TRANSMITTERGUY
Junior Member
2 months ago my electric power steering started to fail intermittently. Last week It failed totally. I went to the dealer in town (on fri 7-20-18) and arranged to have it looked at. They are only open 8- 4:30 m-f. I set a appointment for fri 7-27-18, my next day off to have the steering looked at plus a recall on the cruise control (warranty ran out in March, great!). Last friday before I went to the dealer, I pre washed my truck with my power washer then took it to the best automatic car wash in town to have it really clean (I drive 16 miles of gravel dusty roads 4 days a week and the bed gets full of dirt even under my tonneau cover). I go to the RAM dealer and scheduled my appointment as above. I come out of the dealership, get in my truck and put in the key and turn it to start and the dash lights start going haywire, flashing intermittently and blinking then the starter solenoid kicks in and out but wont start the truck. I turn off the key and try It again and the same thing happens. Freaks me out!! I pulled open the hood and grabbed a 10mm socket from my toolkit and disconnect the neg lead of the battery. I start looking around and wiggling wires and see the big multi connector right behind the battery. I popped the latch with my screwdriver and open it up and a lot of water came from around the connector, I don't know If water was in it or not but I shook both ends of the connector to get any water out that might be in the ends. I reconnected the connector latched the latch, reconnected the neg lead of the battery, tried to start the truck and everything worked great, It's been 4 days and not a glitch, strange, I saw other threads and youtube video of this haywire condition happening to other people. I don't know whether I had water in the connector or reset the issue by pulling the battery connection?
Now to my steering issue, after the above crap happened and no power steering, I went home jacked up my truck and pulled the rack out thinking there could be an issue in the electronics box on the rack. Three bolts 2 nuts and 2 electrical connectors and it's out. The screws on the elec box cover are security type and none of my security bits would fit so I used my mini vise grips to get them out. I Pulled the cover, heavily sealed in rubberized silicone, and checked for burnt or bad solder connections. I found none, very clean layout with lots of room inside. the small wires from the encoder and motor were resoldered and beefed up just in case one had a micro crack. I sealed it put It back together, reinstalled it in the truck and it made no difference, still no power steering. Steering unit made in Taiwan, by the way. So not wanting to miss out on my no interest for 24 months from Ebay, PayPal deal I ordered the brand new OEM rack and pinion assembly from Detroit Axle for nearly $1000, to try to get it fixed sooner. It is scheduled for delivery tomorrow 7-25-18. I'll let you know what happens.
Now to my steering issue, after the above crap happened and no power steering, I went home jacked up my truck and pulled the rack out thinking there could be an issue in the electronics box on the rack. Three bolts 2 nuts and 2 electrical connectors and it's out. The screws on the elec box cover are security type and none of my security bits would fit so I used my mini vise grips to get them out. I Pulled the cover, heavily sealed in rubberized silicone, and checked for burnt or bad solder connections. I found none, very clean layout with lots of room inside. the small wires from the encoder and motor were resoldered and beefed up just in case one had a micro crack. I sealed it put It back together, reinstalled it in the truck and it made no difference, still no power steering. Steering unit made in Taiwan, by the way. So not wanting to miss out on my no interest for 24 months from Ebay, PayPal deal I ordered the brand new OEM rack and pinion assembly from Detroit Axle for nearly $1000, to try to get it fixed sooner. It is scheduled for delivery tomorrow 7-25-18. I'll let you know what happens.
