Power Steering issue
11-05-08, 01:13 AM
#1
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Power Steering issue
Less than a week of driving the GS, the power steering suddenly seemed to stop working. After starting the car, the steering felt heavy (actually a good thing) but near impossible to turn during a standing stop.
Good thing I still have warranty.
Any of you guys have/had this issue? What turned out to be causing this?
Good thing I still have warranty.
Any of you guys have/had this issue? What turned out to be causing this?
11-05-08, 08:48 AM
#4
Lead Lap
we have had a few go out on us, with the RX350 and the hybird 400h...just get the rack replaced...thats all it probly is, took me about 3 hours, with alignment and all...
11-05-08, 06:57 PM
#6
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I've experienced those leaking PS steering in my other cars. It was a very gradual thing. Leaks on the floor, starts with a little noise that grows louder as days go by, and can be felt thru the steering as well.
I dropped off my car to the dealership this morning for warranty. They said it is some sort of a motor. They usually have a couple in stock and he hopes there is still one left for me, otherwise, they have to order some more. So, that means this is not an uncommon issue.
03-02-16, 11:20 PM
#7
Driver School Candidate
Hey guys,
I just wanted to share my experience with the Power Steering issue on my 2006 GS300 AWD. I purchased/drove the care for only about a month with no issue. However, due to Maryland’s serious POTHOLE road conditions its hard as hell to avoid these craters on the Baltimore Parkway. Anyway, I had impacted a few in one night, resulting my driver side to form a bubble on the side of the tire. After having noticed it, I had given some uBer clients a ride in my car when all of a sudden the P/S light came on, while I was in motion. I pulled over, restarted the car and everything was fine. After a few more miles driven, it came on again! It was the most dangerous and embarrassing moment, considering the car was harder than ever to steer them to the destination.
So as a result, I drove the car to the Lexus Service Center the following morning only to be alarmed by the P/S staying on during initial start. I restarted the car, light went off, car steered just fine. While in en route to the center on the highway, I hit a slight bump and the light came on again. This time, I didnt see any bother to pull over since I was heading to the center anyway, but after having drove for a mile, the light dissappeared and steering was working again.
Long story short, the center performed a diagnostic test on the car, and suggested that I must’ve hit a pothole or something with a heavy impact enough to 1) develop a bubble in the wheel and 2) throw steering out of calibration. Their suggestion was to recalibrate steering and possibly align the car to its proper specifications. The recalibration, alignment and an 11-mile test-drive was done to see the POWER STEERING was solved. Needless to say, it was solved.
I plan to continue drive the car for the next 3 days until I buy new tires. However, I can say after commuting for a while, the POWER STEERING has not reoccurred.
I hope this will help someone else that might across this similar problem.
I just wanted to share my experience with the Power Steering issue on my 2006 GS300 AWD. I purchased/drove the care for only about a month with no issue. However, due to Maryland’s serious POTHOLE road conditions its hard as hell to avoid these craters on the Baltimore Parkway. Anyway, I had impacted a few in one night, resulting my driver side to form a bubble on the side of the tire. After having noticed it, I had given some uBer clients a ride in my car when all of a sudden the P/S light came on, while I was in motion. I pulled over, restarted the car and everything was fine. After a few more miles driven, it came on again! It was the most dangerous and embarrassing moment, considering the car was harder than ever to steer them to the destination.
So as a result, I drove the car to the Lexus Service Center the following morning only to be alarmed by the P/S staying on during initial start. I restarted the car, light went off, car steered just fine. While in en route to the center on the highway, I hit a slight bump and the light came on again. This time, I didnt see any bother to pull over since I was heading to the center anyway, but after having drove for a mile, the light dissappeared and steering was working again.
Long story short, the center performed a diagnostic test on the car, and suggested that I must’ve hit a pothole or something with a heavy impact enough to 1) develop a bubble in the wheel and 2) throw steering out of calibration. Their suggestion was to recalibrate steering and possibly align the car to its proper specifications. The recalibration, alignment and an 11-mile test-drive was done to see the POWER STEERING was solved. Needless to say, it was solved.
