Originally Posted by phee

once agin. all these electrical nannies fucking everything up.

Originally Posted by aQuarius26

UPDATE 02/11/10

SERIES OF EVENTS:

1.) P/S went out. (at the precise moment I enter a parking garage in the daytime with the lights set to auto mode and they engage)

2.) Dealership replaces Power Steering ECU

3.) 2 Weeks later I start the car before leaving work (with lights set to auto mode) and as soon as I touch the steering wheel it begins to shake rapidly as if possessed. (SEE VIDEO in post #8)

4.) Give dealership the video with the car they try to replicate the problem. Two weeks later after failing to re-create the problem, corporate tells them to replace the steering rack assembly just as they did 6 months earlier for the TSIB because they simply do not have any idea what caused the steering wheel to shake.

MY CONCLUSION:

After doing some research here on CL, I've found and talked to a couple other members who have had the same problems, and both of which also had aftermarket HID systems.

Member #1
This member had their ECU "go out" (as mine did) and actually had their dealership in Florida conclude that his HID Ballast was mounted too close to the power steering ECU, and thus "fried" his P/S ECU.

Member #2
This member had their steering wheel violently shake (as mine did) when they started the car at night with the lights set to auto mode.

It's been almost two months since I got my car back and I have had no P/S issues.
However I have not set the lights to Auto mode since, and though I can't prove it, I truly believe that sometimes when the auto lights go on, the ballast freaks out the system OR vise versa.

I personally followed Muzzman1'S write-up about how to install and HID kit, and if you check out that thread, you can see where I mounted each ballast.
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-s...-pictures.html

I plan to relocate both ballasts in the spring by extending the wires to keep both of them as far away from any ECU or Fuse box type devices as possible.


ORIGINAL POST

Alright, I'm lost, the P/S light went on in my car this evening and I have total loss of power steering.

I stopped at AutoZone and got some Power Steering fluid but can not find the reservoir for the life of me.

The manual does not say anything about Power steering as far as I can tell so I am looking for any direction I can get at this point.

Where do I fill up the reservoir?

Thanks, Kyle

Originally Posted by lobuxracer

That actually may have a lot to do with it. The switches do not directly actuate the relays for the lighting, they send a network command to the BEAN ECU to actuate the relays for the lights. So this could be a Body Electrical Area Network issue in conjunction with the aftermarket HID ballasts. It's possible there's an initialization procedure the steering ECU is not completing properly because there is electrical noise from the aftermarket ballasts. Or any of a hundred other possible things - but fundamentally, there is clearly an issue with two cars using aftermarket HIDs, and no other reports of this issue from cars with OEM HIDs, or ordinary Halogen lights.

While the video really looks bad, there are a million videos with things going bad where aftermarket parts have caused issues with the OEM systems. The unfortunate part is, Lexus has no obligation to fix this problem until the OEM lighting is restored because (essentially) the problem is only found on cars with aftermarket lights. There is no warranty from Lexus for aftermarket and no warranty of fitness for aftermarket anything, so they're pretty much off the hook to solve this from a legal perspective. They may try to be nice about it and help resolve the issues but there's nothing forcing them to do this.

Originally Posted by neuronbob

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. That is some freaky stuff.



Yeah. Yet another reason to keep my AP1 S2000 forever. No nannies other than ABS.

Originally Posted by mrmako

Well, it could be a massive amount of current the ballast is drawing, and this may effect some ECU components.

I've never liked after HID's, as it draws a lot of power, and unless reputable, can really screw things up.

I don't see this as Toyota's problem.

Originally Posted by dsickles

uhhhh... this issue should never occur. no matter how much power a set of hids draw or how close they are mounted to the steering components.

Originally Posted by neuronbob

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. That is some freaky stuff.



Yeah. Yet another reason to keep my AP1 S2000 forever. No nannies other than ABS.

Originally Posted by dallison

when doing a stereo install, you don't run the rca's and power cable next to each other. It could cause interferance, i could see the rationale in this theory.