Power Steering Loss in Low Temp

[Miles2020]

Hi There,

My 2017 RAM 1500 V6 Bighorn Crew cab with 59K miles recently start loss power steering in the morning. I live in Michigan, the temp dropped to lower 60 in the morning. A service power steering icon showed on the dashboard screen. It will get back to normal after about 10 minutes driving on the freeway with complete shut off and restart. Then it will be good for the entire day, and happens again in the morning. I checked the code with INNOVA 3100 ABS OBD II scanner while the service icon showed, it read No Powertrain DTCs or Freeze Frame Data is presently stored in vehicle's computer.
I did some research, 2017 RAM 1500 power steering is an EPS system, there is no pump, fluid in this system. A friend who works at a electrical-hydrophilic power steering company told me it might be a connector issue and suggested me to spay some contact cleaner on 2 connectors on the EPS.

Does anyone have similar power steering issue? Any suggestions to find the root cause?

Thanks,
Miles

 

[Livinalittle]

Had the same issue minus the trouble code. I unplugged the two connectors to the steering rack and plugged back in with dielectric grease. It's been fine since.

 

[Livinalittle]

Update: looks like it was a temporary fix because the issue is back.

On cold mornings the power steering is stiff/sticky until the truck is warmed up. I’m looking to see if the steering rack is serviceable or if I will have to replace.

If it was hydraulic power steering I would say it’s a leaky hose/low fluid. I’m not too familiar with electric though.

 

[Quyonmob]

Following this one. I haven’t had an issues yet... but...

 

[crash68]

There was a recall on the '14 model trucks for a control board in the steering rack assembly. If the problem happens when cold that does sound like a wiring or board issue.
Check the fuse coming off the battery/fuse box for the power steering, maybe something is loose there.

 

[Miles2020]

Here is an update:

It took me a while to diagnose this issue. I checked the wiring diagram for power steering system and figured out that this EPS is an independent unit. it gets power from the battery directly and communicate with the main ECU via signal cables. So, the big connector is for power, and the small connector is for communication. I lift up my truck and opened the EPS control box. It was a pain in the butt to open the control box without taking off the entire unit plus the EPS supplier ( I believe is Nexteer) use non-standard security torx bolts. Size 15 is too small and size 20 is too big lol. I use a pencil grander to make 2 flat surfaces on each bolt and then took them off with a plier.

The circuit board is not fixable, it is coated with protective dielectric coating for component protection. I did a quick check on the circuit board and could not address any obvious issues. There really is not much I can do without the circuit schematic diagram. I use a heat gun to heat up the circuit board and it worked! However, the same issue occurred when temp dropped back to room temp. Then I am 80% sure it is a temp sensor related issue. The broken sensor tells controller it is -10000000 degree instead of 60 or 70F and the system locked down the entire unit to protect itself from extremally cold weather.

In this case, there really is not much I can do to fix it. So, I bought a new EPS and got it replaced by my colleague and went to Belle tire for an alignment.

The EPS module is very very expensive, it listed about 1800 on Mopar, 1500 on most websites and I bought my at Wholesale Direct Parts via Amazon for 1200. The replacement took about 3 hours and alignment took about half hour for 89.99 at Belle.

 

[Livinalittle]

I did not go that extreme. I was starting to notice some other small electrical issues so I went with the common denominator and replaced my 8 year old battery with an AGM one. Since then I have not noticed any issues and it’s my daily driver.

 

[Rado]

Here is an update:

It took me a while to diagnose this issue. I checked the wiring diagram for power steering system and figured out that this EPS is an independent unit. it gets power from the battery directly and communicate with the main ECU via signal cables. So, the big connector is for power, and the small connector is for communication. I lift up my truck and opened the EPS control box. It was a pain in the butt to open the control box without taking off the entire unit plus the EPS supplier ( I believe is Nexteer) use non-standard security torx bolts. Size 15 is too small and size 20 is too big lol. I use a pencil grander to make 2 flat surfaces on each bolt and then took them off with a plier.

The circuit board is not fixable, it is coated with protective dielectric coating for component protection. I did a quick check on the circuit board and could not address any obvious issues. There really is not much I can do without the circuit schematic diagram. I use a heat gun to heat up the circuit board and it worked! However, the same issue occurred when temp dropped back to room temp. Then I am 80% sure it is a temp sensor related issue. The broken sensor tells controller it is -10000000 degree instead of 60 or 70F and the system locked down the entire unit to protect itself from extremally cold weather.

In this case, there really is not much I can do to fix it. So, I bought a new EPS and got it replaced by my colleague and went to Belle tire for an alignment.

The EPS module is very very expensive, it listed about 1800 on Mopar, 1500 on most websites and I bought my at Wholesale Direct Parts via Amazon for 1200. The replacement took about 3 hours and alignment took about half hour for 89.99 at Belle.

THANK YOU for the UPDATE. Good info to know