Lights appearing on dashboard and causing the steering to be stiff sometimes?

Tiny
DAVID DAVO ESSIEN
  • MEMBER
  • 2010 TOYOTA COROLLA
  • 1.8L
  • 4 CYL
  • TURBO
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 174,145 MILES
A client complained that when he was in motion his airbag shot. Eventually, he noticed that the smoke was emanating from the engine bay. Hence, he pop-up the hood and saw that the smoke was coming from the ABS module. He called a mechanic to unplug the ABS module connector. Afterward, the connector was connected back. Henceforth, he has noticed that his steering is stiffer to steer. Additionally, he said: "the car isn't moving smoothly as before."

Yesterday, he called and said even the headlights and other lights aren't working again in the car.

The check light appears first, brake light second then finally the P/S light appears. The lights don't come out at once.

Please help guide me on how I can fix this problem permanently for the client.
Wednesday, December 28th, 2022 AT 2:17 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,536 POSTS
No problem let's run the codes first to see what comes up, but we should do a CAN scan which is easy to do, you can get a CAN scanner (Controller Area Network) from Amazon from about $32.00.

Here is a video to show you how:

https://youtu.be/u-4syLc-ifQ

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy

It sounds like the power steering motor has gone out or the spiral wire behind the steering wheel is bad or both, here is the spiral wire so you can check it out. Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.
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Thursday, December 29th, 2022 AT 11:07 AM
Tiny
DAVID DAVO ESSIEN
  • MEMBER
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He said that the clock on the instrument cluster wasn't raising on motion as well. The bulbs were replaced.
I checked for the DTC yesterday. The codes I found were P0335 and P0500. That's the CKP sensor and vehicle speed sensor code. When I cleared the code the check engine light went off. But later came back ON few minutes later.
Symptoms with the car was that the engine was vibrating, hard starting and can't move freely when on the hill.
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Friday, December 30th, 2022 AT 11:26 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,536 POSTS
Is this a different issue than the stiff steering? I think we should do a CAN scan; you can get a CAN scanner (Controller Area Network) from Amazon from about $32.00.

Here is a video to show you how:

https://youtu.be/u-4syLc-ifQ

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy
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Saturday, December 31st, 2022 AT 12:22 PM
Tiny
DAVID DAVO ESSIEN
  • MEMBER
  • 147 POSTS
The client is a novice about cars and was unable to give me a good explanation. I didn't see any sign of airbag shooting when I saw the car after is complaint. I told him that the airbag is still okay. He made a mistake in his explanation. The only thing I saw was that the ABS connector was unplugged and headlights were bad in the car.
What I noticed from the car was that when it is first started the RPM rises to about 2,500 and then drops to about 700 RPM on its own.
Probably there could be a short on the instrument cluster as well because I noticed a blink once after about every 25 seconds throughout idling except the car is shut-off. He said that was how it was when he purchased the car from someone till date.
In addition, the speed clock doesn't raise when driving and the car is intermittently hard to start.
P0335 and P0500 were the only codes I retrieved.

For the CAN test, I don't have the tool yet nor do my fellow engineers over here.
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Sunday, January 1st, 2023 AT 9:05 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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The p0335 code is for a bad crankshaft sensor connection and the p0500 fault with the vehicle speed sensor which can affect the steering so let replace that first to see if that fixes it. Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.
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Monday, January 2nd, 2023 AT 1:57 PM
Tiny
DAVID DAVO ESSIEN
  • MEMBER
  • 147 POSTS
I'm sorry, it has taken a very long time to respond to your email! The client never came back since then. However, he told me that he would. Whenever he does, I would communicate to you about what I notice.
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Monday, March 6th, 2023 AT 6:08 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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Thanks for getting back to us, let us know if you need help.
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Monday, March 6th, 2023 AT 12:20 PM

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