engifineer

I think one cause of the EPS going out is moisture in the connector or in the unit itself. This sometimes happens with a coolant leak dripping down (So I hear anyways) so my guess is the water got deep enough in the street (next to the curb maybe) and got water into part of the assembly. If this is the case, and you make sure all fuses are replaced, it "may" dry up and start working. But check all connectors as that is easy to do and make sure there is no water in there. With it suddenly happening after the storm and you seeing a fault related to a short, it certainly seems like that could be it.

Car Analogy

Concur. Water ingress checks all the boxes to explain all the evidence at hand. Water level may have gotten high when you weren't looking out there.

If the water wasn't dirty and didn't carry material into box with it (that would continue to cause internal short even after water evaporates), drying out ought to cure things.

Now the question is best way to get all the water out...

Iilac

Have you check battery? A weak battery can lead to EPS issues as well and was the culprit in my case.

SkyladyZ

My street is at the top of a hill and where it was parked I don't believe it is possible for water to get high enough to submerge any part on the car. It has however rained a lot this summer and the car has been parked in the grass which could lead to excess condensation under the hood.

I check for continuity on all the fuses so I am pretty sure that is not the issue here.

Battery reads 12V. I don't have any other symptoms of a low battery.

I ordered another steering rack this morning I am going to swap it out next week and see if that does the trick.

Thanks for the help. I will post an update soon.

Chuck S

12v is a low battery. Roughly 50% charged.



-- Chuck

Car Analogy

Right. Its actually a 12.6v battery. Just like we call the engine a 2 liter, even if its only 19xx cc. A battery that is literally reading 12v is virtually 'dead'.

engifineer

Most people will just state 12V and ignore the last part, especially if not used to testing this type of stuff. So that may be what he is doing here. Also, a lot of cheaper meters will be inaccurate. I have seen my cheaper meter read anywhere between 12.1V and 12.8V on a good battery. So would be good for him to check it again as well as check it charging and include the decimal value, but 12.0V is still not going to cause the EPS not to work, especially with the car running and charging system running. You can disconnect the battery once the car is running if the charging system is working, so I seriously doubt battery voltage is the issue (Assuming he sees a good charging voltage). I hear people getting all concerned if their batt voltage is a few tenths off, and coming from an electrical engineering background, I can assure you most times that is simply meter error or error in testing. But to be exact, a 12V lead acid battery is comprised of 6 cells, each being 2.1V each which is why you expect to see 12.6V on a perfectly good battery. If you want to be very exact, disconnect the negative lead to the car before testing to ensure you have no load on the battery when testing (door open, ECU, etc). But for most peoples cheaper meters, consider 12.3 - 12.9 "fine"

SkyladyZ

I rechecked the voltage and it is 12.54V on the battery and 13.96V with the alternator running. I knew it was above 12V but I couldn't remember the exact reading when I posted before. My multimeter is pretty expensive so I don't think the reading is off by much.

I was just looking back through some other threads and I notice where someone claimed the service manual states that the power steering want work if the alternator voltage drops below 14V. I have not seen this my self but it does have me curious since mine is reading a little below. I found a couple of other threads where the problem was DTC3 but none of them had any responses and no posted fixes.

Chuck S

13.2vDC is a standard alternator output voltage with 13.8vDC the bulk charge. Same thing for battery chargers. 14.2vDC is about the highest when loads are high. The power steering not working below 14vDC does not make sense to me as system voltage will rarely be higher than that.

I tried to review Chapter 17 in the Service Manual but not enough coffee yet this morning. Several tests refer to "battery voltage" at various connectors and another mentioned "above 6 (six) volts." Recommend printing this (it's only 16 pages) and running thru this chapter with a highlighter.

A load test on the battery may help. This measures the battery voltage under load but unless your headlights are dimming when you start the car the battery is probably good.

-- Chuck

engifineer

Yeah it still works below 14V. I had an electrical issue on my car one night where it stopped charging (yet did not turn on the charge light). First issue was at WOT on the track, it started cutting out at 8000 rpm. Could not figure it out at first because then it was behaving just fine. Started driving home and then the EPS light came on and power steering stopped working. I pulled off and shut it down. Battery was at 10.5 V. So EPS probably stopped working somewhere around 11V, but with the headlights on (additional load on the system). And FYI the culprit was the connector on the back of the alternator being half backed out of its socket due to the snap lock on it being worn/broken.

Your voltages look perfectly fine and certainly well above what would cause the EPS to stop working. And since you are seeing a good charging voltage, that alone is driving the EPS just fine even if you had an old, tired battery. You could double check by turning on the fan at full speed and the headlights and checking charge voltage again, but I think you are fine in that dept.