I plan to continue drive the car for the next 3 days until I buy new tires. However, I can say after commuting for a while, the POWER STEERING has not reoccurred.
I hope this will help someone else that might across this similar problem.
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06-29-16, 06:43 PM
#8
Driver School Candidate
I am back to post that after several months of driving the car, I have had way more incidents than I can count of the P/S going out, even at times just seating idle.
P/S intermently goes out every so often since my post, believing it was the calibration. I drove my car to the Service Center on Wednesday, June 22,2016 with the P/S light on. The center kept my car until Saturday, the 25th, which they mentioned they had driven and could NOT replicate the condition (P/S light coming on and failure). No sooner as I get into my car to leave the center, the P/S light and P/S failure happened as I exit the lot of the center. WTF?!
{Three days they had my car and could not replicate?! That was major BS from the jump.**
IMMEDIATELY, I struggled with steering to pull back into the centers' drive-area to speak with the Service Manager. This all took place on Saturday, June 25th. I am thinking this time, they'll do something about it [this is the third trip to the service center about the SAME problem].
Today June 29th, 2016 received a call from the service center, briefing me on the details. They were able to pull 2 codes for the P/S: C1511 and C1512. And reported to me that the cost for the repair was $3898.59! The problem; the power steering rack and ecu unit to be replaced and a front end alignment!!!
After some investigating, this car had the P/S recall performed back in 2009. I bought the car in January 2016 from a previous owner who mentioned nothing of the sort of issue and the problem did not occur until 2 months after. So now I feel a bit stuck as to what to do. My budget is no where near a $4,000 mark to fix this. I've searched parts to replace everything at an affordable price, however, I am told that Lexus is needed and REQUIRED to program the ECU to the STEERING RACK. I can only guess how much that'll cost. If anyone can help me out with some advice as guide me in the right direction to what to do, I'd be most sincerely grateful!!!
P/S intermently goes out every so often since my post, believing it was the calibration. I drove my car to the Service Center on Wednesday, June 22,2016 with the P/S light on. The center kept my car until Saturday, the 25th, which they mentioned they had driven and could NOT replicate the condition (P/S light coming on and failure). No sooner as I get into my car to leave the center, the P/S light and P/S failure happened as I exit the lot of the center. WTF?!
{Three days they had my car and could not replicate?! That was major BS from the jump.**
IMMEDIATELY, I struggled with steering to pull back into the centers' drive-area to speak with the Service Manager. This all took place on Saturday, June 25th. I am thinking this time, they'll do something about it [this is the third trip to the service center about the SAME problem].
Today June 29th, 2016 received a call from the service center, briefing me on the details. They were able to pull 2 codes for the P/S: C1511 and C1512. And reported to me that the cost for the repair was $3898.59! The problem; the power steering rack and ecu unit to be replaced and a front end alignment!!!
After some investigating, this car had the P/S recall performed back in 2009. I bought the car in January 2016 from a previous owner who mentioned nothing of the sort of issue and the problem did not occur until 2 months after. So now I feel a bit stuck as to what to do. My budget is no where near a $4,000 mark to fix this. I've searched parts to replace everything at an affordable price, however, I am told that Lexus is needed and REQUIRED to program the ECU to the STEERING RACK. I can only guess how much that'll cost. If anyone can help me out with some advice as guide me in the right direction to what to do, I'd be most sincerely grateful!!!
06-29-16, 07:01 PM
#9
May be you can try getting a second opinion at an independent shop that works/specializes on Toyotas. I recently found a toyota/lexus tech that works at a dealership and was surprised to learn how much markup a dealership has.
06-29-16, 07:09 PM
#10
Driver School Candidate
I have done just that, thankfully. Unfortunately, they seem to be wary about it as well. As a matter of fact, one of the two mechanics who I sought, advised me that even if they were to install the parts, Lexus would still need to program the steering unit (?) to the car. From this, I am assuming he is speaking of programming the P/S ECU to the rack. Sounds ridiculous to me b/c I thought if I were swapping a P/S ECU with another, I figured it would be just Plug and Play. Or at least thats what I have been reading from other people's occurrences when it came to the P/S ECU.
