Intermittent Power Steering Failure

[mibvas]

Dear MR2/MR-S owners,

I have been having intermittent Power Steering failure on my 2003 MR-2 as far back as the last 6 months.

Initially when it surfaced about 6 months ago, i am able to resolve the problem by switching off the car and then restarting ignition and the problem will dissappear.

After that it happened a couple of times more but I was able to resole it in the same manner. There was no consistency in this loss of power steering.

I did not have any further occurances until a couple of weeks ago when after staring the car after it was parked uncovered in an open parking area after torrential rain. I checked the pump and surrounding components and there has not been any contact with water.

After a prolonged period under hot dry weather, a restart of the car and the alarm is gone and i have power back on the steering.

This has happened more frequently now everytime the car gets wet including after a car wash using the power jet wash hoses to wash the car. Again the problem is resolved/gone after half an hour later when the car is completely dry and or in dry weather.

Is there a cable or sensor that is sensitive to water maybe causing the problem? I not able to dignose the car here in Malaysia but cannot see any problems with the power steering pump/ecu and have also always ensured that the fluid has changed and or never short in supply.

Can someone help me trouble shoot this problem? It is really annoying when i lose power steering and need to resolve this as soon as possible. Thank you.

[GIDDLEPIN]

Hi and welcome to the club

Try tracing the electrical connections into the pump and as far back as you can to check the joints and wiring for damage, it does sound like a wet short more than pump failure.

Les