History: I recently had a engine swap and wheel alignment done, and shortly after that, my power steering failed. I should also mention that when I got the car back from the stealer, there were splatter marks all around the coolant overflow bottle. Last night, I had driven the car for ~30 minutes, parked it for 10 minutes, drove it another 10 minutes, parked it for 45 minutes, and when I started the car again, the power steering light came on and I had no power assist. Even after a few restarts, no power steering.

Thanks to this closed thread, there were a lot of good suggestions in there:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/power-steering-failure-107481/

So far, I have removed the negative terminal of the battery and cleaned the post. There was some white crap on the post and cable, which I sanded off, but it wasn't bad. I've seen much worse. I also recharged the battery, but it wasn't bad, as it only drew 2 amps. While I was in there, I replaced the coolant overflow hose with a 2-3' section of silicone hose I happened to have and rerouted it so it wouldn't dump onto the PS connectors. When I restarted the car, I did an ECU reset as well. So far, the PS light isn't on, and I've got steering assist back. I'll continue to monitor the situation for a while and I'll be driving with my fists clenched tightly on the wheel(!). I haven't cleaned the PS connectors yet, as suggested in the above thread, but that'll be my next step.

Many thanks to those who contributed to that thread!

 

Well, it lost power steering again after sitting idle for a day. Even after a few stops/starts, no power steering. So today I went and bought a can of contact cleaner. I drove to the store without PS, and right after I got the can of contact cleaner, I had PS. The car must have known what I was up to!

Even though the PS was working again, I took the airbox off and cleaned the 2 connectors for the PS. There were a couple of drops of coolant overflow on and near the connectors, but the contacts themselves looked clean. I sprayed them with the contact cleaner anyways. Frankly, I don't see how coolant can get into the connectors to create bad connections.

Will monitor it for awhile again...

 

I'm still thinking it was the connectors, even after reading what you said. Fluid can get into amazing places! Now......what caused the overflow bottle splatter....you figure the dealer was doing something that either overflowed it some before you lengthend the hose or you think they had the cap off? BTW.......there have been just a few issues with cracks on the plastic piece right where you attach the overflow hose, so check that oout real good.

 

Mine just failed on me last week but it turned out to be the 60amp fuse @ the terminal.

 

Yeah, but a fuse won't make it come and go.

 

I'm not sure what caused the overflow splatter, but the dealer had just replaced the engine. So perhaps the back pressure created by the coolant flowing into the new engine somehow caused the splatter? They would have had to refill the bottle as well because the new engine would have been empty of coolant. They must have had the cap off because the splatter was all over the top of the bottle, and the front cross member, as well as down by the connectors.

Thanks for the tip on the crack, but it looks okay on mine.