DMike

OK, I need some advice on this. Last night I was at the mall for three hours and I come out and it is raining really bad (my car rarely sees any rain as I baby it to death). I start my car and turn the steering wheel to leave the parking lot and my power steering isnt working and I have a red error light with a steering wheel symbol on...and the middle display is saying "Powere Steering Isssue -- Take to your Dealership Immediately" or something to that effect). I try numerous times to re-start the car for the problem to magically go away and no luck. So basically I drove home and my car was super stiff and hard to turn but made it home. Go to work in my other car today and come home and start the car and the problem disappears magically...no warning lights or eroor messages. It was like it never was or never happened !!! ANY IDEAS ???

CJITTY

Wow that is weird but my guess is some sort of sensor or module is faulty and may be acting sometimey. Get it to the dealer or a independent Lexus shop that can scan the system so you can pinpoint what's up.

caha14

Power steering on the LS460 is - as you likely know - electric. While I don't know all the specifics, I understand that Lexus has had issues with these steering racks, particularly for the earlier model years. I wonder if the rain might have triggered something, though it could all very well be a coincidence.

I have a brand new steering rack assembly on my car, though I did not experience your specific symptoms. In my particular case, my steering rack made noise on some bumps AND the car had a horrible - yet intermittent - steering wheel shimmy on the highway.

The dealer is probably your best bet.

DMike

Thanks for your help fellas...I will prob have to take it in. My concern is that it might/will happen again and I have enuff stress as it is without worrying everytime I start my car if my power steering is gonna work.

Lextrician

you could check fluids to see if for some reason u are low.. if not take it in for courtesy.

caha14

No fluid, it's electric.

As I said above, there are documented issues with these steering racks - not a lot on ClubLexus (I think I may be the second one to post on this) - but Lexus definitely knows. This issue may or may not be related, but if it's a common occurrence, the dealership would know.

CJITTY

if you are under warranty still..take off the 22s before you go in..some dealers trip on that stuff even though they have to prove they failed the part

Spartan8

I had the exact same issue this evening. I left work late and it had been raining for hours and was still comign down hard. There were significant areas of the roads and parking lots i drove through were the standing water could have been at least a foot deep or more. The car behaved fine all the way home and I parked in the garage. Come out a few hours later and upon startup, I get the same instrumentation warnings about Power Steering and take to the dealer immediately. I tried to reverse the car out of the garage and I can't turn the wheel more than an inch either direction. Pull it back in and park it. It's 4 am and I've been researching this for several hours so my hope is that later today, as the car has dried out a bit in the garage that the problem has gone away like the water.

Does anyone know where this power steering motor, and all of it's related parts, sits in the engine compartment? I'm guessing its down low and if the vehicle was going through standing water that enveloped the power steering enclosure with motor and other components that it wasn't sealed air tight and some water penetrated the power steering system.

I'll repost in the next few days to share if I'm driving or reaching for my checkbook

Nguyenazn

My buddy had this problem before, let me ask him what did he do to fix this and i will get back to you this weekend. Good luck buddy.

burny

Looking forward to hearing what he say

Oliver Enterprises

If you had the Carista app (not expensive from what I remember) you could tell us the codes that have been set. That would be interesting, at least, if not very helpful.

edoga7

I have had the problem before. i removed the battery head over night. The following morning reconnected the battery terminal, start the engine for the system to reboot system and allow the to run for 30 minutes.
Turn the steering and the fault disappeared.

However, contact your dealer to scan the car.

Frotus

Hi Lexus owners, I have a 2007 LS460L and after replacing the battery i have had issues with my steering, brakes and air suspension. Dealer advised to replace steering rack, power steering ecu and vcs ecu, same problem persists. Can bus communciation errors, lots of Loss comunications with all Ecu's after i scanned it. Before the dealer took it in i replaced the battery and smoke came out of the back of the steering wheel. I think there must be some sort of short in the steering column or around it..
Has anyone ever encountered such an issue? All fuses seems to be okay..

danthomas

I know this is old, but I came here for help. I had the steering system shut down and got the dash warning to take it to a dealer. I went over the car with the mechanic. There was a small hole in the end rubber boot on the rack. If you are in heavy rain, it can get enough water in there to short the electric motor. It will need a new rack, rebuilt rack, or motor. It is expensive. Mine was just purchased and under a 30 day warranty thank God.

If you have one, have them check the boots. Boot replacement is not that expensive. Rack replacement is pretty awful.

Cmc357

Wow! Mine just did the exact same thing and it's raining like cats and dogs out here!!! I put it in the garage and see wat happens tomorrow once it dries.