My power steering went out about a week ago. I started the car and the power steering light is on with no power steering (very stiff steering wheel). Turn the car off and started again, the light went off and it works fine. The next day I start the car and the light is back on again but I have to turn on and off the car several times till the power steering work.

I found that when I start the car, right when I press the start button, I have to shimmy the steering wheel to have power steering.

I have search online and no one have this problem but I found out that I might have a bad battery that can cause this because the IS uses electronic power steering. So I checked the battery, both the negative and positive clamps are really loose. I tighten the negative and disconnect the positive terminal and charge the battery because it’s at half charge (12.4v). The battery is 8 months old. The engine starts up fine every time and never have any problems before and during this problem. While the battery is charging, I checked all the fuses and they are all good.

The light hasn’t come back on till today. I used the car for three days during the past week. Again, I have to shimmy the steering wheel for the power steering to work.

I don’t know if this has anything to do with the problem but about a week and a half ago there were heavy rain here in socal and there are a lot of puddles. Most of them were about six inch deep.

My car is 06 is350 with about 60k miles.

Any ideas what is going on?

 

no idea what that could be. maybe take it to the dealer but your probably outta warranty???

 

i don't believe there is a connection between battery charge and power steering, but i did have one peculiar instance of power steering going out...

from what i know, the power steering controller box (i have no idea what the technical term is, so i'm going to call it the "p/s box") is right below the battery tray.

as such, if the battery was secured too tightly and/or a sudden force that jarred the battery enough to exert downward forces on the p/s box, it may cause your power steering to fail.

mine was the former, and after loosening the upper bolt tie that holds down the battery and the battery itself, i secured it again (albeit with less force) and the issue has not reappeared.

 

Thanks!!!! I will check that out.

 

Does anybody think it has anything to with the power steering recall?

 

there is no "recall" for "power steering".

there is a TSB for the steering column, iirc.

 

Actually yes, there is.

Here's one of the many threads that mention it

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...g-failure.html

Here's one with more detail (9LC is the steering recall)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-annouced.html

 

do you have after market HIDs in your car? if so where is the ballast mounted? i had a similar issue with my GS and after reading this forum i know some people had a problem where the frequency from the HID ballast was jumping between the ballast and the power steering ecu causing problems. i tried to relocate my HIDs for my fogs away from the ps ecu but that didnt work. I ended up having to take my car to the dealer and had the power steering replaced. It was weird that it went bad considering i had the recall done about 15 months prior to getting this new one and the old power steering rack only had tops 5k on it.

do you have any creaking noises coming from the steering wheel when you turn?

 

i guess i must've remembered it wrong.

regardless, i stand corrected.

 

I did have supermarket hid on and its off the car now but I had it on the car for a very long time until this happen. About the creaking, I think I heard something like that but the sound is very low. The radio has to be off and the surround environment is quiet for me to hear it.

I had the recall done about 18 months ago and the car is not under warranty anymore. I put on about 15k miles since. Do you think the dealership would warranty it still because its such a short amount of time for it to go bad?

What I don't get is u have to shimmer the steering wheel for it to work and it will for till I shut the car off. Once I start it back up, I have do the process all over again. Also when I disconnect the battery and it reset the ecu, it works fine for a few days.

 

well any replaced parts like warranty or recall work carries a warranty for 12 months/12k miles. sounds like your over that though.

i never tried the shimming thing but i pretty much had the exact same problems you mentioned. mine got to the point where the ps light wouldnt come on and the power steering would work fine but it make a loud creaking noise every time i turned the wheel. lexus quoted me $2400 to replace which is bs. fortunetly i found my extended warranty papers.

you could try replacing the power steering ecu and see if that fixes it. i know a few 2IS guys said they had a problem with the ps and the ecu was the problem. i dont know if the 3GS shares the same power steering ecu as the 2IS but theres one on ebay dirt cheap for like $40 bucks. The part number is 89650-30630. check that with the one for the 2IS and see if its the same.

 

Thank you very much for your response. I will check that out and see what will happen.

 

let me know. if its the same part number i can send you a link to the ebay auction. just shoot me a pm since i dont check the 2IS forum much

 

sounds like EMI from your HIDs interfered with the power steering computer

 

The hid is off the car now but the problem is still there. Do you think the damage has been done?