2013 Subaru BRZ -- Another Power Steering Failure & Troubleshooting Help

[BrettRS]

Thanks @Ultramaroon @pope and @Tcoat for all the help in the this and the other thread yesterday.


I have gone ahead and ordered to EPS steering motor + ' column ECU ' from this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/293700450530 . For posterity for all of you in the internet future, I will attach a screenshot of this Ebay listing so you can visually see the two pieces that I ordered. I am not 100% sure this is for a push-button start, like my car is, so if it is the wrong part, I will add that to my next follow-up after I receive the parts.



I've asked the seller to reach out to me so I can provide a label for next day shipping, so I can get it in before the weekend -- we'll see what happens with that request.


Depending on when I get the parts, I'll provide some follow-up. Plan is to install both, hopefully have the failure scenario presented by @pope (EPS works but new warning lights come on, no traction control, etc), and then will take it to the dealer for calibration with techstream.



I am sure I will be back with questions on how to pull the EPS motor, but there is another thread relating to pulling the EPS motor that is on Page 1 of this thread and it includes detailed instructions for doing it to get rid of a rattle, so I'm hopeful I can follow along and get both pieces replaced by myself.



At the sage advice of my advisors on this topic, I will be asking the dealer to NOT complete the valve spring recall, either when I take it in for techstream calibration or when I fail at this fix and tell them to go ahead with the steering column replacement.



Thanks again for the help everyone, sorry for being a bit of a pest (of course, only when I need something) in the daily thread.

[Ultramaroon]

Link to service manual in my sig line. Good luck!

[pope]

@BrettRS I haven’t dealt with the steering ecu, so I can’t speak to its interchangeability, but the lower column/motor is (or should be) the same regardless of ignition type. Only the internal catch point for the steering lock in the upper half varies between key and keyless cars. If you are careful with positioning/alignment (and lucky) while you reconnect the various splines you might even get away with not needing to recalibrate the steering center.

[gatorac]

Car-part.com is another resource for finding used parts locally. There may be a junkyard near you with the part you need.

[BrettRS]

Minor update...I was working on the Fiat last night for hours and had to clear the driveway to get it out of the garage. First time I've started the BRZ since I drove home from the dealership on Tuesday was last night.



When I started it to clear the driveway, noticed to EPS warning light didn't come on and had steering, but I've had that happen for a few seconds before so didn't think anything of it. Stopped working on the Fiat around 10PM and pulled it back into the garage (OOOK, FINE, WE HAD TO PUSH IT INTO THE GARAGE!).



Started the BRZ up to pull it into the driveway. Again, no EPS warning light, pulled it into the driveway and let it run in the driveway for 10 minutes and had a snack.



Came back out expecting to see the EPS warning light return. No light though. Decided to back it out of my driveway and take it through the neighborhood. Drove around my neighborhood and all it's tight turns for around 8-9 minutes. No EPS warning light, still had power steering.


Parked it at 10:30 last night and decided if I had no warning light in the morning, I was going to drive it into the office and see if I was able to get the EPS light to come back and lose power steering. 15 minutes later at 7:45AM this morning, I turned the car off at the office, never lost power steering, still no warning lights.



So, somehow, it has gone from a constant failure to 'fixed' (I know it isn't fixed) from the time I drove it home from the dealership without power steering until I started it 2.5 days later in my driveway. Never unhooked the battery or anything. Didn't get rain or anything...nothing changed.



I'm kind of shook now. I think I'll drive it over the weekend as much as I can, have my GF keep driving the truck, and see if I can get the EPS light to come back and see if I can make it lose power steering again. Because there's no chance I am tearing into it to replace the EPS motor and column ECU if I can't get it to fail again. So need to get it to fail again before the parts arrive next Tuesday (vendor wouldn't expedite shipping for me).


I'll keep y'all abreast on any failures I can get out of it again...

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by BrettRS

Minor update...I was working on the Fiat last night for hours and had to clear the driveway to get it out of the garage. First time I've started the BRZ since I drove home from the dealership on Tuesday was last night.



