electric power steering failure at 560 miles!!

[Norm Peterson]

What I'd like to see would be a moratorium on the fuel mileage benefits of EPAS until they get this whole business straightened out and truly ready for prime time. IOW, either no credit given for the fraction of a mpg that EPAS is worth or an assignment of the same amount as a credit for hydraulic PAS.

Reliability of the vehicle controls absolutely must trump a tiny mpg benefit.

The current Mustang's EPAS is not without a problem or two of its own, so EPAS difficulties are wider than just Camaro or just Chevy.


Norm

[zl1bro]

Is there a common cause across all ZL1s for the power steering failure? Does it occur on other model Camaro's as well?

[oldfriend]

Originally Posted by yaniv901

I am at 420 miles right now. It happened again for the third time. I was dropping a friend home. We stepped out of the car and spoke for a few minutes. Got back into car and the annoying "Service Power Steering" error appeared again. I couldn't just wait in her drive-way for 15 minutes, she'd think I was weird. So I called her, stepped in and got myself a beer. Started the car after 15 minutes and the error had gone away.

The dealer couldn't figure it out the last time I took it in and he said "I know its not what you want to hear after spending 40k on a new car, but unfortunately we are unable to find the cause".

This is ridiculous. And its getting really annoying now.

I am trying to remember if there was a pattern. The one thing that was common in all three occurrences was that I did not lock the car. I simply walked away, came back after 5 to 10 minutes, and tried to start the car. Maybe I'll experiment this weekend, and see if I can force the "Power Steering Error" to appear again.

Apparenctly the remedy is , you move in with your ( friend ) have a beer every time you intend to drive the ZL1 and no more problems !!!

[thespymaster]

I've been able to re-crate my power steering issue on a ride from Jacksonville to Georgia today.... First playing between Tour and Sport on suspension, nadda....... Then when I put car into SPORT MODE and switch between PTM's , the noise returns upfront when turning either direction.....

Which makes some sense, as it's my understanding, depending on which PTM mode one is in, the electronic steering is supposed to make the steering feel tighter?

However the noise is not supposed to be present!

[Outwestjim]

I have an update on my power steering unit error:
While I had not had a P.S. problem recently, I did start getting a "Service Suspension System" alert nearly every day. The error would resolve itself after a while. Took it to the dealer today, they found the front connector to the power steering unit was not pushed in all the way (not fully seated). There was a piece of plastic from the latch inside the connection, preventing it from going in all the way. Since fixing this, I've experienced no more errors. The mechanic mentioned much of the ECM communication goes through the P.S. unit and was likely the cause of the suspension errors (which were caused by an intermittent lack of communication).
Hope this helps someone with a similar issue.

[The Baron]

This happened to me today!.. twice. . First time I turned around and came home. I was going to drop wife off then go to dealership and then poof.. got home, shut it down for maybe 2 minutes and it was fine..


what is the fix for this when the car goes in? If they replace my ecm I will need to reflash it before the car could even be tested

[white ZL1]

Originally Posted by Outwestjim

I have an update on my power steering unit error:
While I had not had a P.S. problem recently, I did start getting a "Service Suspension System" alert nearly every day. The error would resolve itself after a while. Took it to the dealer today, they found the front connector to the power steering unit was not pushed in all the way (not fully seated). There was a piece of plastic from the latch inside the connection, preventing it from going in all the way. Since fixing this, I've experienced no more errors. The mechanic mentioned much of the ECM communication goes through the P.S. unit and was likely the cause of the suspension errors (which were caused by an intermittent lack of communication).
Hope this helps someone with a similar issue.

Please tell me that someone has some pics of said connector?
Sounds like something that we should be able to check out at home in the garage rather than taking it to the dealership?

[Stephen12ZL1]

Take off the belly pan and look at the rack. Check where the bundle of wires is tied to the rack and check all connections. Obviously someone on the assembly line was having issues plugging these connectors properly.

[Outwestjim]

I have pictures of the plug and the plastic clip the Tech found inside it.
Send me a P.M. with your email address and I'll get them to you, or perhaps someone will post them on my behalf.

[white ZL1]

Give me just a few minutes and I'll get the pics Outwestjim sent me uploaded and posted.

[boondocksaint]

BUMP.

[white ZL1]

Sorry, Photobucket was doing maintenance last night so I didn't get the pics uploaded until just now.

[Outwestjim]

Thank you for posting the pictures, white 2SS/RS
In the second photo of the P.S. unit you can see two plugs. The plug nearest the camera is the one found to be not fully engaged.
The third photo shows the plastic clip found inside the plug, which is part of the latch.
No errors at all yesterday, with quite a bit of driving.

[white ZL1]

Absolutely! Thanks for sharing!