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MG MGF Technical - EPAS on the blink

Hi all,
The power steering is intermitantly not working on my F,
On turning the ignition on, I can hear a relay clicking,there is a noticiably long (1 or 2 seconds) pause before the starter motor springs to life, then the epas warning light sometimes stay's light. If I stop the car and pull out the inline fuse to reset the epas then it's fine untill the next time i restart the car.
It only happens from standstill, and doesnt flicker into life after setting off/or stop working half way through a journey.
At the moment its 50/50 between the amout of times its either working or not after starting the car.
Is this a common fault.
Is a relay shot,
or is their a poor earth or an low battery/alternator problem.
Any ideas welcome
thanks in advance
John.
John Reed

The fact that the EPAS works fine once re-booted with the engine running, but will struggle on the next starting cycle suggests that the starting cycle is throwing up an electrical gremlin. I'd start by cleaning up all the earth connections & the starter motor connections, while checking the wiring to make sure there isn't a short somewhere. Poor connections can give very odd & sometimes barely logical symptoms, so the best troubleshooting is to disconnect, clean up with sandpaper & electrical contact spray, re-connect & test.
bandit

Hi Bandit,
I'll go through the earths tomorrow.
thanks for your replying.
Could you give me your thoughts on the following ideas;
Fitting TF anti roll bars, are they 1mm wider? would there be a noticable difference? or would techspeeds bilstein dampers do the same job?
Changing the tie bar to subframe bushes for spherical bearings to limit the forward and back movement of the rear wheels, during acceleration and braking.
thanks in advance,
John.
John Reed

I've heard of this and similar problems before John. Not entirely sure what the solution has been - but could be a case of cleaning up the contacts on the EPAS ecu with contact cleaner (from Maplins etc). There are two multi-plug connectors - which are located above the glove box. Pretty simple task to unplug, spray and plug back in :o)

How to access the EPAS ECU can be found here: http://mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/DIY/epas/epas_bypass.htm

Hope this is of help
Rob Bell

Thankyou Rob,
Yet again, your site delivers fantastic info and with pics.
Thanks for replying
John
John Reed

No worries - hope you find the solution, and do let me know how you get on! :o)
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 12/06/2009 and 14/06/2009

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