My prediction: Every single S2k will have this issue.

My power steering was lumpy, inconsistent, only power steered in one direction, and started happening on cold/cool starts. Also had a death shake if you gave it a quick flick.

What I found was dried up grease and a bit of sand/dirt in the sensor was the culprit. This means that every single S2K will see this issue at some point and you will have to fix it since honda no longer sells this part. If you have already replaced the sensor, KEEP the old one. Someone will want it. From what I've seen on mine, I'm guessing all can be repaired. People in dry and dusty environments will likely see this issue first.

I took mine out, cleaned the dirt from under the plastic ring and used high temp urea grease and its good as new. I'm still not sure if the urea grease was the best/right call, but it's what I had on hand. I felt it was a good choice. Original grease was green, and since it is used on the shifter(plastic), it should be safe to use on plastic parts.

DO NOT USE WD40 or any other penetrating lube as others have suggested. That is a very poor fix that works, but will do more damage in the long term. You must take it apart and CLEAN it. The sensor is designed to operate with minimal grease and NO oil.

Write up draft:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing
I will continue to edit as people leave feedback.

 

Interested in the writeup. I'll probably do that this spring. If the sensor is easy to remove I'll take it out and clean it up.

 

Deoxit or CRC work great as well, and if you have some hand skills you can just lift the dust seal without removing the unit. The service manual says to grease the dust shield yearly with general purpose grease, I'm guessing that keeps the dirt out of the unit.

 

There are a couple threads about the EPS Torque Sensor. I just replaced mine, but I'm pretty sure I could have opened up the old one and cleaned it out. Given it's really just a big potentiometer, most likely the contacts get dirty and corroded over time.

 

 

Do NOT do this. This is terrible advice as it will cause the dust and grime to go everywhere inside the sensor. It is meant to be very clean inside.

 

Edited post with link to writeup draft.

 

Then why did it work for me and others that have tried it? Putting urea grease inside the plastic piece does nothing whatsoever. That beige plastic bit is the reluctor ring, the sensor housing has the sensor that reads the position of the plastic piece. That's what gets dirty and needs cleaning.

 

Please elaborate. Tuner cleaner spray would clean the sensor, which is just a potentiometer.

Perhaps your unexpressed concerned is the cleaner would just force the contaminents further into the rack?

 

Sorry if this resurrects this, but given the importance of the topic I'd like to mention that this worked perfectly on mine. Mine had been pulsing when it was cold, but suddenly while I was driving I lost power steering while turning right, when i turned left it wouldn't correct in curves, and once it even turned right abruptly while I was correcting a left turn. The instructions worked great, and I was even able fit an electric impact ratchet in the tight spots while removing the 2 bolts that hold it into the pinion. I don't have an "after" image, but here is a "before";