Thank you so much for reply 80es300
I will look into Toyota services tech and see if they can help. I appreciate it!
06-30-16, 05:13 PM
#12
There is no programming of the ECU. Just initialization of the rotation angle sensor and calibrate torque zero point which can only be done through Techstream. Question their diag and how they came to conclusion that it needs both rack and ecu. According to the diagnostic steps in the service manual, the rack is supposed to be replaced first if all the resistance values check out. They're doing a blanket repair and replacing everything. What was their labor time for the ECU and rack?
Service manual failure areas for those 2 codes
• Wire harness or connector
• Torque sensor (built into power steering link assembly)
• Power steering ECU assembly
Service manual failure areas for those 2 codes
• Wire harness or connector
• Torque sensor (built into power steering link assembly)
• Power steering ECU assembly
07-01-16, 08:05 AM
#13
Driver School Candidate
There is no programming of the ECU. Just initialization of the rotation angle sensor and calibrate torque zero point which can only be done through Techstream. Question their diag and how they came to conclusion that it needs both rack and ecu. According to the diagnostic steps in the service manual, the rack is supposed to be replaced first if all the resistance values check out. They're doing a blanket repair and replacing everything. What was their labor time for the ECU and rack?
Service manual failure areas for those 2 codes
• Wire harness or connector
• Torque sensor (built into power steering link assembly)
• Power steering ECU assembly
Service manual failure areas for those 2 codes
• Wire harness or connector
• Torque sensor (built into power steering link assembly)
• Power steering ECU assembly
Thank you for your reply and input
At this point, I DO NOT even want to fool with The service center I took it to (Alexandria, Va-Not to mention names). Like you, I, too believe they are wanting to do a blanket repair overall as well. The advisor was not much help and on the accountability of the techs, as a customer, you really do not recieve the luxury to speaking directly to them, which pisses me off😡. When I asked for an itemized breakdown of repair, it specifically stated,steering rack replacement and Ecu, totaling to $3,xxx.xx. AND an FEA of $136.00. I'm going to call them.As for the wire harness/connector, you are the second person to have mentioned. I reached out, personally, to a guy who had experienced this before and wrote this in response:
---------------------------------------
"Hello, Ant! I hope the following helps you.
In my case, I found that there is an electrical connection that was poorly designed. The pins in the connector do not fit tightly into the female part of the connector. That allows oxidation to form in the connection, interrupting the current flow. I unplugged the connection and sprayed contact cleaner into both parts. Then I installed two very thin strands of copper into each of the four parts of the female connector. I reconnected the plug and found that the added wires snugged up the connection very nicely. I drove the car for 4 months before the power steering failed again. I have nursed this problem for several years.
A few weeks ago, I inserted a third strand of copper wire into the connection. Once again, the power steering is working just fine. It might be good enough for now, but I have no way of knowing how long it will last. Still, it is a lot cheaper than having the dealership correct the problem. They want to charge over $2000 to install a new rack and pinion (also known as a power steering rack).
There are three electrical connectors on the front part of the power steering rack. The center connector is the one that is causing the problem. When you disconnect that connector, you will be able to see four very small pins. They are too small for the female parts of the connector. By inserting the strands of wire, the pins make a better connection, thus extending the life of the power steering rack.
If you decide to do what I did, be very careful to not damage the very small pins. If the pins get damaged, you will probably have to buy a replacement steering rack.
When you put the small strands of wire into the connector, you should make them “L” shaped. That way you will be able to extract them if necessary. Otherwise, you might get them jammed in some way which could cause a short circuit or damage the small pins. They look to be very fragile.
Good Luck! Please let me know how it goes. In the meantime, I have decided to replace my component with a like item from a wrecking yard. That way there is no core charge and the price is reasonable, less than $600. If you would like to do the same, let me know and I will give you all the details. I have determined a reliable source for the used component.
