After years of avoiding stealers while doing my own fixes I am hit with a problem that I am not willing to tackle. Driving home last week before the storm hit I stopped to grab a bite and sat in the car eating. As I backed out of the parking I get the red triangle and the steering was brutal. Took to Toyota for a diagnosis and a day later they found the issue to be the steering ECU in the dash which will cost $1200 but the part has to be ordered. It took me less than a day to take the hit and approve the fix. None of by buddies are willing to tackle the dash and no local indy will touch it. Damm shame to give this much to a dealer, I would rather pay an indy that price. Love the car so the decision was easier and faster but I only wish I could have paid a small business owner that price. Because I have 185K I feel lucky that this is the only major failure, other cars would have more things go south long before 150K. I am supposed to get the car back this week and I cant wait, though I have other cars I can't bare to drive them for extended periods as I get frustrated with cars that idle at red lights.
Hey Boss, Is the ECU the mechanism that gives our car the power steering? I can imagine that part being expensive.
It is super simple to replace. Buy a used one on Ebay or a salvage yard for a couple hundred dollars. With the car off, unscrew then unplug the old one. Plug in and then rescrew the "newsed" or "nused" one and voila. You may have to clear the codes, but that can literally be done with a paperclip between leads if you do not have a code scanner.
Do you know someone that pulled this off before? If so please post some pics so that we can help future victims. How did they get the dash off to get at it and how did they get it to calibrate?
Now I see why it cost so much. Removing the dash in any car is a pain in the a$$, very time consuming.
I haven't needed to do this job on either of my Prius but I don't think it is very difficult. The plastic dash panels are not very hard to remove. Start by pulling out horizontally the far left ventilation duct, then the bottom black plastic panel below the steering column can be removed. Then the top black plastic panel (with the POWER button) above the steering column can be removed. At that point you can probably see the steering ECU. I posted on this with regards to how to replace the shift lever assembly. How to Replace 2G Gearshift Lever | PriusChat It is true that you will need professional help to do the zero point calibration but it is much cheaper to have the dealer do that one task; vs. doing the entire job. I also agree with the concept of purchasing a used part from a salvage vehicle. If you are inclined to do this sort of job in the future, you can obtain repair manual info at techinfo.toyota.com
Thanks Patrick, your post is exactly what we need. Great pics with instructions and you are spot on it is easier than the dealer described.
