2012 Rancher 420 FPA EPS problems

[WashingtonDSastor]

5000 miles and the power steering keeps tripping to no power steering. DTS reads are 14 and 18. Canl't figure it out.  Good battery voltage. Cleaned indicated terminal connections. Not sure if ECU is actually bad or not. Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance. Robert

[Mech]

The wires may have breaks in them. Wires mostly break right near the end where they go into the metal terminal. You can sometimes detect it by gently flexing the wires one at a time and seeing they feel right..  In this case though it would be better to use an ohm gauge first to test each wire from end to end.. 

I had a look at the codes and got the power relay for the 14 codes, and the 18 codes seemed to relate to the motor current, or it's current detector circuitry inside the ecu..  Both problems had test/check procedures I saw.. but didn't read.

I suppose you have checked the power relay ?  It would stop any current for the motor, and the ecu would think that was a problem.. problem 18 possibly.

[WashingtonDSastor]

Thanks for the input. I have the 2010 manual and have been following the bunny trail of troubleshooting. but the problem is intermittant. I can't repeat anything to make it happen. I haven't checked the power relay. Where is that? Seems like just heavy wires between ecu and motor.

[WashingtonDSastor]

don't know if 2012 manual for power steering is different from 2010

[Mech]

The manual I was looking in was for 2009-2011..  What does your book say the codes indicate ?

Yeah intermittent is annoying alright. Intermittent probably means it is a wiring problem though..  more so than an electronic problem.. hopefully.

Have you tried leaving it running and then going all over it wiggling the wiring hoping to cause the problem ? You need to be watching the dash while you are doing it to detect which bit of wire it is..  You could also start running a hose over electrical connectors..

Wires get bad connections where the wires crimp into the metal terminals, and they get dirty connections where the terminal contacts the unit, then get breaks, mostly near their ends,  and they chafe the insulation and short to the frame.  All those faults can cause intermittent problems..  The dirty/corroded crimp/connections can be effected by moisture..