I was attending a local High School tennis match with my Son.

We get in the car after the match only to see in the MID "CHECK POWER STEERING SYSTEM" displayed. WTF? The steering wheel will barely turn.

After several attempts at turning on/off the car, I get the car towed to the Acura dealer and await the news.

The computer that controls the Electronic Power Steering System is dead. The service writer kept saying, "We've never seen this before." I'm sure they don't have any 2012 TSX's with 73,000 miles either.

I expressed my concern that this shouldn't fail so early in the car's life. I asked the service writer to ask for some concession from Acura. I'm a 5-time Honda owner.
Acura threw me a bone (not 100% coverage but...).

This doesn't inspire confidence!!!

 

Eeek, that's scary news. Hopefully they will be able to provide further concessions. Keep us updated on your car's progress.

Good luck!

 

The BCU failed? I've heard of the ep3 ones failing cuz of getting too hot, or too much gunk buildup.

 

On my paperwork, the diagnosis says the "EPS Unit" was the part that failed.

They over-nighted the part and I was back in the TSX the next day.
I had a RSX for a loaner. meh!

 

RSX loaner? Does any dealer actually still have RSXs or did you mean RDX?

You should call Acura yourself and ask for 100% coverage. It sounds like you had a defective part.

 

this is basically your EPS system, sans wiring



they are saying that module failed. Interesting

 

Sub'd to see how OP makes out with Acura. I'd like to think they will stand behind a young TSX, but they have the out with the mileage on the odometer.

 

Acura covered 75% parts/labor.

 

RDX loaner, my bad

 

Not too bad I guess. Are you happy with that?

 

Am I happy? I guess it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

I think it was the right thing to do for Acura to help out a 5-time Honda customer. Yes, I rack up miles. I fully expect Honda products to endure. I had an '04 Accord EX-L that I finally dumped due to boredom...it had 288,000 miles on it. Only had to do regular PM and replace 1 O2 sensor.

Again, I expect Honda products to endure. That's why I continue to buy them. My 2010 Accord V-6 had the issues with VCM destroying the coil packs...twice before 100,000 miles.

This latest issue with the TSX doesn't inspire confidence.

I'll have to wait and see how the "T'' holds up.

 

Hope your next 200K are problem free.

 

That killed me.

 

What was the cost of the repair if you don't mind?
My 09' is having the same problem with 65k miles. I reset it the first time by turning lock to lock in a parking lot and then turning it off/on. This worked for about a week but now I cannot reset it. There is some partial power steering - its very jerky but is helping some.

 

I think the full cost of repair would have been about $1300.

I had no warning signs of the unit's failure. It just croaked on me.

I hope your luck is better than mine with the car.

 

ok so lets find a way on how to retrofit hydraulic power steering into these cars! Im already fed up with the shitty highway driving and now its failing prematurely. This freaking sucks.

 

but with eps and hondata, I can disable power steering altogether and bring it back whenever I want!

 

wait wut. how did you disable EPS on the hondata?!?! I want to do this.

 

I'm too lazy to boot camp LOL but I think it's in the last menu in the calibration window. Miscellaneous stuff basically... there's a checkbox for the EPS. Never tried it...

 

hmm... I'm going to try this.

EDIT: i dont see it. i only see VSA , ECT sensor, missfire detection, maf, cold start and some radiator fan options. can you screenshot yours?

 

FlashPro Help
See Misc > EPS enable

It doesn't seem to be a feature for 09-10 TSX, but IIRC it shows up in my 11-14 calibration. Try creating a 11-14 calibration to verify.

But I did a little searching...
EPS - Hondata

I think that checkbox is misleading . If this post has anything to do with that checkbox, then...
Sorry to get your hopes up iCrap lol. Likely too good to be true... and I'm kinda lazy to see the effect of flashing a calibration with that flag unchecked .

edit:
yeah... fail

 

oh damn... Well that's totally useless anyways. There is no point in having the idle speed increase while turning. unless you have hydraulic power steering in the first place.

I wish we could change the steering assist level though. that would be really nice.

 

I'm going through the same issue as Lex. It first came up in Jersey (visiting for the holidays) and I got it towed to the dealer. Got the code DTC 32-09. They did the diagnostic checklist and it went away.

I drove it back home to VA without issue. It came back the day after. Pissed. I tried it again a couple of hours later, it was fine. Drove it to the dealer and they said EPS replacement.

