Electric Power Steering (EPS) noisy

[Jdogg88]

Originally Posted by darksnyder

While we wait for a fix, I recorded a few videos of my rattling EPS and just curious to know if you guys are experiencing the same rattling or less or worse:

(you can here it from 3 secs onwards)

My car is doing the exact same thing. 2013 with just under 70k miles.

[darksnyder]

Guys, long time no update. Well, some information from my side, two people here in dubai got it fixed a few months back. Apparently, there is a small rubber which got broken in the steering column. Toyota UAE claims it was due to the summer heat. The rubber part is not available so you have to replace the whole thing. The part they got replaced was either SU003-00867 or 34500CA050. Toyota UAE is charging in excess of $1,000 for the part. Damn!

[Jvabhi]

Hi Guys,

I have a similar problem in my car.

Its not a clunking noise when i drive and turn the Steering wheel. Its basically when i go over some uneven surface like interlocks or even cobble stone it sound's like there is a noise under my steering wheel right above my legs.

Anyways when i went to the Garage i checked what the problem was and they told me that the noise was comming from inside the power steering motor as they completely removed the power steering motor and the power steering column from my car, Apparently there is a bush in the power steering motor that is made of plastic or like some rubbery material which was broken apart more like disintegrated and is causing the metal part to hit an other metal part which is causing the noise.

I did check with a couple of people and no luck . What i can see are that there are 2 options. Take it to the dealership and get it fixed there which would cost like 7k AED like 2000$ or search for the part in a scrap yard and hope the bush is in a good condition.

I even checked on E bay and couldn't find that part as its not sold alone and doesn't have a part number.

If you are staying i United states im sure that there would be workshops over that that would be able to custom build that part and help you out with the problem there isnt anything like that in the UAE as i have been to a couple of workshops and no one knew where to get the part from or how to fix the issue.

Thanks and BR,

Abhinav

[Jvabhi]

Originally Posted by darksnyder

Guys, long time no update. Well, some information from my side, two people here in dubai got it fixed a few months back. Apparently, there is a small rubber which got broken in the steering column. Toyota UAE claims it was due to the summer heat. The rubber part is not available so you have to replace the whole thing. The part they got replaced was either SU003-00867 or 34500CA050. Toyota UAE is charging in excess of $1,000 for the part. Damn!

Hi ,

Do you by any chance have the numbers of the guys that got it fixed.

I need to contact them and find out how and where they fixed it.

Any help would be great.

Thanks and BR,

Abhinav.

[darksnyder]

Originally Posted by Jvabhi

Hi ,

Do you by any chance have the numbers of the guys that got it fixed.

I need to contact them and find out how and where they fixed it.

Any help would be great.

Thanks and BR,

Abhinav.

Hi, they got it fixed from the toyota dealer (Alfuttaim). Check your PM for contact details.

[WebslingerJ]

Originally Posted by darksnyder

While we wait for a fix, I recorded a few videos of my rattling EPS and just curious to know if you guys are experiencing the same rattling or less or worse:

(you can here it from 3 secs onwards)

I have this exact same problem. I started noticing the rattling at about 40k miles. I am currently writing SoA to see if they can help with cost of repair in either labor or parts. The dealer quote was $1300 for the repair. 2nd opinion was more @ $1450 from another 3rd party mechanic. Please do the same if you even think you are having the same issue. Based on the low mileage reported by others when this issue is noticed, it's likely there should be a recall for this issue. This may be way more common than we think and could be going unreported or ignored until the clunking becomes very loud. Usually by this point the car is out of warranty and they stick the owner for a large bill on a common wear and tear part.

I am not happy about paying to be part of the manufacturers quality assurance testing. But, they are right that the part did fail outside the warranty period. I just wouldn't expect o have this kind of a failure after so few miles

[gt86gh]

Hi. Did you sort this problem. I too had the same problem. I found out what it was .. it's a flexible rubber coupler that has disintegrated inside the electric power steering motor.

Don't know how to attach a picture of it here.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by gt86gh

Hi. Did you sort this problem. I too had the same problem. I found out what it was .. it's a flexible rubber coupler that has disintegrated inside the electric power steering motor.

Don't know how to attach a picture of it here.

Man I would love to see a picture. Seems there is an up and coming business opportunity reproducing this rubber part. Someone else also reported it was a disintegrated rubber piece.

When I attach pictures I usually upload the picture to imgur.com and then paste the link to the image in my post.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by gt86gh

Hi. Did you sort this problem. I too had the same problem. I found out what it was .. it's a flexible rubber coupler that has disintegrated inside the electric power steering motor.

Don't know how to attach a picture of it here.

Is this the rubber you are referring to?


I found a video talking about this problem on the Corolla. Unfortunately it's in Russian and doesn't translate well. From what I understand there is a rubber ring around this bearing and you can shim it up with plastic to solve the knocking sound. I am going to try and work on mine this weekend and will report back if I find a fix.

There seems to be a lot of talk about this problem on various Toyotas with EPS but it's all in Russian and it's hard to understand the bad Google Translations. I guess they have a lot of bad roads over there which destroys the EPS rapidly.

There is a hot Russian girl at my office that I am going to ask to help translate for me.

Edit: I'm feeling good about this now. I found several more Russian articles on fixing this. Most of them involve popping that cap off the end of the motor, stripping the old rubber out and then replacing with new ruber. The fix will only require a flat head to pry the cap off, scissors to cut some ruber and a hammer to put the cap back on.

[ermax]

Making progress. When you pop this cap off it looks exactly like the other Toyota EPS units. My first experiment was to cut a wedge out of wood and then drive it up in there between the bearing and the outer housing and then took it for a spin. The rattle is completely eliminated the only problem is the steering wheel no longer returns to center. I pulled over and removed the wooden wedge and the steering was back to normal and the rattle returned only worse than before because the rubber ring was no longer in there. So the next plan is to cut some slivers of plastic out of a milk carton and then shim it between the rubber ring and the outer housing.

Okay. Have some shins cut. Now if I can get them crammed up in there.

[T0rt0r0]

Great !

Waiting for the next step to be tested

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by ermax

The rattle is completely eliminated

[Yoshoobaroo]

So the real fix could be as simple as pushing a sightly fatter O ring in there? What size is it?

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

So the real fix could be as simple as pushing a sightly fatter O ring in there? What size is it?

It looks that way but I am having a hell of a time finding something that is just the right size to cram in there. I’m about to make a run to Home Depot.

It’s hard to get my micrometer up in there but it looks like 30.5mm OD and 1.5mm thick.

I tried one layer of milk carton but that didn’t work and I can’t seem to get a second layer in there. I also cut some rubber off a hose and wedged it in on one side so it forces the bearing off center similar to how the wooded wedge did. It didn’t work though. So far the only thing that has worked is the wooden stick but it has major side effects.

I think this can be fixed with the right material. Luckily it’s easy to access without taking the car apart. It’s just a bitch working on your head. Especially when you are hung over.