The steering wheel is difficult to turn, I cannot turn it without applying heavy force?

ROOPAMDHILLONZ

MEMBER
2019 FORD MUSTANG
2.3L
4 CYL
TURBO
2WD
AUTOMATIC
90,000 MILES

Hi so I was driving my car, I stopped at red lights. And suddenly when I tried to take a left turn, my steering wheel got so hard, I couldn’t even turn it. I came home anyhow. But I tried to drive my car again, the steering wheel is hard, I can't turn it without applying heavy force.

5 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

Hi,

His vehicle has an electric power assist steering (EPAS). The EPAS system provides steering assist by replacing the conventional hydraulic valve system with a steering gear equipped with an integrated electrical motor and PSCM.

If this happened all at once, the first things I would check would be the fuses. There are two in the battery junction box that power the unit. See pics below.

Note: One fuse (fuse 64) is a traditional 5-amp fuse. The midi fuse is 125 amp and should be bolted in place. You may want to disconnect the battery before working with the midi fuse.

Let me know.

Joe

See pics below.

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Friday, December 29th, 2023 AT 10:05 PM

ROOPAMDHILLONZ

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1 POST

I tried but nothing worked. It just stays hard same as it is while the car is turned off.

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Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024 AT 4:38 PM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

Hi,

When you say nothing worked, did the fuses have power to and from them? Also, I don't know if you have one or have access to a scan tool that can scan the can-bus. That is what should be done at this point to see if there is a code that is stored in the module. If there is, that should point us in the right direction. Otherwise, it will become a guessing game.

Here is a link explaining how that is done:

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

Let me know if that is something you can do or have done.

Take care,

Joe

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Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024 AT 6:43 PM

ROOPAMDHILLONZ

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1 POST

Hi, I got the car scanned. They said the car has some electrical problem as the can bus isn’t fully communicating with the car's electronic parts such as power steering and traction control etc, etc.

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Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024 AT 1:41 PM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

Hi,

Were they able to narrow that down for you? Did they provide you with any diagnostic trouble codes that I can explore?

CAN stands for controller area network. It is how the different modules communicate with each other. There aren't too many wires involved, but we need to know the code to identify where to check.

Let me know.

Joe