In my case, I found that there is an electrical connection that was poorly designed. The pins in the connector do not fit tightly into the female part of the connector. That allows oxidation to form in the connection, interrupting the current flow. I unplugged the connection and sprayed contact cleaner into both parts. Then I installed two very thin strands of copper into each of the four parts of the female connector. I reconnected the plug and found that the added wires snugged up the connection very nicely. I drove the car for 4 months before the power steering failed again. I have nursed this problem for several years.
A few weeks ago, I inserted a third strand of copper wire into the connection. Once again, the power steering is working just fine. It might be good enough for now, but I have no way of knowing how long it will last. Still, it is a lot cheaper than having the dealership correct the problem. They want to charge over $2000 to install a new rack and pinion (also known as a power steering rack).
There are three electrical connectors on the front part of the power steering rack. The center connector is the one that is causing the problem. When you disconnect that connector, you will be able to see four very small pins. They are too small for the female parts of the connector. By inserting the strands of wire, the pins make a better connection, thus extending the life of the power steering rack.
If you decide to do what I did, be very careful to not damage the very small pins. If the pins get damaged, you will probably have to buy a replacement steering rack.
When you put the small strands of wire into the connector, you should make them “L” shaped. That way you will be able to extract them if necessary. Otherwise, you might get them jammed in some way which could cause a short circuit or damage the small pins. They look to be very fragile.
Good Luck! Please let me know how it goes. In the meantime, I have decided to replace my component with a like item from a wrecking yard. That way there is no core charge and the price is reasonable, less than $600. If you would like to do the same, let me know and I will give you all the details. I have determined a reliable source for the used component.
I have not had the luxury of time to do this yet, but I feel this will be my cheapest route at the moment. I'm going to schedule a time with my mechanic to see if he'd assist me and allow me to use his lift to perform this.
Thank you guys in advance!
07-02-16, 06:59 AM
#14
Driver School Candidate
So today I am at/went to MY mechanics, and they helped out; we went the "harness/connector-route," cleaning the middle connector on the rack and the harness itself. They also notice corsion on the ground plate in the rack (close to the middle connector). They cleaned it off as well. I'm beginning to wonder if that was the culprit to the P/S light emitting suddenly also just in idle {coming on, then off again**. Overall I'm pleased wih help they did and and AWESOME information you guys have helped with this. I DEFINITELY going to be contributoring MORE to the forums in anyway I can. Thank you everybody. Let hope this helps remedy the issue until I can afford later to replace, if it actually will need replacing �� .
07-04-16, 01:07 AM
#15
I should chime in here. I bought my car in 2013 with 60k on the clock.
Only drive the car in summer and not very many miles - currently have 70K.
About a week ago, while making a U-turn, the power steering cut out on me and like DVineRite says it was almost impossible to turn the wheel. It was actually easier to turn with the car off.
HERE is the big difference - I had NO P/S light on the dash at all.
What I did have was an immediately off-center steering wheel - and no P/S.
I do have a techstream so I connected it and did the calibration test which did work to straighten the wheel.
But still no power steering.
I come to find out that my car has NOT HAD the recall done, Lexus has ordered the rack and will be replacing it, but they say the ECU is not covered under warranty and I will be on the hook for that if the ECU is also faulty.
ANYONE else had a P/S failure with NO P/S light?
Only drive the car in summer and not very many miles - currently have 70K.
About a week ago, while making a U-turn, the power steering cut out on me and like DVineRite says it was almost impossible to turn the wheel. It was actually easier to turn with the car off.
HERE is the big difference - I had NO P/S light on the dash at all.
What I did have was an immediately off-center steering wheel - and no P/S.
I do have a techstream so I connected it and did the calibration test which did work to straighten the wheel.
But still no power steering.
I come to find out that my car has NOT HAD the recall done, Lexus has ordered the rack and will be replacing it, but they say the ECU is not covered under warranty and I will be on the hook for that if the ECU is also faulty.
ANYONE else had a P/S failure with NO P/S light?