Everybody

Hi,

Ok, so the story is, i have changed the battery in my 2004 rx-8 as it was not taking charge. The new battery, which was supplied by the local Mazda dealership went in ok and the car started.

The DSC lights came on as expected and they cleared ok following a left and right lock with the ignition on, however the power steering light remained on and would not clear.

The car has done 80 miles with no power steering, fine.

Now i know that the power steering faults relating to the coolant overflow etc has been covered in great depth elsewhere. In this case however i cannot see how the EPS fault cannot be related to the battery change in some way, since it occured immediately afterwards.

I have cleaned the connectors below the air filter tray, and tested all fuses including the one on the battery '+' connector under bonnet and in cockpit and they are all good.

Does anyone have any ideas as to the relationship between the battery change and the EPS fault?

I would love to know if there is any reason for this before i start pulling harnesses etc, and beginning a costly process of fault finding, and any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

CA

EDZRIDE

iTrader: (1)

Was the charging system checked; what was the output?

SPHINX144

I know the power steering along with all other non essential systems like abs and dsc are disabled in ordered to maximize whatever power is left when the car's charging system is not working properly. It happened to me and it turned out to be the alternator, but in your case your car starts normally so it can't be that.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Did you blow the fuse for the power dteering...iy.s on the positive battery terminal?

Or did the white plug get disconnected under it?

Everybody

The charging system was checked yes, the output I am told is ok, and the new battery must be charging because I have driven it 60miles and had numerous stops and starts.

The recovery man has tested across the battery while the car was running and got 14 volts I believe, and said that was normal range.

They also had a clamp meter on it to test the current, I cannot remember what the value was, but apparently it was 'ok'.

The EPS system does have a 60AMP fuse however, this suggests it draws a high current; maybe the system draws a higher current than the road side mechanic understood, as it is an electric rather than hydraulic system.

Anyway, as you said Sphinx144 it starts and runs fine, apart from the EPS.

Everybody

Yes the 60A fuse on the positive battery terminal has been checked with a meter and is good, and also the connector here was attached and has been re-attached. Still no joy.

Everybody

Ok so it's fixed so I am really chuffed. I dont know exactly what fixed it, but all I know is the battery was off last night, so I had to reset the dsc today, when I did this the dsc went off and the power steering light went off (hooray) leaving behind the skidding car. The skidding car went after a short drive and another left-right lock reset.

Below is a list of everything that happened between the eps not working and it working.

Contact below air filter tray detached and reattached

Fuses all checked

Battery eps connector on positive battery terminal detached and reattached.

Battery reset (remove both batt terminals. And touch them together for 10 minutes)

Gentle tapping of eps motor beneath dash.

Check for dtc codes (none found)

Having done all of this, the fault cleared.

If I can answer any questions to help make this a meaningful thread then please reply or pm.

CA

Everybody

Anyone got any ideas what might have happened?