Has anyone tried to clean, repair or replace the steering torque sensors on a Gen I Prius? My 2003 has 44k miles and it seems criminal to junk the entire rack instead of repairing a sensor.
The torque sensor is actually inside the little motor that provides the assist. I don't think there is any way to actually get to it. But again, I don't see why the whole rack would need replacing, just replace the motor.
Hi Adric22, you have said this before but I don't think it is completely true. I have 'been inside' the steering assembly and torque sensors are quite well buried there. However I have not opened the electric motor itself so there may be something special in there as well? Its only electrical connection is to 12 volts supplied by the steering ECU, so it is not easy for me to see how it could be more than a motor. One would hope that the potentiometers could be cleanable as they are in the accel pedal. But I don't know how to get at them without breaking something else. A shame. There is at least one post way back at PriusChat suggesting that someone has been successful in rebuilding this. I have not searched (enough) for that though.
Thanks for the tips. I just purchased a salvage motor. We're going to take a look at it next week and see if we can move the sensors. If not, we may just replace the motor instead of the rack.
. I actually was just talking with my Technician friend about that a couple of days ago. i did make one mistake in what I said before. I said it wasn't necessary to change the whole rack, but it would appear I was wrong. he said the change in the motor and sensor is not compatible with the old rack or the power steering computer. So everything has to be changed. When he had told me before where the problem was, I assumed that was the only thing that needed to be changed.
