How to Fix Power Steering loss in VF Commodore “Service Power Steering, Drive with Care”

[Adrian 3320]

Hope this helps as I couldn't find anything to help me with this project

My Sons car came up with the message and he lost power assist causing the steering to become heavy, we took the car to a Holden Service Center and was informed that the computer did not log any errors and they could not find anything wrong with the car.

This happened a few more times, but turning the car off and on again would fix the issue…. Until it didn’t, I contacted Holden Service Center again and was informed that the rack would need to be replaced at our expense as the car was no longer under warranty and this model was not covered by the recall from a few years ago… pffft

After looking online for some answers and not finding much I started looking for a new/used Steering motor (apparently the fault lies with corrosion in the connections somewhere in the motor) but found it was cheaper and easier to buy a complete rack from the wrecker (they gave me a 6 month warranty) Under $200

With the car up on ramps I slid my fat ass under to take a look at what I was getting myself into, I was hoping to just change over the control box on the end of the motor but after opening it I found it was just a cover and the control box was part of the motor.

The Motor has 4 black 10mm bolts holding it onto the Rack to get to the bolts the first 2 are accessible from the top through the engine bay, the forward most bottom bolt is accessible from the bottom after unscrewing the hundred or so torx bits holding on the plastic cover attached to the front bumper and “K Frame” Don’t forget the 2X 13mm bolts in the middle!

To get to the last bolt is where the fun begins (and the swearing!) I loosened the steering rack bolts 2X 18mm bolts at each end, almost completely removing the passenger side ones and getting my son to raise the steering rack with a pry bar far enough to use 2 10mm spanners that were made with slightly different angles cos I could only get a couple of degree turns each time… took a while but got it out!

Once the 4 bolts are out you need to pivot the motor counter clockwise a few degrees to un-tension the shaft off the belt inside the rack and wiggle it out…. It does fit between the Sway bar and the “K Frame” and it has an “O” ring seal so go easy.

Disconnect the electrical connectors by sliding back the white or red plastic locks and depressing the lock.

Then do the reverse to refit the new motor remember to put the 4 black bolts in and then pivot the motor clockwise to tension the belt back up! Before tightening the 4 black 10mm bolts “Ask me how I know”… click click click!

All up it took a couple of hours but so far the power steering seems to be working again with no messages and on the bright side we have spare rack, tie rods, boots etc

 

[Redline457]

Hope this helps as I couldn't find anything to help me with this project

My Sons car came up with the message and he lost power assist causing the steering to become heavy, we took the car to a Holden Service Center and was informed that the computer did not log any errors and they could not find anything wrong with the car.

This happened a few more times, but turning the car off and on again would fix the issue…. Until it didn’t, I contacted Holden Service Center again and was informed that the rack would need to be replaced at our expense as the car was no longer under warranty and this model was not covered by the recall from a few years ago… pffft

After looking online for some answers and not finding much I started looking for a new/used Steering motor (apparently the fault lies with corrosion in the connections somewhere in the motor) but found it was cheaper and easier to buy a complete rack from the wrecker (they gave me a 6 month warranty) Under $200

With the car up on ramps I slid my fat ass under to take a look at what I was getting myself into, I was hoping to just change over the control box on the end of the motor but after opening it I found it was just a cover and the control box was part of the motor.

The Motor has 4 black 10mm bolts holding it onto the Rack to get to the bolts the first 2 are accessible from the top through the engine bay, the forward most bottom bolt is accessible from the bottom after unscrewing the hundred or so torx bits holding on the plastic cover attached to the front bumper and “K Frame” Don’t forget the 2X 13mm bolts in the middle!

To get to the last bolt is where the fun begins (and the swearing!) I loosened the steering rack bolts 2X 18mm bolts at each end, almost completely removing the passenger side ones and getting my son to raise the steering rack with a pry bar far enough to use 2 10mm spanners that were made with slightly different angles cos I could only get a couple of degree turns each time… took a while but got it out!

