EPS failed - Bad alternator

[sensware]

So here's how my birthday went out yesterday :

I drive to work and as I was pulling my 09' Vibe into the parking lot the steering became stiff as if the EPS failed and then i see the battery light turn on! Turns out the Electric Assisted Power Steering is the first that turns off when the battery voltage drops.
I took the car to get the battery checked after work and within a mile all systems started to shutdown and lights turned on the dashboard (ABS,BRAKE,VSC,TCS,EPS). I drive like another mile and lights start flickering and gauges go haywire . Within 5 minutes everything seems to turn off and car does not even shift from 1st gear. At that point I decided to stop and pulled in a school parking lot and called my wife to jump my car.
She arrives and as we open the hoods and prepare to connect the jump cables of rain starts pouring on us. Just what you need when you jump a car with a drained battery. We connect the cables and let my battery recharge for about 25 minutes. Voltage on battery through jump cables was around 13.5 - 13.7V. I start the car and voltage drops to 12.4V. at that point I knew my alternator is the problem. Very weird since i only have 70K miles on my Vibe and OEM Denso alternators usually last a lot longer. After the quick charge, I was able to drive home for about 25 min with all the lights turned on my dashboard and no power steering for the most part of the way and when I got in my garage the battery showed 9.6V.
I jumped the battery again and put a 6 AMP fast charger on the battery after it came back for a bit.
I ordered a new remanufactured alternator from Autozone for $219 minus $54 core charge which I picked up this morning.

After my birthday party, last night I went to my garage and removed the alternator:
- Removed battery connections (10 mm metric wrench)
- Disconnect harness and nuts that are on the electrical connector for the alternator. (10 mm metric wrench)
- Remove the alternator by disconnecting top bolt and manual tensioner bolt (12 mm metric wrench)
- Loosen tensioner bracket from engine to make room to pull alternator out (12 mm metric wrench)
- Loosen and remove bottom support bolt from alternator (14 mm metric wrench + 1ft 1/2 inch pipe for more leverage)
Pulled alternator out and checked brushes
http://www.villagetoyotaparts.com/showA ... bly=320234 part# 2370
- removed 3 screws on alternator shroud
- removed alternator plastic shroud
- remove 2 phillips screws near center holding the brush assembly (2 outside screws are for regulator assembly)

Brushes were good so I did not want to monkey around and bought an alternator. I was thinking that if brushes were bad I could just buy a new set and come out a lot cheaper... not my luck.

To put the brush assembly back I used a finishing nail through the hole on top of the assembly to push the brushes back and put the holder back in place.

New alternator was installed in reverse order and charging voltage is now 14.2-14.5V

I will post some pictures later

[Derf]

Excellent write up. I wondered how the Electric Power Steering would work during an electrical problem. Now has me really concerned that auto manufactures are working towards drive by wire Electric Power Steering (no mechanical linkage between the dash and front wheels). Fluid Power Steering without linkage has been around for several decades, I believe it is limited to industrial, agricultural, and off road use.

[jake75]

I am a mechanical dimwit but I think that you can still steer manually if the electric fails. That would be a major safety issue if not.

[sensware]

Excellent write up. I wondered how the Electric Power Steering would work during an electrical problem. Now has me really concerned that auto manufactures are working towards drive by wire Electric Power Steering (no mechanical linkage between the dash and front wheels). Fluid Power Steering without linkage has been around for several decades, I believe it is limited to industrial, agricultural, and off road use.

Derf: You can still steer when Electric power Steering shuts down but steering becomes really stiff and it will be a lot harder to steer. EPS basically compensates all that effort and with different levels of electric assist depending on the speed of the vehicle. The electric assist is a servo motor mounted on the the steering column that compensates when driver tries to turn the wheel. There is also a procedure to calibrate when there is uneven assist on left vs right turns.
Steering while the car is stopped or at very low speeds is the hardest. During driving steering is just stiffer than usual and you need more force while negotiating turns.

The main issue I wanted to point out is that Electric Assisted Power Steering seems to be the first one to shutdown when battery voltage drops below normal levels, in my case due to bad alternator.

[sensware]

I am a mechanical dimwit but I think that you can still steer manually if the electric fails. That would be a major safety issue if not.

Correct. see this link for more info: Click on EPS from the Left menu

http://www.uotdealereducation.com/repos ... D/main.swf