MK1 poor self centering, "sticky" PS.. removing PS possible?

[Hairy Nugget]

Got my hands on a base model low mileage MK1 (27k miles), which I consider making into a Sunday racer.

But it has a problem.. steering does not self center past 11/1 o'clock regardless of speed, and it also generally has much more resistance than it should.

I have had it to my local Toyota dealer twice to find out what's wrong, but they cannot find anything. Alignment, tires, steering components etc all seem fine, and resetting ECU did nothing.

 

It seems to be a somewhat common fault with these cars, but not with a universal solution..

So instead of throwing more money at it and hope that it will go away, I have a bright Idea: getting a second hand steering column and do a power steering delete!?

Had a Volvo 240 without PS which never really bothered me, and weighing in at 1840 pounds/ 835 kilos I recon the Aygo should be quite managable without it.

 

So I guess my questions are as follows:

1. Is it possible at all? I'm guessing that the PS motor has a screw type gearbox, and if so will need to come out somehow.

2. What kind of error codes would I be looking at? Constant beeping and putting the car into limp mode would be hard to live with, while a lamp could be tackled with some tape.

 

Any feedback appreciated. Thanks!

[Hairy Nugget]

For some reason the forum translates Gear$et to geubikt, and I cant edit it.. sorry for any confusion

[FROSTYBALLS]

Edited.

[flash22]

What year, Aygo ? any codes related to the EPS

you can perform a manual flash test and count the flashes of the eps light

 

kgb10 eps test.pdf

[flash22]

You may be interested in https://citycarcup.co.uk/

[mrfixer]

The motor has a worm gear that drives a polymer gear on the steering shaft. Some of them seem to get tight, adding resistance to the steering. Some other models are bad for it too. The Mitsubishi Colt is awful. 

A strip and clean, then re-lube of the gear assembly may help. Or a replacement column/motor.  

I've often though of carefully drilling a small hole where the worm meshes with the gear and injecting plenty of silicone grease - may help.

[Hairy Nugget]

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

What year, Aygo ? any codes related to the EPS

you can perform a manual flash test and count the flashes of the eps light

 

kgb10 eps test.pdf 88.81 kB · 11 downloads

It is a 2012, stripped base model.

Thanks for the test document! The price for the Toyota Denso Intelligent Tester seems a bit steep for me at the moment, but maybe some nice Toyota tech might let me borrow/rent one. Saved the document for the future.

 

I need it street legal here in Norway (and possibly Germany), so the cage and all parts without TÜV in the citycarcup-kit are unfortunately a nono.

To bad because its excellent value for money, and the citycar cup and club1000 videos are a massive inspiration!

 

 

27 minutes ago, mrfixer said:

The motor has a worm gear that drives a polymer gear on the steering shaft. Some of them seem to get tight, adding resistance to the steering. Some other models are bad for it too. The Mitsubishi Colt is awful. 

A strip and clean, then re-lube of the gear assembly may help. Or a replacement column/motor.  

I've often though of carefully drilling a small hole where the worm meshes with the gear and injecting plenty of silicone grease - may help.

 

Considering its mileage is just 27k, it shouldn't have to much wear. But it has been sitting a lot, so maybe the gunk has hardened?

Would probably be smart to do a strip and clean - but if I am to rip the whole steering column out, it might make sense to have one with PS delete ready to go in since most of the work is already done... hmmm.

 

Will report back later when I have the time to look closer into it.

[Puglet]

Don't know if this is any help, but it rang a bell, so found this on another site, they did actually produce Mk1s without power steering for certain european markets, steering column and rack were different on non power steering cars. I only saw a Citroen C1 without power steering so maybe only that model was this basic, which would be about right comparing it to the Mk1s market here in UK. 

 

[flash22]

Quote

It is a 2012, stripped base model.

Thanks for the test document! The price for the Toyota Denso Intelligent Tester seems a bit steep for me at the moment, but maybe some nice Toyota tech might let me borrow/rent one. Saved the document for the future.

ignore the first step you do not need a tester go to 2., the manual test method works fine no special tools needed just link the pins as required

[flash22]

As the car is low mileage and been sitting i would replace the Battery, low current will make the EPS slow, a weak Battery will also stress the alternator

[Hairy Nugget]

21 hours ago, Puglet said:

Don't know if this is any help, but it rang a bell, so found this on another site, they did actually produce Mk1s without power steering for certain european markets, steering column and rack were different on non power steering cars. I only saw a Citroen C1 without power steering so maybe only that model was this basic, which would be about right comparing it to the Mk1s market here in UK.

 

Thanks for this, checked it up further with Toyota.. and got even more confused 🙂

It seems they have the same in their catalogue, but the column that looks manual has the same partnumber!

And of course this part number is refering the EPS one.. picture attached.

Will continuing investigating this, to be continued

 

7 hours ago, flash22 said:

ignore the first step you do not need a tester go to 2., the manual test method works fine no special tools needed just link the pins as required

Sweet, will try this and see what results I get.

Battery seem fine from starting strong at sub-zero temperatures after standing for days, but you never know. Will check the resting and charging voltage