Once the 4 bolts are out you need to pivot the motor counter clockwise a few degrees to un-tension the shaft off the belt inside the rack and wiggle it out…. It does fit between the Sway bar and the “K Frame” and it has an “O” ring seal so go easy.

Disconnect the electrical connectors by sliding back the white or red plastic locks and depressing the lock.

Then do the reverse to refit the new motor remember to put the 4 black bolts in and then pivot the motor clockwise to tension the belt back up! Before tightening the 4 black 10mm bolts “Ask me how I know”… click click click!

All up it took a couple of hours but so far the power steering seems to be working again with no messages and on the bright side we have spare rack, tie rods, boots etc

Excellent outcome well done

 

[Forg]

Thanks @Adrian 3320 for the write-up!

 

[oztech007]

Good to know & well done.
Interesting that there is a Belt inside there. I wonder what the life of the belt is.
I always thought that the motors were a direct drive with Internal Gears.

 

[Anthony121]

Good to know & well done.
Interesting that there is a Belt inside there. I wonder what the life of the belt is.
I always thought that the motors were a direct drive with Internal Gears.

I had a picture of a model cut out of the electric steering but cannot find it now. I'll see if I can locate it.

 

[Skylarking]

I contacted Holden Service Center again and was informed that the rack would need to be replaced at our expense as the car was no longer under factory warranty and this model was not covered by the recall from a few years ago… pffft

Always good to see a repair write-up related to our commodores but seeing this leaves me in two minds

I'm left with a love (not) on how GM/Holden seems to be washing their hands of this issue. I really doubt GM/Holden have a 100% understanding of the complete root cause of this defect and that they have a 100% documentation of every component that goes into every vehicle (considering the poor documentation trail I've seen within dealers and what they've done with warranty work)...

Remember, GM/Holden have taken many bites at the repair before they finally settling on a cost effective recall repair kit to fix this known defect (yes it doesn't need a whole new rack replacement as the dealers told you,.. fcuking liars that they are). And the repair process and kit of parts is well documented in the recall TSB that we can't have a copy of (unless you get the relevant document for the chevy ss from the nhtsa.

And I've also heard of a few cars on this forum having this EPS defect were the owners were also told that their cars weren't on the recall list. Can't remember the outcomes in those few cases but it just highlights that GM/Holden haven't captured all cases with this defect.

As is, if i bought the car from a dealer, i'd be back questioning HCC how this well known defect hasn't been addressed on your specific vehicle given that it has all the classic symptoms of the known defect and why the dealers tell porkypies....

I'd also take note that whenever a dealer says that "the warranty has expired", all they can attest to is that the factory (voluntary) warranty has expired. The statutory warranty provided by Australian Consumer Law doesn't have a duration specified in law and it's duration is what a reasonable consumer would expect give the price paid for the product... In this case of power steering assistance failure, any reasonable consumer would expect that the system would last the life of the vehicle, so repair of such EPS failures shouldn't be denied under your statutory warranty rights in law...

On the other hand, $200 and a couple of hours may be an easier fix

Just keep in mind that there may be cars out there that haven't had the defective components corrected so getting used parts from wreckers may or may not fix the defect in your car long term. Again, remember, given the number of tried GM/Holden have had at fixing this; dielectric grease, epoxy, one other fix I can't remember, before the rack replacement occured which itself preceded the final solution being the repair kit made available for the recall ... and do we think GM/Holden has captured and repaired all vehicles ... documented all written off vehicles so as to capture the defective parts so they couldn't be on sold (no such mechanism exists for that issue which I'm aware of)...

I suspect GM/Holden have just produced the smallest list of VINs possible to satisfy their regulatory obligations and have left some owners behind

 

[Adrian 3320]

Good to know & well done.
Interesting that there is a Belt inside there. I wonder what the life of the belt is.
I always thought that the motors were a direct drive with Internal Gears.

I have pics but they are to large for the website