Electric power steering

[Different Drummer]

I have read the pertinent threads on the subject. I am looking for some thoughts though.
2017 RAM V6 with 72,000 easy highway miles. Idle hours are in the nineties.
Returned from Florida last March. Had an extensive professional detail on the truck and drove it from the detailer 18 miles to dry inside storage. Removed the Neg. battery lead and fully charged the battery that was purchased new about a year ago. Put the car cover on the truck and drove another vehicle I own up until yesterday. On start up I did the prime procedure ( pedal to the floor ). Then started the truck. No problems starting. Took the truck out of the garage and it sat in the driveway for about 5 hours while I did yard work. When I finished I hit the road and after driving about 10 miles, when stopping at a stop sign on a downgrade the power steering failed and dash MIL came on alerting to service power steering. I figured I would have to muscle the steering to get it off the road. As I moved forward and cranked on the steering wheel the power steering began working and all dash MIL lights went off. I drove the vehicle another 10 miles and parked without incident. I figure it cannot be the EPS belt as the power steering did in fact return. I guess there are some electrical connections somewhere under a cover on the rack?
I have a long trip coming up in a couple of weeks heading to Newfoundland for several months.
Soooooo, what do you all think? I could ignore it but I am thinking that some investigation might be warranted.
The detailing done did include the engine compartment. I will contact the detailer today to ask what procedure they use in that area. If they used any kind of pressure washing might that have contributed to the issue?

 

[PolarisCobra]

It is possible that some water got into a connector and caused a bad connection. Some engine heat from driving may dry it out, and you may be OK.

Taking it to a shop for something that intermittent would likely be a wasted trip, unless you can reproduce the problem. I would drive it whenever you can for at least a few days. If it doesn't happen again, your confidence should increase. If it fails, the shop has something to look at.

 

[Jeepwalker]

-Start with a legit battery load test
-Check the fuses on the battery terminal (there's a good youtube video on this)
-Check wiring that goes to the Ram
-You might consider leaving the batteries unhooked (and tied together) overnight. It probably won't achieve anything, but you never know.
-Ensure battery cable connectors are good and ground wire is good and solid
-Ensure the rubber bushings holding the rack are good.
-See if there is a 'reset' you can do in AlfaOBD.

Most likely none of the above will do any good...except maybe (hopefully) your EPS relay is shot ...fingers crossed. If you're not the DIY kind of guy, and none of the above has helped, probably time to get a new Rack coming ...except they're rarer than hen's teeth and usually a long lead time. Supposedly 2018 is when they released the 'revised' units...so buying an old one (if you can find one), may only be temporary. But if you found an old one cheap..or even a circuit board, it's worth a try.

If you ARE a DIY guy consider the following:

-Remove the square cover on the back of the rack and inspect/remove the circuit board. My guess is either water insiide that cover, or condensation might have done it's work and screwed up something on the board when it was put to sleep for that period. I think that's what it's going to come down to...the circuit board. A very keen eye looking at the solder joints with a magnifying glass, at the main spade connectors and around the board, might reveal a cold solder joint, or possibly corroded electrical traces at the bottom of the board. The circuit board is coated in a plastic to protect it, but not the main spade connectors. Re-solder the spade connectors anyway just in case. And if there's a bad trace on the board, bridge with a jumper wire or rebuild the trace. Take it to an electrical wiz-kid for a look over. Most electrical problems come down to connections..not failed components. Type in at Youtube how to find/fix a cold solder joint. Sometimes those spade connectors come loose on the board...and it's a no-cost quick fix. You might not want to dig into this now, but after they tell you 6 months and $2400 to get a new EPS unit, you might be motivated to give it a look.

-There's a belt on the pass side of the rack which connects to the electric drive motor. It can be inspected by removing the cover. Sometimes they break/stretch. Pretty sure there's a video on that too. That's a $50 fix you can do, if it's broken. Don't expect the dealer (or any mechanic) to do the last two suggestions. You're probably on your own there, but some guys have fixed their problems that way.

Keep us up to speed on your journey. Best of luck

 

[Different Drummer]

Well, after a very busy day addressing other issues on my long list I finally got a few minutes to check things out. I started checking connections and found a very loose connection on the vehicle side of the electronic battery sensor. When I removed the negative cable for storage I did the removal at the battery side from the battery post. I have never loosened the nut on the other side of the sensor but figure that perhaps in manipulating the sensor away from the battery post the nut was loosened from the movement of the cables attached to the sensor. It was very loose and I could easily remove it with just my fingers. I snugged it down securely but have not driven the truck yet. Hopefully this was causing an issue. I will see what happens when I drive the truck tomorrow.
This reminds me why I absolutely love my other truck which was born in 1988.

 

[Different Drummer]

I have had a chance to put some miles on the RAM since discovering the loose negative battery connection. So far all seems well.
My thanks to Jeepwalker for pointing me toward checking electrical connections. The negative connection was the only thing removed so I started there and got lucky in finding the potential solution early on.

 

[turkeybird56]

U may have gotten very lucky. Best light the candles and incense.

 

[Different Drummer]

U may have gotten very lucky. Best light the candles and incense.

I hope my luck solved the issue as I will be heading to Newfoundland in a week or so and sure don't want to loose the steering on that trip!

 

[turkeybird56]

Definitely go over all your electrical connections and check all your ground points and clean any ref Mx and insure properly tightened and greased if needed.

Doesn’t hurt to make sure u carry extra fuses and also extra fuse for steering that connects on battery. Just my skerry thoughts especially if taking a trip through BFE.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Keep us up to speed in a month or so, let us know how it goes. You're one of the few who's dodged an expensive EPS bullet. Lucky you.