5

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.

Improve this question
1
  • i just recently had the same problem on my 2014 santa fe. we had a very warm winter (lots of moisture) and then a quick very cold freeze. compounding with having done a car wash which was done a few days before i had the problem resulted in the system to fail. with some quick advise I had turned off the engine let it sit for a bit then re-started the engine & vola the warning was gone. going to assume some moisture had gotten into the fuse of sensor but it woeks fine now. just like a computer reset the system.
    – wayne
    Dec 26, 2017 at 19:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

If your electric power steering isn't working it should be setting a code, assuming the control unit has power and you can communicate with it. I believe (all?) Hyundai's put the motor, control unit and sensors in the steering column assembly.

First check your fuses, power loss is more likely than a motor or sensor failure. You could monitor sensor inputs and motor response with a scope or multimeter. Ideally you want a scantool that can communicate with the control module. Control module failure would be the least likely to have failed, unless there are Technical Service Bulletins that reference problems with the module.

Improve this answer
4
  • Thanks for your response "First check your fuses, power loss is more likely than a motor or sensor failure. You could monitor sensor inputs and motor response with a scope or multimeter. Ideally you want a scantool that can communicate with the control module." Could you be more verbose as to how I accomplish these tasks? I am very new to vehicle maintenance and don't understand how to check these things.
    – CodeNewbie
    Dec 16, 2016 at 5:46
  • "Control module failure would be the least likely to have failed, unless there are Technical Service Bulletins that reference problems with the module." I have checked Technical Service Bulletins but there is no recognizable cause or solution, and people have often been misled by mechanics to perform complete replacements, as in my case.
    – CodeNewbie
    Dec 16, 2016 at 5:49
  • @CodeNewbie Without service information for your car it's hard to go into specifics. The best you could do would be to remove the lower portion of the dash to gain access to the column. From there you'd have to identify any sensors, I'd expect them to be three wires each power, ground and signal if it's a digital sensor. You'd want to do voltage drop tests with a multimeter on the power and ground wires, meaning create a wire extension hook it to the battery negative terminal and backprobe each terminal. This is assuming it's not an integrated unit.
    – Ben
    Dec 16, 2016 at 12:43
  • Awarding the correct answer as your solution was pretty helpful, even if too advanced for a newbie like me.
    – CodeNewbie
    Dec 18, 2016 at 6:38

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .