Morning, Paul...

Just ran into another problem with the RX8 this week, that I thought I
should make the group aware of. If you agree, please post.

The power steering quits!   When I looked it up on the internet, there
are quite a few people reporting it now, as it's apparently been
happening more and more frequently as the cars get up to 50,000 miles or so.

So far, the dealers haven't been able to figure it out, but many of the
users on the Mazda forums have come up with a fix that seems to be the
answer (after one paid over $3000 for a new PS unit!).

I suddenly had no power steering as I pulled out of the garage Tuesday
morning.  I had an appointment at the hospital, so had to go there
before I stopped at the dealers. Fuses were OK (the big 60 amp fuse on
the battery terminal is the main one for the power steering unit).

It was a lot of fun tugging those huge tires around the parking garage
at the hospital to get up and down to the 6th floor! I stopped at the
dealers on the way back. They took a quick look and couldn't find
anything wrong either, nor was there a service bulletin regarding it, so
they scheduled me to drop it off next week and signed me up for a loaner.

After I got back from the dealers, I looked it up on the internet, found
a couple of solutions, tried them and they worked.  Drove back to the
dealers, told them what I did and canceled the appointment.

What happens, is the radiator overflow hose dumps directly on the power
plug and control signal plug for the power steering, and in time, the
contacts in the plug corrode.  One guy said that he lost his while doing
70 on the expressway!  Another said that he lost the steering in only
one direction!

The fix is to simply clean the contacts. One guy recommended extending
the overflow hose so that it exits below the plugs instead of on them.

So, I cleaned the contacts on mine with a spray contact cleaner, and was
back in business.  Some have recommended soldering the wires to the
contacts, as they are only crimped, and may have corrosion there as
well.  I just cleaned them. We'll see how long that lasts...so far so good.

The plugs can be easily reached...they are under the tray (two bolts and
two nuts to remove it) that is under the air cleaner box when it is
removed (one hose clamp and a couple of hoses and plugs to disconnect to
remove the air cleaner box).

The two plugs are gray in color, near the front of the car, right under
the radiator overflow hose...it points at them!  Took me less than 30
minutes.

Harley Dixon


Thanks for the heads up Harley. I'll check my RX8 over flow hose today.