ATX2000

I've been lurking on s2ki for a while now, but have never needed to ask a question until now, so here it goes:

This happened after parallel parking this morning. I park, the car sits for an hour or so, and then I get back in, turn it on and try to get out of the spot. The steering wheel becomes super heavy and I notice the EPS light is on. I turned the car off and on again, the light went away and power steering was restored. This lasted halfway home until the light turned on and power steering was out again.

So now, when I start the car, everything is fine. The moment I turn the wheel left or right, the EPS light comes on again, stays on, and I lose power steering. I've done some digging and tried to bridge pins 4 and 9 on the OBD-II port. When the car is in the "ON" position, the EPS light blinks 3 times slowly, then 2 times quickly. Is this the same as DCT code 32? I've also taken out the EPS controller unit and tried to clean it, put it back, do the steering wheel reset procedure, and clear the DCT codes by using the brake pedal, but still no luck. Am I diagnosing this wrong? Should I be shoring the SCS instead?

What I'm trying to get at is, does this sound like a bad EPS unit or the torque sensor?

Danfotoman

i had an on-going problem with steering for years, until i decided to tackle the issue. the car was getting to feel out of control and dangerously unresponsive with the steering. long story short i had to replace the steering rack, eps module, and finally the torque sensor, which i believe was the cause of the problem. i don't think you have the same problem as i had, as the eps light never came on, but i did learn a lot about the eps system while spending too much money. after the new steering rack, it had real power, but it was messed up. you'd start it up and the steering wheel would violently spin left. there was power, for sure. so the repair guy ( i no longer go there, because they are idiots) says maybe an open circuit on the eps module, so i ordered a used one off of an '03. as soon as it was installed, the eps light would come on, and the power would stop working. intermittent. enter dynasty auto in orlando, who after some searching, said that the eps module, although both connections look the same, can only properly work in one direction. kind of confusing, but perhaps you should start with rotating the eps module 180 degrees and see what happens. the first guy installed in backwards, but he didn't know, and dynasty knew. the eps module, like the steering rack, rarely causes trouble, but it seems like the torque sensor would be the next step. but have a schematic done to trace power and voltage, because your power is cutting out completely, then coming back. double check connections and wiring before spending money on parts. my $.02

ATX2000

Thanks for the reply... I bought a used EPS module from ahparts.com and it seemed to fix the problem. We'll see how it holds up.