WashabiS2K

alright, well i thought it was finally time to "fix" my power steering issue.. I have a few offers for a new power steering rack, but I wanted to make sure it was my rack that was damaged and not anything else.. here is some background information and some of the symptoms the car is having right now.

Last Year: was cruising around 35-40mph when i bit a short curb and the car spun. Tried to drive it off, and the steering felt heavy (no power steering). That was the first incident and i know that my problems must have originated from this mishap.

after the power steering went out on me that night, i pulled over, turned the car off, inspected the front end, and turned the car back on. The power steering worked when i restarted the car.

the few weeks proceeding that, the power steering would go on and off sometimes, even while driving. Some days, i would start her up, and the power steering would work fine, until i took a hard turn and the power steering would shut off on me instantaneously. other days, i would turn it on, and the power steering wouldnt work, but a restart of the engine and it would be fine.

few months later, I am entering a corner, when a car opposite direction of me, decides to make a left, right in front of me. i lock up the brakes, begin to slide, and without power steering, could not correct in time.. i go over a large island, across opposing lanes (no cars, middle of the night thank God), and over another curb into some bushes... I have the car put into a shop, and have the front passenger side susp. components replaced because the tie rod was bent.

a few months after that ordeal, the power steering doesn't come on at all, so i restart, and no matter what i did, the power steering would not work. so then, i try using a friends EPS Unit (the box next to the battery) and the power steering starts right up. So i purchase a new EPS Unit (2 actually). The power steering works great, for a few weeks atleast. Sometimes, during this period, it would still go off on me after i turn hard, but once i restart, the EPS would work fine.

now: The power steering is still giving me some issues. 4 out of 5 times i turn the car on, the power steering will not work. However, on some occasions, it will decide that today is a good day and will provide me with power steering. However, almost every time that the power steering is working, it acts really weird.

A lot of the times, there will be power steering turning both left and right, but every so often, the car will lose its left-turning power steering. meaning, the car will turn fine towards the right, but will give a lot of restriction when turning towards the left. Sometimes, its so dangerous, as the car will deliberately try to turn itself towards the right. for example: coming to a stop, while stopped, the steering wheel will start turning itself towards the right.

so thats where i stand now.. i have already replaced the power steering box, and it worked temporarily, but it seems to have gotten worse now, as the steering acts really weird and tries to turn itself.. i have another EPS box laying around that can be used, but i just wanted to see what the rest of you thought about this... replace the whole rack??? or do you guys think its an electrical issue?? btw, i had the front corner (that hit the curb) replaced.. one of the tie rods were bent, but i had the entire assembly swapped out for used, but not bent, pieces. (knuckle, tie rods, etc. etc. etc.)

to those of you that took the time to read this entire thing, thank you! and sorry for it being so long.. im just really getting fed up with this issue and would like to have it resolved, once and for all.

R3DS2K

do you have a EPS light on?? whats the code?

did you recalibrate the EPS so its centered ?

WashabiS2K

the EPS light is on, i did not pull the code.. supposedly, you need a special scanner that "only Honda Certified Dealership Mechanics have".. I went to the stealership a few months back and they wanted to charge me $250 to "diagnose" the car + "overnight storage fees" + "labor for the mechanics" (to plug in a code reader and pull the code for me) i havent tried recalibrating the centering position on the EPS.. how would i go about doing so?

slalom44

The Torque Sensor Neutral Position has to be recalibrated any time the gearbox is removed, or when the torque sensor or EPS control unit is replaced. This requres a hookup to a data link connector (OBDII).

The troubleshooting section in the service manual for the EPS on our car is pretty extensive, and you really should get your hands on a copy of the service manual before randomly replacing parts.

WashabiS2K

oohh.. alright, ill def. give that a shot. any more insight as to why sometimes the power steering is on, and sometimes it isn't?

omgitsoop

if you get a little bit of silicone leakage around the nipple, then your rack is def damaged

SOHCmyDOHC

Autozone can pull a code for you. FOR FREE99!

Asura

You need to find out what the codes are. There can be multiple codes for the EPS stored at once. Easiest place to start is to check your wiring.

There are 5 wires to the steering rack.

The two thick ones are power coming directly from the EPS box:
1 green (-)
1 red (+)

Then there is a sensor on the rack with 3 wires:
1 blue-red
1 yellow
1 red-orange

Check your grounds, and check for continuity.

Hope that helps. If you are at Laguna this weekend, I can pull the codes for you.

-Asura

mikegarrison

I think you can get the EPS to show flash codes if you jump the right pins. Check the Helm manual.

WashabiS2K

thanks guys, ill def. check out the wiring to make sure that it isnt the electrical.