

Which is which...

Well i did the press brake pedal 20 times and the odometer reset, n magically the PS went back to normal.

I've got a CEL light on for a sensor though, but the cars drives normal.

So you did a +ve terminal remove and a ECU reset ?

That's the 20 brake pedals thing isnt it, i forgot how its done tho...

Its in the ECU reset thread, i think u have to put the key in the 'on' position and then mash the brake peddle 20 times and u'll see the oil needle sweep to halfway and back.

I did the brake pedal reset and nothing ... after the OPG sweeps and returns, that's it, no power steering just the same.

Well, dont know what to tell u buddy, thats what i did n it worked *knocks on wood*

Where r u located though?

Jamaica.

Where is the EPS 60A Fuse? I looked in the Fuse block but i see nothing denoting it.

I See ST though, is that short for STeering? :)

The "ST" is your starter relay.
The EPS fuse is in the black housing right next to the positive terminal on your battery... can't miss it!

mine failed, and after reading thru this thread and couldn't be bothered doing it myself i took it to a mechanic to be done, worked for 2 or 3 weeks and then just the last weekend went out on me again. took my car back to same mechanic and they suggested i take it to a auto-electricial mechanic. so that'll be my next place of help. will keep updated here.

for anyone on here with no warranty ive got a spare power steering rack, but i think most peoples problems are with the wiring and the fuses, so def. check all that stuff out first :P

What exactly did the mechanic do?
We've covered a few different solutions to the same problem.
If your car was under warrant, you should have taken it there first.

Driving in this morning, had the PS light come on so I dropped it off at a local Mazda dealer close by to work.

Since I'm the pessimistic sort; I figured they would try to foot a $3k+ repair bill since I'm out of warranty (Had my 8 for 5+ years now). Anyway, I went back to the dealer during lunch armed with all the common fixes proposed in this thread.

I was pleasantly surprised, after talking to the tech that he relayed that the Mazda Tech Line recommended cleaning and "soldering" those connections.

I'll be picking it up end of day, if you don't hear back, you can assume everything was taken care of. Thanks all for the info provided.

Its funny that they've resorted to soldering them like we do!
Maybe Mazda Techs come to this site to get their answers. :)

wow,

you are alive. nice of you to drop in!!!

beers :beer:

Can anyone tell me if this is a PS problem?

When I start the car and the steering is very hard to turn, but I've found a way to get rid of it now. By spinning the steering wheel real fast and letting it go the steering wheel would rattle and spin aroud and after that the power is back, but it does not always do the trick since sometimes it still gets heavy on few turns. But eventuall goes away after you drive the car for a longer period of time.

I've had Mazda clean the connectors before but this doesn't solve the problem....what should I do now. The are saying I have to replace it if I want to get rid of the problem. They are telling me the problem should get worse...but so far it's been the same for more then 6 months now. So should I just keep doing what I do to get rid of it then replace it when it won't go away anymore.

If they are going to replace it under warranty, let them do it.
If not, solder the torque sensor wires together at the harness.
Going off of what you described, it does appear to be the same issue many have experienced with our power steering.

why do we bother with connectors--just yank off some of them and hard wire the dang thing--solder them together--shrink wrap etc--that way it insures "no connector problem"!
what do yall think?
by the way mine with out today!*^*#*()^$!!!
OD

By the way, I had to have both the power steering ECU and the steering rack replaced. I think the steering rack may have been the main culprit. This happened at about 71K miles on a 2005.

After replacing the steering rack with a used one, it's steering like a champ.

I replaced the harness as well, but that did not help. Old dragger, if you want, I'll mail you my old harness... you can plop it in and see if it makes a difference.

What do you think I did? ;)
Refer back to post #66

thanks for the offer man--but a simple reset got mine back for now--this w/e I will look more closely and if it comes to that--i will contact ya.
Jon--great minds think alike! :)
OD

EXACTLY!!!!....i dont feel like readin the whole thread but ive had this problem once and i fixed it and no problems ever since....

the way the the PS connectors where built and the position they were put at, put them in the perfect spot for moisture and corrosion....pull em apart and you'll see 2 prongs both METAL clean em with electronic cleaner and dab some light bulb grease on em (so the dont corrode due to moisture from the radiator) and put em back together....and you should be fine

I guess they put a connector there to facilitate assembly. But really it's not an issue for maintenance -- there's still a connector at the PS end if you should ever have to remove the radiator, etc.. I definitely agree with your conclusion, especially in light of how sensitive the unit is to resistance values in the circuit. I futzed with the connector and harness twice before pulling out the cutters and soldering iron. That's one connector that is never going to flake out on me again. :lol2:

mines been gone the last 3 months:banghead: arm musles are huge now tho... was saving up for a new steering rack till i fell onto this tread.... 5 euros worth of contact cleaner and 5 mins later i have power steering again:) :) :) :) thanks

hi guys.
my power steering is fixed thanks to you all. i was getting that familiar shuddering of my steering wheel until about half a minute before my machine warms up on cold starts. what i did was soldered those 3 small wires next to the 2 larger power ones between the coolant overflow tank and standard airbox. checked the wires to see if i'm getting continuity through to the steering rack which i was and from the other side to the 60 amp fuse in the fuse box (not the one on the pos + battery terminal) through to the power plug (2 x larger wires) once I was happy with the continuity I soldered the smaller gauge wires with the battery disconnected. undone the plugs on the harness and sprayed the electrical contact clearner right in the connections.
go through the usualy process after reinstalling the battery by turning your wheels from full right to full left to calibrate. and boot the ol' girl, or spanish maid up.
it doesn't hurt to have a shower first... before and pray you've done the right thing, and if you haven't then maybe some help is needed from mazda or a monzta '8 auto electrian. once clean go in car and drive away with the missus home and enjoy the power steering again with no shuddering. (touch wood).
come home grab a beer and revel in your delightness... :)

I want to get a gReddy turbo, I saw a performance graph on this sight amoungst different types including mazda's one. if any shortcuts to that graph would be appreciated. and do I need to change any port configs on my rotors. PM me if you could to keep the post on steering. I really would love advice on what parts should be required to change to keep my motor from exploding. I have around $AU20k to spend.. ciao