Loss of Power Steering - 2013 Scion FRS Series 10

[ermax]

Originally Posted by radroach

@scoot post footage of prius guitar amp

Power steering failure is something I never want to think about. Though still interested in more info on our own electric steering unit.

It's very similar to the Prius and also made by JTEKT. Same with the Corolla and a whole slew of Toyotas. The shimming technique is something I've read about people doing on the Corolla too. Seems you can consistently find the ESP system for the Twins on eBay for $150. They are used of course but it would be cool to buy one just to take apart and learn from. New they are $1400 so I am hesitant to dig to deep into mine as it's working but simply making a bunch of noise.

[pkat696]

Originally Posted by pkat696

Sorry...forgot to provide an update after I picked the car up. The shop manager's cousin works at the parts counter at our local Toyota dealership and was able to get some insight on my issue. There have apparently been several instances of this issue brought into the Toyota dealership. The most common first step is to align the car. So, my shop did an alignment. They said the alignment wasn't bad on my car, but what the heck. They also said that they won't be able to address my issue and that I should take it to the Toyota dealership for them to start a case.

In addition, this may or may not be related, but my "ABS" and traction control lights started come on intermittently. Then, my clutch went out, so I brought it back to the shop to have that fixed. They thought the ABS and traction control lights might be related to the clutch, but they persisted after the clutch repair. I was finally able to bring it back to the shop and found the code to be P1604: Start Ability Malfunction. They looked the code up and called the dealership and told me that it could be the steering angle sensor or the ECU. Sounds like it could be related to my power steering issue. I'll give an update when I get the car back.

Ok...so they replaced the steering angle sensor. I started to drive home, and after about a mile, the "ABS" and traction control lights come back on. Now I gotta take it back again. Ugh!!

[pkat696]

Originally Posted by pkat696

Ok...so they replaced the steering angle sensor. I started to drive home, and after about a mile, the "ABS" and traction control lights come back on. Now I gotta take it back again. Ugh!!

My shop called the local Toyota dealer, and they thought this might be related to a TSB on fluctuating idle. My car indeed had that issue, so I brought it in for that TSB and reflashed the ECU. On my way home from the dealer, the ABS and traction control lights came on, so I took it right back to the dealer. They scanned the codes and determined that the steering angle sensor was bad. So I took it back to my shop and they replaced it. But again, on my way home, the ABS and traction control lights came on. So back to the shop to replace another sensor. I can't remember what this one was called, and I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but it is apparently associated with the steering angle sensor they replaced. I went to pick the car up, and the power steering went out. So back to the shop. They think it may have something to do with the sequence of resetting sensors, ECU, etc.

The saga continues and I will update when I get more information.

[pkat696]

Originally Posted by pkat696

My shop called the local Toyota dealer, and they thought this might be related to a TSB on fluctuating idle. My car indeed had that issue, so I brought it in for that TSB and reflashed the ECU. On my way home from the dealer, the ABS and traction control lights came on, so I took it right back to the dealer. They scanned the codes and determined that the steering angle sensor was bad. So I took it back to my shop and they replaced it. But again, on my way home, the ABS and traction control lights came on. So back to the shop to replace another sensor. I can't remember what this one was called, and I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but it is apparently associated with the steering angle sensor they replaced. I went to pick the car up, and the power steering went out. So back to the shop. They think it may have something to do with the sequence of resetting sensors, ECU, etc.

The saga continues and I will update when I get more information.

Ok...so my shop sent my car to another shop with a different computer to attempt to clear codes/reflash. No success. Then they took it to the dealer to have them reflash/recalibrate. Finally success!! It's been five days and so far so good. Hopefully this nightmare is over!! Good luck to anyone else having this issue.

[mazeroni]

Looks like I just picked up a similar issue in my Series 10. I hate to dredge up a post from a few months ago, but I figure more input will help in the long run. For the record, I'm at 68K miles and I get a lot of groaning as I turn the wheel. That seems normal for our cars, but not sure if it factors into things.

My issue: It died on startup last Friday while pulling out of my spot to go home. I thought I ran over the sloped curb pulling out of my spot because I felt a small jolt through the wheel and assumed I did something. I was far away from the curb, btw. Restarted the car and no other problems all weekend. I even went for a long drive to try and get it to happen again.

Then I drove for about 25 minutes today, came to a red and right as the light went green it died. This afternoon, on my way to the store, it died again going out of my apartment parking lot. So I drove straight to Toyota with the issue, but they can't look at until tomorrow.

Interestingly, as I was leaving the dealer, I restarted the car, and the PS light came on, but I still got assist for about 60 seconds, then it started to decrease until it died as I was turning to get into traffic. During my drive home, I occasionally felt it assisting at low speeds before it crapped out again. I will also add that the wheel does want to center itself sometimes. Other times it doesn't. I didn't get to test this very much.

I'm hoping that they can pull a code and that it is just a sensor or similar easy and cheap fix.

The full cost to replace a motor is probably like $700?


*** Post mortem update

It is a bad ECU > $1200 total for parts and labor.

[rflip]

I have been having the same issue on my 13 fr-s. I have been fighting with my dealer for months now and finally got the same diagnosis as you. A $1200 fix for the ECU. I was wondering if anyone had reported this to the NHTSA? I have filed with customer care but they basically told me I was on my own.