I have a 2002 Insight and I want to get rid of power steering. Unlike CRX for example I cant install a non PS rack and Im wondering since the rack is electric, can I just gut the electric drive parts and be on my way since you cant really do that with hydraulic racks.

 

Hi, Did you proceed with this delete? I've bought a 1.6 petrol auto gen7 Civic with EPS lockouts after the car warms up but the motor and all other parts remain cool. It has a wrong ECU part number and I cannot locate a correct module. I'm thinking the manual steering would free up somewhat if I simply remove the motor. Would anyone have any thoughts on this please? I'm fairly spanner capable and in the UK if that matters.

The 2002 car looks like a 2 years old car underneath and at only 85K miles the very clean otherwise reliable car is much too good to scrap.

Edit: the EPS resumes after an immediate restart but soon knocks itself out again. EPS fault code is 41: motor voltage.

 

You could probably toss a new controller at it and fix the issue.

But if you must I do know the answer to this.

Remove the motor, under the motor is a worm gear. Remove the nut holding the worm gear in place and then reinstall the motor to keep dirt out.

This will remove the friction of back driving a worm gear.

I have some pictures I can dig up. I also posted about this over on insight central . Net under the same username.

 

Found it
https://www.insightcentral.net/threa...16/post-946993

 

Oh wicked thanks Ryan. I got part way through the Insight thread but its 4-30am here and I can't keep my eyes open any more. It's especially great to see others have the same instinct about PS on such lightweight cars.

This looks great for me apart from cutting the ps motor housing - in case I manage to find a correct number EPS ECU. I have to keep in mind the wife is a lot daintier than me and cannot manage a heavy steer, so I'd need to be able to reverse it - or just keep the car for my use.

 

There should be no cutting. It is completely possible to reverse what has been done.

My link didn't go directly to my post over on IC? Post #82.

 

Thanks Ryan, I guess I must have taken note of a wrong post where the rack's housing where the motor bolts to it is cut to remove the worm gear.

Your link went direct to the thread - which I shall continue reading now.

EDIT: It was Wocketmans post about cutting the housing off.

 

I have a small bench lathe and would be able to bore out the centre of this M12/19mm AF coupler nut - does that sound a feasible tool? Being able to get a spanner on it is a bit bonus of course. EDIT: further reading suggests 19mm is a little small.

 

The project is under way, I'm waiting for a 50mm (2") length of 20mm brass hex rod to arrive from ebay. The delete can be done in situ with a bit of grunting. This is one time I wish I had smaller hands but I had an offset 1/4" drive ratchet that was a great help. The motor is off but that's as far as I can go till I get the brass and bore it out. It still feels too stiff to let the wife use it but I'm hoping it will ease off after I get the worm drive out.

A slight tangent:
While I'm waiting I decided to inspect the motor - suspecting the casing could be bunged up with carbon dust because its not vented like a vacuum cleaner or power tool for examples. I think it was meant to be tamper discouraging because neither a T20 not T25 anti tamper hex tool would readily fit - maybe there is a rarer T22 with a larger hole available but i managed to enlarge the T25 anti tamper peg hole and tap it in using an extension and hammer. Carbon dust dropped out as I pulled it apart against the magnetic force and a good brushout and compressed air blow saw more but i doubt it was enough to be a cause of the issue. There was stacks of travel left for the the four large section carbon brushes.

I've started making a little video of the delete.

 

Back driving that worm gear is the bulk of the resistance. You are nearly there!

 

HUH - I say again HUH!

So... cleaning out the carbon dust from between the copper commutator bars and between the brushes has completely sorted the issue - despite the EPS ECU being a wrong part number.

Wife with her arthritic hands is very happy with it.

Sorry but that video will not be coming. lol.

 

Very nice. Got it fixed and kept the EPS functional.

 

Yep - I should have got down to it sooner instead of Googling it lol.

An electric motor issue is what I initially assumed it would be when I bought it, but Googling suggested so many other things that I got caught up in it. I can understand Honda using a sealed motor to avoid water ingress but that makes it a part with a limited service life.

Hopefully a few others will be able to avoid scrapping such clean cars because of carbon dust shorting out motor electronics.