Power Steering Rack Rebuild - Part 2 of 3

[Valhalla]

Update:
D1Guy and I spent some time together last night going over some options. As my torque sensor is still not repaired and he is having to trace every circuit in torque sensor 2 to find where the break is. Torque one works fine so we are half way to the fix. He realizes how badly I miss driving my car and offered to sell me the torque sensor he uses to bench these racks while keeping mine as a core. This was just so I could get mine on the road next week. The price was fair that he offered, and I could my finished rack, with new bearings and a working torque sensor next week. My decision?

I told him to fix my torque sensor, even if it took more time.

The bad news - I am still looking at my car on jack-stands in the garage for a while longer.

The good news - He will have the time to completely troubleshoot that one sensor, fix it and send me back a completely refurbished EPS rack in OEM new condition. He gains even more skills in repairing these so that your downtime will be way less. The cost of the repair will be less than if I had purchased his existing torque sensor. I will get back every part I sent him sans the old bearings.

Again, am I disappointed with the work being done or the timetable? No. I've seen for myself just how complex this sensor is. The simple fact that we (Prime Nation) have someone who can fix these is my calming factor.

Happy New Year D1Guy and Happy New Year Prime Nation.

 

[RYU]

You both are doing the NSX community a great service! If it'll make you feel better I can send you some pics of my car on jackstands as well.

Update:
D1Guy and I spent some time together last night going over some options. As my torque sensor is still not repaired and he is having to trace every circuit in torque sensor 2 to find where the break is. Torque one works fine so we are half way to the fix. He realizes how badly I miss driving my car and offered to sell me the torque sensor he uses to bench these racks while keeping mine as a core. This was just so I could get mine on the road next week. The price was fair that he offered, and I could my finished rack, with new bearings and a working torque sensor next week. My decision?

I told him to fix my torque sensor, even if it took more time.

The bad news - I am still looking at my car on jack-stands in the garage for a while longer.

The good news - He will have the time to completely troubleshoot that one sensor, fix it and send me back a completely refurbished EPS rack in OEM new condition. He gains even more skills in repairing these so that your downtime will be way less. The cost of the repair will be less than if I had purchased his existing torque sensor. I will get back every part I sent him sans the old bearings.

Again, am I disappointed with the work being done or the timetable? No. I've seen for myself just how complex this sensor is. The simple fact that we (Prime Nation) have someone who can fix these is my calming factor.

Happy New Year D1Guy and Happy New Year Prime Nation.

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks for the offer but to see any NSX on jack stands is more carnage than I want to see again.

I hear that you are getting your rack back this week. You must add your impression of what it's like with the new bearings installed.

 

[stevieray122854]

Many thanks to Valhalla and d1 guy for working thru all of the issues to get this service off the ground for our cars. Appears that most of us will need this work done at some point and it's nice to know there's an option other than sacrificing an arm or leg to your local friendly Acura parts counter. Kudos to you both---

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks for the high praise from both of you but it really is D1Guy who deserves it. The only thing that I did was not give in. Being stubborn runs in my family. D1Guy was brave enough to open the rack and torque sensor and have the expertise and ability to repair these.

Another update - I talked at length with D1Guy this afternoon. Looks like the manual racks for RYU and Nero are complete and will be shipped out tomorrow. He is very happy with the way these turned out and is confident they will last much longer than OEM. You lucky bastards....

We did talk at length about the need to take it easy when you first drive with the new racks before taking to the track or fast canyon runs. As with anything that is built for speed, whether it be street or track, know your equipment. I plan on testing mine a bit befor I do any high speed stuff. Just being prudent and keeping safety at the forefront.

As for my rack and EPS unit, they are fine. The torque sensor was worked on yesterday and they did find a short. Fixed it and tested it and it worked! For about three seconds then, all by itself, it cranked itself hard left and threw another code. Just like when it first started to fail. So back at it.

Because these torques sensors were deemed "non-serviceable" by Honda, there are no specs on voltages or amps on anything. The only thing D1Guy can do is take his existing, and working, torque sensor and measure and map every current thru the entire circuit of both boards. Once that map is created he will be able to diagnose any future torque sensor unit code very quickly. My patience and his perseverance is our gift to the NSX community. Merry Christmas to all.

 

[d1 guy]

Thanks so much for the praise guys. I am very happy with the way the manual racks turned out. I centered them as much as possible without having your cars here. They will be going back FedEx and are scheduled to be picked up tomorrow....... which means tomorrow or the next day

As far as Valhalla's rack goes......we are getting there. Luckily he explained my findings so that I dont have to. These are all things that could happen to each of these EPS racks, so any experience is good experience. We are comparing these units little by little so we will know exactly what each component is supposed to be reading. HOPEFULLY we will have it sorted out soon.

Im looking for to the manual rack reviews guys Expect PMs with a tracking number this week.

 

[RYU]

Just spoke with D1_guy. Being somewhat of a gearhead myself, we were talking the same language from the get-go. I'm excited to get my rack back. I drive my car hard (as how it should be driven!!) so I hope to provide honest feedback to everyone else considering this rebuild.

I have to get the car aligned, reset my ride height, and corner balance the car. I imagine it will take me about 5wks before everything is back together properly.

Can't wait!

 

[d1 guy]

Hopefully one of you will receive your newly rebuilt rack today. I think Nero's delivery date was today. Thanks again.

Thanks "txtony" for sending out your manual rack. I received it yesterday. Thanks so much.

 

[BluryNSX]

THANKS ALOT D1!! another thing to add to my list when doing my rebuild lol

 

[Valhalla]

Update: The torque sensor is fixed. Just got the news. More details to come later from D1Guy but the issues he found (after finding two others) have been corrected and the entire assembly now works as it should. He has to put the rack back together and ship it out but it is fixed. Thought those following this thread would like to know.

