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EPS Failure

NSX - 1, Valhalla - 0. I've been beaten. Spent the day pulling apart the car. Cleaned connectors on the steering rack, the EPS pack, the control box behind the passenger side SRS (you have to disassemble half the dash to get to this little beauty), changed out fuses, swapped out EPS control units, VSS units and still nothing.

So like Shawn told me earlier, just man up and drive. My only other resort is to take it to a dealership but I just don't want to spend anymore on it at the moment. In case you haven't met me, I'll be the one with the Popeye forearms.
 
keep us posted we are behind you 100% I hate the stealerships they see the NSX and bing bang bang your in the next TAX bracket in the way they charge. its a racket, even the NSX Mech that works on mine from time to time says the NSX is 100 times easier to work on than any current acura out.
 
I've done a little bit of custom electronics design on my NSX for light controls, and discovered connectors that slide together nicely, but had occasionally had an individual pin that was loose. A careful tightening with small pliers was the fix.

With you replacing the EPS rack itself and the control module itself, that leaves other devices (sensors) and the wiring. For the wiring, a "wit's end" thing to try: get individual male and female connector pins (ie, no connector body) for each type of connector used. I got mine via a local junk yard that let me cut the connectors off of a wrecked Civic.

1. Slide the test pins on & off of each wire in the connectors. See if the pins slide on smoothly with a tiny bit of pressure, but without any wobble or looseness.
2. Check end to end connections through the wiring harnesses by inserting the individual pins at each end of a lead. Connect up an ohmmeter. Resistance should be low (less than probably 0.1 Ohms), and when you shake, wiggle, push, etc on the cable and connector body, the reading should remain stable.
3. Relax, have a beer, and repeat for every *&!ng wire in the EPS related harnesses.
4. Check for a possible high resistance ground wherever the rack and module are grounded. I would loosen the bolt or nut on any ground lead, clean the connection, an possibly even use the compound electricians use when connecting aluminum wire to copper outlets (I think it was called No-Ox, but I haven't done that in years.)

A final word. About 5 years ago, my '96 would suddenly pull to one side for a few seconds while driving at highway speeds. It seemed to happen after hitting small bumps, such as the strips between sections of pavement. I pulled the connectors off the EPS rack and they all looked clean. Problem occurred once or twice more, then went away & has been perfect ever since (5 years and 12 - 15 kmi). I just hate unexplained events like that.:confused:

So I feel your pain somewhat, but yours is worse since you haven't gotten it to go away yet.:frown:
 
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good idea check the pins, but if you had never removed it before and it started doing this then a bent pin is prob not the problem.

he tried my Known working PS unit from my 2002 and it worked for a second and then the light came on again. so I dont think is the PS unit/brain

the only other thing would be the unit needs to be bolted back in place maybe the chassis of the PS unit needs to be grounded to the car.

instead of just having it dangle with the wires plugged in during testing.

or the rack is bad, or the wheel sensors lots of options but I would start off with the cheapo stuff first before jumping into a new rack as thats the most pricey thing of all the components ya know
 
I'll take another shot at it next week. I just don't have the heart, patience or dollars to fool with it any more this week. Other than a dealership is there any other NSX specialist around Orange County? And I read somewhere that Powers Acura had a good service department. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks.
 
OK I tried something different and went through everything again. Cleaned all the connectors, pulled the battery and cleaned the terminals. While the battery was out I took apart the ground for the rack and cleaned up the chassis and connector to make sure it was grounding properly. Pulled the clock fuse, just in case. Reinstalled the fuse, crossed my fingers and started the car. The EPS light flickered off for a fraction of time and then came back on. No power steering.

So I swapped out EPS units only to have the same result.

Does anyone know if the EPS unit stores error codes and then goes into a hibernation mode of not working to protect itself? Would an OBDII scan clear the error codes, resetting the unit back to operating mode? This is not life or death, this is much more important! I'm talking about losing my sanity over here! Can't someone help a brother out?
 
OK, update time. Mods, if you now want to move this thread out of DIY, feel free. I dropped the car at Power Honda of Costa Mesa with Jon Martin. Had a nice discussion with him and talked NSX past, present and future. What a wealth of information. I'll keep you posted what he finds. I've got my fingers crossed it's not the rack but a short. Oh, please oh please oh please oh please.....
 
goodluck we all have our fingers crossed.

did he say anything about what he thinks it might be?

I guess it doesnt matter as you will know what it is soon enough.
 
Just got off the phone with the tech adviser. One of those good/bad conversations;

"So JC, I can hear that you are driving is this a good time to talk about your NSX?" Sure, hit me with the good news.

"Well we looked the car all over. In fact we had our top tech on it for over half the day." (I'm thinking to myself I will need to rob a bank just to pay for the diagnosis.)