$1200 bucks. Naturally, it would happen 2600 miles after warranty. FML right?

After seeing this post, I asked Acura for some help/concession. Still waiting to hear back from that.

SO THANK YOU LEX for posting this problem and what happened. Hopefully I can get your good luck as well.

At least I'm rolling in the new TLX...

 

Does anyone have the part number for that EPS module?

 

You can find it here
http://www.acurapartswarehouse.com/P...olorLabelID=-1

 

39980-tl2-a05

 

Its around $500 for that part depending where you buy it. If It ever happens to me, im going to repair it myself.
Ive repaired many PS3, computer motherboards, and some electronic boards by putting them in the oven to reflow all the solder points. I wonder if that would work.

 

 

you could probably also google the motherboards part# to see if the motherboard itself is being sold anywhere.

this is what we're doing with the 3G's DVD nav drive. the motherboard becomes bad and to have it fixed by alpine is $400.

instead replace the board for under $200

 

Right. Yesterday it happened to me on my 2012 TSX. 69,250 miles. Dealer quotes over 1200 bucks. Not why I chose a Honda product. Next month was planning on perhaps trading it in for another Acura. Not going to happen.

 

This happened to my friend's TL while driving on the highway. Scared her half to death of course and she was luckily able to get it to the side of the road and it was towed, Acura couldn't replicate the problem. About a week later it happened again and luckily this time it was in a parking lot. A lot of back and forth with Acura but they eventually were able to replicate it and covered it, off the top of my head her TL is a '14 and I will have to ask when I see her again.

As far as the tech saying they have never seen this before a quick Google search shows there are others out there, at least with the TL.

 

My 2011 TSX with 79K miles just showed me the "Check Power Steering System" when I started the car last week. There was no problem
with the steering the previous day. The steering wheel is now impossible to turn. Tried some suggested "reset" procedures but nothing changed,
the "Check Power Steering System" persists. Called up the local Acura dealer and they tell me to have the car towed in to allow them to check
what the problem is. I did mention if this could be the EPS module and they told me it could but that is a very low chance that is the problem.
Had the car towed in and they have found that the problem is the EPS module and it will cost me $1183 to get it fixed ($820 for the EPS module and
$363 for labor). I told them this part should not fail so soon (less than 5 years and only 79K miles) and asked if this could be a goodwill fix.
After they discussed it they came back saying that Acura stands behind their cars and will fix this under warranty but I do have to pay a small
deductible ($250). I gave them the go ahead to do it but the part was not available locally and had to be over-nighted from CA. They couldn't tell
me what is wrong with the EPS module but it is tagged and returned to HQ for hopefully a failure analysis. There is no way this module should
have failed within 5 years and I think Acura agrees with that. I am going to file a claim on the NHTSA website because there are most likely
more of these failures and something tragic could occur depending on who and when the power steering will kick out.

This is what is written on the bill:
Installed 39980-TL2-A05: EPS unit
Performed EPS input test and found EPS unit failed.
Replaced unit as needed. Performed torque relearn.
Rechecked for steering operation and found working as designed. 1X only Acura goodwill assist.

 

Used parts are readily available for < $200. Installation should be easy (right side kick panel).

Moisture from wet/salty slush on carpet could lead to corrosion of connections.

good luck

 

 

Consider yourself lucky you have the warranty. Others have posted that Acura offered goodwill money to aid the fix, but appears that those days are over. Just today, I was told tough luck you're on your own. They don't seem to think this issue is common enough to offer assistance.

 

I just received this in the mail. Acura is extending the warranty on that part.

 

I have a 2011 Acura tsx base with about 78,000 miles. I received the above letter two weeks ago and just put away.

Started experiencing this yesterday when I was parking at home and had to park between two cars and this morning at the garage at work. The steering just became very hard and I had to turn off the car and turn it back on again. Calling the dealer, Will update you guys.

 

Wow one of my friends went through this electronic power steering failure on his wagon. Should I be expecting this in the mail too?

 

Ok, so took it two the dealer, they didn't find any codes and weren't able to make it happen. Other than the two times it has happened so far, It hasn't happened again., The only thing that came up during the check was the battery maybe needing to replaced. Fingers crossed.

 

Shouldn't they check the power steering itself instead of checking for codes?