dagle

When I went to pick up my car, I noticed that the EPS light was on and that there was no power steering. Since there was nothing else wrong with the car and it drove reasonably fine, I took it home and figured I would deal with it another day. I started going through the diagnostics today and noticed that the 70A fuse (driverside fender apron area) for the EPS looked like it rusted and had calcium build-up (the bridge for the fuse was still intact). So I went to the auto parts store today and bought the same fuse, adjusted it to length and put it in. All looked well, so I took the car for a spin (searched and it said that when all is well, the EPS light resets itself at above 10MPH.). Well that wasn't the case, after an extended 6mile drive, the power steering didn't come back.

I checked the fuse again, and it looked okay (bridge was still there), but upon closer inspection the edges were white and lost their copper tone. So I figured it's a short, I inspected the other fuse that was next to it (60A) and it was in similar condition but it wasn't quite as bad (but still rendered useless).

My question is, since there's a short or reverse polarity on the two terminals, how should I go about diagnostics? The engine was pulled out recently before this issue, so it's a possibility that it was hooked up backwards, or it got caught along the way and is shorting via an open break in the circuit. I looked in the manual and couldn't find (didn't know what to search) which terminal was hot and which was a ground. It looks right, but I wanted to double check to be sure since that's the simplest.

To top it all off, I broke the tip of a screwdriver (crappy 1$ screwdriver) into the screw. luckily it came back out without stripping anything.

dagle

any ideas as to the short?

Stratocaster

If you wire it backwards, it will not work and it will not generate a code. Can you shoot a picture of the wires on the right and left, I can tell you if it is wired backwards.

dagle

Thanks a lot, I'll try to get pics as soon as possible. Been busy and though steering with no PS is a PITA, the priorities have put it off lol

dagle

here's a quick picture of the terminals i snapped, the bottom one (closest to the fender) leads into the cabin, the other somewhere else but i haven't checked yet.

dagle

bleh anyone have any idea? i'm about to swap out the EPS unit next to the battery

SgtB

What is the code?

dagle

This might sound stupid, but how do I read the code off? Is there something to short for it?

SgtB

Search. The procedure is on here.