 

[RYU]

Received my package today

 

[Valhalla]

So, RYU and Nero, how do you like the racks with the new bearing installed? And don't for a minute tell me that you don't have them installed yet

 

[Valhalla]

Update: The Rack with torque sensor and my EPS control unit are in the mail with an ETA by the weekend. I so can't wait to bolt this bad boy back on! Thanks D1Guy.

 

[Bram]

Thanks to you & Diguy for being the Guinea Pig and doing all the research for the rest of us with EPS.

Bram

 

[Valhalla]

I won't say "our pleasure" but it is somewhat satisfying that it does work again. I just can't wait to see it for myself. This is what Christmas Eve feels like.

 

[poohaha]

Hello,

I'd like to know how much it would cost? My steering started to making some squeaks and I feel some play. Mine is 97 w/ 64k on it. Thanks

 

[Valhalla]

Oh please Mr. UPS Man, please hurry up and bring me my boxes!

 

[txtony]

Any feedback from those who installed and driven with rebuilt racks?

 

[d1 guy]

As an update for everyone:

I have requested that Nero and Ryu send their racks back to me due to a wrong torque spec. They have both agreed to do this with no issues. I have TXTony's Rack and Dave's Rack here and both will receive the proper torquing. I had to deal with several racks before I could learn exactly what needed to be done and what the exact specs needed to be.

TXTony, you have a PM regarding the status of yours and why there is/was a delay.

Dave, yours is almost complete.

Valhalla's rack was completely finished and tested to work perfectly on my personal car with Valhalla's EPS Rack and Valhalla's EPS Brain. Upon receipt of his newly rebuilt setup, the EPS light still came on when Valhalla installed it. Im afraid he has a ground issue. I am working with him to resolve this and it will be done correctly.

I try my best to stay on top of what Im doing, so rest assured, you will be taken care of. Thanks everyone.

 

[RYU]

Being the first in line I knew what I was signing up for. I just haven't had the time to uninstall the rack after diagnosing the issue with D1. D1_Guy has been great to work with and I hope I contributed to the community in helping him get this process correct. The other option would have been to send it to say RockAuto. However, the issue i'm having might have been overlooked by 50% of the owners out there but I tend to notice stuff like an overtorqued adjustment bolt. The rack still works mechanically correct just trying to get the feel right and D1 thinks he's isolated the issue. I doubt RockAuto would be receptive to such feedback.

D1, Send Dave's rack to me! His car will be down for another few months anyway LOL :biggrin: JK Mac!

 

[d1 guy]

Being the first in line I knew what I was signing up for. I just haven't had the time to uninstall the rack after diagnosing the issue with D1. D1_Guy has been great to work with and I hope I contributed to the community in helping him get this process correct. The other option would have been to send it to say RockAuto. However, the issue i'm having might have been overlooked by 50% of the owners out there but I tend to notice stuff like an overtorqued adjustment bolt. The rack still works mechanically correct just trying to get the feel right and D1 thinks he's isolated the issue. I doubt RockAuto would be receptive to such feedback.

D1, Send Dave's rack to me! His car will be down for another few months anyway LOL :biggrin: JK Mac!

Thanks for understanding. Its been great working with you. I bet Dave wouldnt appreciate that

 

[RYU]

I bet Dave wouldnt appreciate that

I won't tell if you don't tell!

From another thread! 6 months! haha :biggrin:

...Maybe in the next 6 months I'll have the custom setup running.

 

[Mac Attack]

I'm up for a swap Regan! IIRC, you have the new SOS bushings and mine are the 20YO ones though :wink: The red will match my car better anyways.

No hurry d1 guy! We really appreciate what you're doing for the community!

Dave

 

[Valhalla]

:biggrin:That's a picture of me. Got the rack and EPS Brain Box on Monday and installed it. Just take "Power Steering Rack Rebuild - Part 1 of 3" and reverse it. Put everything back in and .....wait for it......still waiting.....nothing. That Freaking evil EPS light just grinned at me. I tried a couple more things and then just turned off the garage lights and went away.

I texted and talked several times to D1Guy and we tried to troubleshoot what could possibley be wrong. He swore up and down that it worked in his shop and on his car. I have the video he sent me, I know it did. He said if I couldn't make it work to pull it back out and send it back to him and he would pay the freight, BOTH WAYS! I told him I would sleep on it and look at it again in a day or so.

So tonight I pulled the fuse and reset the circuit. Started the car. No luck.

I pulled the battery, battery tray and inspected the grounds on the sub-frame and rack, all tight.

I reinspected the power wires to the rack itself. Red was on the + and the blue was on the -. All good there.

Lastly I looked at the grey connector that sits behind the battery that powers the rack and it looked a little loose. I pushed on the two ends and hear a "click". Aw crap, could that have been it?

Connect the battery, reinstall the fuse and turn the ignition. You know what? That F^%$ing light finally went out.

Thanks D1Guy for fixing my rack, maintaining what little sanity I have left and saving my marriage. I love you man!

The service, hand-holding, and repair are over the moon. I'm going to drive the car a little tomorrow to make sure all works well. Still need to get it aligned before I do much and I'll try some twistys at moderate speed to make sure all is secure and tight. I'll report back once I've had a chance to evaluate properly. I can breathe again.

 

[jond]

d1 guy,

I was looking at your vendor page in your signature and it shows a few different prices for EPS rack fixes. Control box fix, relay fix, torque sensor fix, total rack rebuild.
Is there any way to give what symptoms would need which fix?

For example, if my EPS squeaks when I turn the steering wheel at low speed, is there a way to guess at what needs to be fixed on my EPS rack?.