When I started it to clear the driveway, noticed to EPS warning light didn't come on and had steering, but I've had that happen for a few seconds before so didn't think anything of it. Stopped working on the Fiat around 10PM and pulled it back into the garage (OOOK, FINE, WE HAD TO PUSH IT INTO THE GARAGE!).



Started the BRZ up to pull it into the driveway. Again, no EPS warning light, pulled it into the driveway and let it run in the driveway for 10 minutes and had a snack.



Came back out expecting to see the EPS warning light return. No light though. Decided to back it out of my driveway and take it through the neighborhood. Drove around my neighborhood and all it's tight turns for around 8-9 minutes. No EPS warning light, still had power steering.


Parked it at 10:30 last night and decided if I had no warning light in the morning, I was going to drive it into the office and see if I was able to get the EPS light to come back and lose power steering. 15 minutes later at 7:45AM this morning, I turned the car off at the office, never lost power steering, still no warning lights.



So, somehow, it has gone from a constant failure to 'fixed' (I know it isn't fixed) from the time I drove it home from the dealership without power steering until I started it 2.5 days later in my driveway. Never unhooked the battery or anything. Didn't get rain or anything...nothing changed.



I'm kind of shook now. I think I'll drive it over the weekend as much as I can, have my GF keep driving the truck, and see if I can get the EPS light to come back and see if I can make it lose power steering again. Because there's no chance I am tearing into it to replace the EPS motor and column ECU if I can't get it to fail again. So need to get it to fail again before the parts arrive next Tuesday (vendor wouldn't expedite shipping for me).


I'll keep y'all abreast on any failures I can get out of it again...

Looks more and more like a communication issue someplace. Maybe that dead spider finally fell out of a connector!

[BrettRS]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Looks more and more like a communication issue someplace. Maybe that dead spider finally fell out of a connector!

Lol yeah, there are a few other threads on this forum where people suggest inspecting / reseating a few of the steering column connectors when people experience EPS failure. When I have some daylight and some time this weekend, I'll go back to those threads and identify the connectors they were saying to inspect and check them out. Maybe I'll find a burnt connector housing or something, will report back and results.

[BrettRS]

Well, I drove it a lot this weekend. No more EPS failures or warning lights.



Not sure what to do at this point, other than tell GF to be careful driving and let me know if EPS light ever comes on again.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by BrettRS

Well, I drove it a lot this weekend. No more EPS failures or warning lights.



Not sure what to do at this point, other than tell GF to be careful driving and let me know if EPS light ever comes on again.

It'll come on again. Classic electrical intermittent. Lack of use coupled with daily slight thermal cycling and the connection re-establishes itself. It'll fail again with some jostling. Super frustrating.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

It'll come on again. Classic electrical intermittent. Lack of use coupled with daily slight thermal cycling and the connection re-establishes itself. It'll fail again with some jostling. Super frustrating.

Or.... the dead spider fell out. Not even joking. Have had it happen. Poor spider.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Or.... the dead spider fell out. Not even joking. Have had it happen. Poor spider.

Legitimate possibility. Based on the diagnosis, I suggest inspecting this area on the failing unit. I haven't disassembled one - @ermax - but this looks suspiciously like an interface for a rotary encoder, or a syncro resolver. Might get lucky.

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Looks more and more like a communication issue someplace. Maybe that dead spider finally fell out of a connector!

Where I’m from and in the field of work I do, we call that “Earwig Syndrome”.
Earwigs (pincher bugs) would crawl between electrical contacts for warmth and when it was time to start the motor, they would keep the contacts from properly closing, initiating a service call. Sometimes they would burn up in the process.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FR-S2GT86

Where I’m from and in the field of work I do, we call that “Earwig Syndrome”.
Earwigs (pincher bugs) would crawl between electrical contacts for warmth and when it was time to start the motor, they would keep the contacts from properly closing, initiating a service call. Sometimes they would burn up in the process.

Had that as well.

[alphasaur]

Electrical problems are such a nightmare hope this is permanently resolved!