Power Steering Failiure

[pragmatix]

Hi all, Ive had a search roud the various threads and havnt found an answer, so sorry if its been asked before, We have a 55 plate Yaris 1ltr blue, its done about 14000 miles and the power steering has failed. Its currently in a garage in Kent i.e miles away and they are saying that the fault lies in the ECU and to get to that they have to remove the dashboard a 5 hour job, so is this correct that you have to remove the dash to check the ECU and is it likely to be the fault. All fuse have been checked and are ok, anything else it could be, Im not familier with electric power steering so any help gratfully recieved

Thanks Pete

[carlowlad]

Remove the dash?? Are they having a laugh?

The ecu is checked with a diagnostic tool that plugs into the ecu under the dash beside the fuse board. If there is a fault then it will have a code which can be checked against a list of codes for the yaris. I think there's one here iirc.

Whatever you do, don't take these guys word for it too easily. It may just be a loose connection and they could fix that in minutes while charging you a fortune.

Best of luck.

[pragmatix]

Thanks for that, I thought it was stupid to take the dash apart, no car that I know has to be dismantled to check the ECU. will be onto the garage tomorrow.

Cheers

[in_the_no]

x

[pragmatix]

The garage is I believe an independant, its the lads car and I just get snippets of info, but will be speaking to the garage tomorrow, thanks for the replies all in line with my thinking but as I dont know the Yaris at all I needed the confirmation

Thanks Pete

[Cherry Red Pocket Rocket]

Always ask for a second opinion from another garage or as you have just done, ask in a forum!

My gf was told that her Honda CRV needed new shocks on the front and an airconditioning unit and was quoted £2500 for the parts and labour. I sniffed around and bought the shocks for £250 from a parts autofactors place, took it to a garage I know and they fitted the shocks for £120, checked the airconditioning and said it was perfectly fine. Saved her a fortune.

[pragmatix]

The car is now sorted, the garage did try to read the faults codes but as the fault was on the low voltage side there where no faults to report, the independant garage did consult with Toyota uk and then charged in acordance with autodata, cant fault the labour charges but the parts cost is !Removed! high, anyway its all paid for via the warranty.

oh and this is a fairly common fault according to toyota, it affects the Yaris and the RAV 4

[Raeman]

So how was the problem resolved? Did they fit a new p/s pump or just reset the ECU?

Also you say this problem is quite common on the Yaris, but i think it's only the French built one's with electric p/s that suffer.

The Mk1's like mine have hydraulic p/s and were Japanese (who might just slightly do a better job of building cars than the French) bulit.

[pragmatix]

So how was the problem resolved? Did they fit a new p/s pump or just reset the ECU?

Also you say this problem is quite common on the Yaris, but i think it's only the French built one's with electric p/s that suffer.

The Mk1's like mine have hydraulic p/s and were Japanese (who might just slightly do a better job of building cars than the French) bulit.

It was a new ECU

[Atdaddy]

Can it be driven without power steering or will that cause lots of damage?