OK, what did you find?
"Well we see that your slave cylinder and hose are leaking and we suggest replacing it." I'm thinking that is not what I took it in for and my clutch pedal feels great and I don't have an issue, probably a money grab because they can't find anything wrong with my steering.

"We also noticed that your radiator is lower on the passenger side by about an 1/8th of an inch so we need to check your alignment still." I'm now thinking (boy they really can't find anything wrong with the steering so they are trying to find other ways to get money out of me.)

Then he says "About your steering problem," I'm thinking (A-Ha, it was just a ground and you fixed it for $4!) "we ran all of the diagnostics. We did everything you did and finally found the issue. Your steering rack is dead."

My response? Crickets.....

He offered up the bad news "We can get you a new rack eventually, they are on back order" I'm trying to keep the truck between the ditches as this call continues...

"they used to be $7200 dollars but the price has dropped. We are trying to source one now but should only run you $5300."

As I'm careening across 6 lanes of rush hour traffic on the I-5 i instruct him "Stop looking". He says that Jon will call you later and I answer "Can't wait".

Jon does call later we talked for quite a while. The slave is leaking so I say replace it. He says the radiator might cause other stress points down the road and as I'm keeping the car long term, I tell him to fix it. As to the EPS we talk for 1/2 hour. The conclusion? I'm searching for a manual rack and pinion rack. So if anyone out there knows of one that is not in bad shape and not looking to hold me hostage, I will talk to that person. If you are looking to cash in, go pound salt. My wife is liking the way I'm bulking up driving the car as it now sits.

This saga is not over but I have to hand it to Power Honda, and more so to Jon. He didn't want to drop the bad news on me but called me on his way home. I didn't expect them to be so thorough with the inspections. He too, is trying to source an electrical rack as well as a manual rack and pinion for me.

I'm in the hospitality business and as far as I'm concerned, my experience with him as been above and beyond. Five star rating so far in this sad adventure. I'll keep you posted as progress is hopefully made.
 
A new power steering rack is down to $4k. Just in case you were thinking of getting a spare for that special occasion. Just thought you would like to know.
 
Final post of this sad saga. NSX-T - 2, Valhalla and Power Honda - 0. The rack is dead and so is this thread. I'm just going to live with it until I can find a used rack and pinion manual rack which I will replace my EPS unit with.

In the mean time I will be selling my two (2) EPS power units to anyone who needs a power unit. If anyone wants to talk troubleshooting an EPS system, contact me. I'm way up there on the experience of these now.
 
WOW. I dont know what to say. after everything you tried, and I mean you def tried everything

i am sure you knew in the back of your mind that was prob what was wrong.

let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
 
Thanks Shawn. I almost feel like MiniShawn with as much work as I've put into fixing this problem! Appreciate your willingness to assist and effort you put into the research. Just wasn't meant to be so I'm cutting my losses. Spent enough trying to fix this that it has placed my "fun" projects on hold for a long while. Oh well, so much for the gym membership.
 
Thanks for the offer Sparky but the freight would probably cost more than the rack which I'm sure you are not giving away. I'll just take my time and look for a good used r&p rack so that I never have to look at EPS again.
 
I'm searching for a manual rack and pinion rack. So if anyone out there knows of one that is not in bad shape

I'm also looking for one for my 91. Dealer said the part is discontinued. So I guess the only way is to find used one in good working condition. So far no luck yet. Wonder if there is a way to rebuild the one I have on the car?
 
Midnight Sun - if i could find a dead EPS rack I would take a crack at de-EPSing it. Or trying to find what the problem was. It's an electric motor with two sensors! I don't understand what is so hard about repairing them. Except for the small issue that Honda no longer makes parts for the car!

If anyone wants to give me a dead EPS rack I'll find a way of fixing it and become the next BrianK to the Prime world. My new mission in life.
 
I think I am going to have to do what you guys just described doing.My EPS light came on last night and the steering assist was dead. No wheel jiggle or strange rotation as described above.
My car is a '95, will that mean anything different compared to a newer model?
I can drive it fine, just hate having something broken.
Also I switched back to stock wheels a few days ago. That wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?
 
I think I am going to have to do what you guys just described doing.My EPS light came on last night and the steering assist was dead. No wheel jiggle or strange rotation as described above.
My car is a '95, will that mean anything different compared to a newer model?
I can drive it fine, just hate having something broken.
Also I switched back to stock wheels a few days ago. That wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?

Just pull your clock fuse and reset it. Mine does it occasionally.
 
Still having to pop the fuse at random moments.It appears to occur at start up when I hear the click.
 
You can only do the fuse trick so many times before it won't work anymore. If you are constatly having to do that, it means that something is shorting out your EPS. Try pulling the codes and see what you get. This is the begining of the end I'm afraid. So to rain on your parade but the frustration will just keep rising until you find the reason why your fuse keeps tripping. Good luck.
 
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