I am the owner of a Hyundai i20, 2011 model. Yesterday morning, when I started the car, the EPS light stayed on even after the car was turned on. The steering was stiff and being used to power steering all my short driving life (2 years), I struggled to continue driving and parked it again. This EPS issue appeared suddenly, and the last I had driven the car was about 12 hours prior and all was well. There have since been instances where the steering works perfectly fine for a few seconds upto a couple minutes and the EPS light is off, then the EPS light is back on and the steering is stiff again.
Took a day off work and decided to take it to a mechanic. First, took it to a local shop, where the mechanic wanted a payment to even check the issue. So I took it to the Hyundai authorized service centre, where after much waiting, the technician attached a scanner to the car under the steering wheel and ran a diagnostic on the EPS and engine. The technician did not share the details, but what I observed over his shoulder was that after running the diagnostic twice, the program showed that both the engine and the EPS were fine. The technician spoke to a service advisor, who then proceeded to tell me that I would have to replace the entire power steering system at a cost of INR 20000.
Before I commit to making such a massive expense on the car (even though diagnostic tests revealed nothing), I would like to know what could possibly cause an EPS malfunction as I have described. One mechanic claims some kind of motor on the inside is damaged and needs replacement, one claims that the EPS module is faulty and needs to be changed. My father (a 30 year experienced driver who is in another country) claims it could be due to leakage or exhaustion of power steering fluid. How should I proceed to try and troubleshoot this issue so I can figure out the problem and verify if I really need to spend a lot to get it resolved?
UPDATE: After research online, I have figured out that there is no power steering fluid because I have an electric power steering system in my car.
UPDATE 2: Finally went to a local mechanic after checking the prices with the service station, which was exorbitant. The issue was with the EPS control unit which lies in the column behind the steering wheel, which was not working fine. The new EPS control unit works fine and so it has been replaced.