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My favorite car during my 36+ years at Kennedy Space Center was a 2000 Honda Insight but always wanted an S2000. Now that I am retired I just bought a FLAWLESS 2005 S2000 with only 53,000 miles and I am so excited!! The car was always treated as a classic, never hit, painted, smokes in, has all the body panel VIN stickers, never been in the rain or snow and has all the original documentation that originally came with the car, the underside of the entire car is also like new!!. My wife and I drove it home from South Carolina last week to Florida where it got its first experience with rain during some heavy rain while in Georgia.
During the drive home (initially not in the rain) I lost power steering and the EPS light came on. The owners manual said that when this happens to just turn the ignition OFF and back ON to reset the EPS which worked, how ever it did happen a few more times during the drive home and a few times when I got home. The EPS light does not stay ON and usually can be reset by turning the ignition OFF then back ON. From what I could find on the forum the problem could be the EPS Torque Sensor so I very carefully removed it, disassembled it, inspected the disassembled guts which were bone dry and like brand new, applied light coat of Honda grease per the Honda Service Manual, reinstalled it and calibrated it. I then took the car for a drive and it was fine initially, then on the second drive I lost power steering and the EPS light came ON. I turned the ignition OFF then ON and the EPS light went OUT. The calibration sequence seemed a bit awkward for me so I am going to try going through it again to see what happens. The car is literally immaculate and as showroom new as your could imagine and the EPS Torques Sensor was dry as a bone inside and out with what I would consider enough grease from the factory in the appropriate places so I kind of doubt it was/is the problem and the EPS light does not stay ON all the time.
The previous owner did say that he just installed a new battery but today told me he never had any EPS problems.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank You!
I have no experience with this; but since no one has chimed in, I will say that as a shade tree mechanic, I would look for a source of intermittency. Any connectors in the circuit path, I would wiggle while the car is running if I could, and check the EPS light after any manipulations or better yet have another person watch the display for you.. I would also do the same thing when pressing on the EPS fuse. Unless that reveals the issue, I would take the EPS fuse out and make sure the connections on the fuse and the box are shiny and reinstall and see if the problem goes away. Unlikely it is an intermittent inside the fuse; but, in my electronics career, I have seen some very unlikely failures, So, if nothing obviously the cause was discovered, I would replace the fuse. A shot in the dark; but, a cheap one. Like I said, these are just suggestions to try until someone else adds more suggestions.
I've had issues with fuse corrosion in under dash fuse box (not eps fuse, but point is fuses do experience issue described, Intermittent connections). Recently readof someone else on this forum having fuse corrosion issue.
In both cases, just cleaning off fuse and reinserting a few times (to abraid any corrosion on fuse terminals) cured it.
So perhaps our fuse box is more environmentally sensitive to corrosion for some reason.
Anyway, certainly low hanging fruit to rule out fuses by removing, cleaning with scuff pad, and reinserting a few times. Use contact cleaner if you have some.
I'd also look for corrosion in connector at rack. Contact cleaner there as well.
As a last resort, someone figured out the basic components of our steering torque sensor are shared with another vehicle. A Mazda maybe? So while ours are discontinued from Honda, its possible to buy this other cars sensor, take it apart, and reuse lieces from old sensor and this new one to create a new sensor that will then bolt into our rack.
So far no one has done it, or at least no one posted afterwards. Hopefully first person that does it can create a diy.
Search for thread where this other cars se sensor was mentioned. iirc, post came from user slowcrash.
In 2003 I had my motor replaced at the dealer. When I got the car back, the steering felt sluggish. In doing some research here on the board, it was pointed to the Torque Sensor (TS) neutral position needed to be relearned. The several dealers flatly refused to execute the relearn process. So I executed the process myself. Well that solved my issue. I have needed to do this several times over the years on my street and track cars. The root cause was the battery being disconnected for days.
Year in 2018 I was having another issue. It felts like the wheel would add steering input when in a corner. A little pull here and there. The TSNP relearn did not solve that. I needed to replace the TS. That solved the issue. There is a rebuild kit available now.
Lastly I drove my track car without the EPS system for a year or two. On the track, it was fine. In the paddock it is just a bit heavier of a wheel. Having driven several cars over the year without power steering. I could have lived without power steering.
I would execute the TSNP relearn process and if that does not solve it, you might need to replace/rebuild the TS.
Last edited by Stratocaster; 05-07-2022 at 09:01 PM.
Check the battery terminals and focus on the positive side wiring in particular - there should be 3 thick gauge power cables. One of those is specifically for the EPS. If that connection is shorting out or corroded it could cause the EPS to lose power and throw that light. Bad ground due to corrosion can also exacerbate this so check those terminals and ground strap out carefully.
The TSNP relearn did not solve that. I needed to replace the TS. That solved the issue. There is a rebuild kit available now.
Is that rebuild kit a dealer part? (I am having occasional stiff steering. I will first try the relearn. I assume that it couldn't hurt? Unless that is why the dealers refused to d it?
Is that rebuild kit a dealer part? (I am having occasional stiff steering. I will first try the relearn. I assume that it couldn't hurt? Unless that is why the dealers refused to d it?
Torque sensor should be available from the dealer, yeah. Try the relearn first, after you confirm your positive and negative battery cables are all good
04-23-2022, 06:40 AM
New S2000 owner needs EPS issue advice
