[drgonzo92]

So yesterday I went to leave work, and no power steering. Steering wheel light was on. Managed to drive it an hour and a half home and did some quick research. From my understanding, the car has electric steering and the ECU typically goes bad. I did pull the negative battery cable and waited over and hour. Reconnected, and started car and problem still existed. Shut car off, came out 45min later to move it, and everything is fine. This morning, everything is still fine. Now possibly it is a fluke. But knowing the issues with these cars, i am planning for the worst. So my thought is to get a used PS ECU and prepare for replacement.

Has anybody done this? I am assuming i have to remove the dash. Anyone have tips on doing this? Pics? Anything? Cant afford for a dealer to do this for 800-1500.

 

[Greg S]

No real help here but about 8 months ago I had the same issue where mine just went out so I took it to my mechanic and we couldn't find anything wrong with the power going to it. Just when we decided to deal with it later in the morning it started working again. Haven't had a problem with it since either. Might not be a bad idea to have a spare ECU.

 

[drgonzo92]

Thats what I was thinking. Looking for tips on replacing it. My mechanic looked at it today and couldnt find anything. No codes. No lights. Nothing.

Fear this is gonna become a pain in the *** so trying to prep for it.

 

[Paul1114]

Get the techstream software a cable (under $20 on eBay) and you'll be able to look up all the details of the ECU and troubleshoot the steering system properly. You can do all kinds of health checks and troubleshooting without replacing anything.

If you do end up replace the steering ECU, make sure you get the exact same part number, and don't forget to redo the zero point calibration. You should be able to source the part for under $100.

 

[drgonzo92]

@Paul1114

There are ton of Techstream cables on ebay. Is there a specific one to get. I see some different parts numbers for Toyota/Scion/Lexus

Info on the zero point calibration?

Is this something you have already dealt with on yours?

Found an ECU part for $80 local to me. But not sure if its the same part number until i pull my dash apart.

 

[Paul1114]

You just need a J2534 Mini-VCI cable. You can't get it from US sellers, but this one works: V8 10 021 16 Pin Mini VCI Tis Techstream Diagnostic Scanner for Toyota Cable | eBay

A zero point calibration tells all your steering sensors what the true center point is; any time you have an alignment or replace the ECU you need to do it. It's a super easy procedure and the techstream software will guide you through it. I did it recently when I replaced my steering rack.

 

[gedster314]

I bought 2 generic ones and they were very flakey and would stop working while using Techstream. After reading an a post about getting TS working on Win8.1 64bit, the poster suggested getting the XHorse one. I did and it has been working fine for me. Still could be luck of the draw. Just throwing it out there. With these cheap knock offs you never know.