[SOLVED??] Giant Pothole Took Out Power Steering

[Beedo]

2018 JLU Sport 45k miles.
So last night I was driving and hit a pothole going 15-20mph with my front driver tire. It was deep yet not too big across. The hit was hard, I even thought I had popped the tire (33’) and broke the rim, but I didn’t. When I pulled over the power steering was gone and it showed me the service power steering message.

I got out the jeep, made sure I wasn't loosing air or had to put the spare on, since everything looked olay I drove about 700m till I found two officers who helped me check everything. We spent the next hour troubleshooting but couldn’t get it fixed.

Tie rods are not bent, not loosing air or fluids (including power steering fluid), wheel isn’t offcentered, all temperature sensors read a good temp in all components, wheels still turns okay but no power steering. No alerts for 4wd or traction control, brakes work fine.

Can anyone suggest a cause? I am in the quite far from any mechanic. Officers told me maybe a connection got loose or something since even my mirrors where moved with the impact.

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[Grayhound]

Sounds like something came out of spec when you hit the pothole.

Chances are that everything came back to the way it should be. However your error won't clear on its own until it has enough cycles without the error. Then it clear itself.

Or you could get a code reader and see what exactly happened. Clear it and see if it comes back.

 

[Beedo]

Sounds like something came out of spec when you hit the pothole.

Chances are that everything came back to the way it should be. However your error won't clear on its own until it has enough cycles without the error. Then it clear itself.

Or you could get a code reader and see what exactly happened. Clear it and see if it comes back.

Actually bent my drag link

 

[Windshieldfarmer]

Geez…a pothole that takes out a Jeep is pretty significant. Seems like the city where this occurred should have some liability. Think what this would do to an econobox….

 

[Grayhound]

Wow that's a pothole!

 

[3TV]

The streets in the Dominican Republic sound like they deserve your attention when driving on them . Good that you found the problem and it is readily fixable. Maybe consider replacement with a stronger aftermarket version. MetalCloak makes a good one.

 

[mwilk012]

A bent drag link isn’t going to disable power steering. It would have to be physically binding for it to have that effect.

 

[58Willys]

Disconnect battery power(both if you have an aux battery), for 15 minutes; see if it will reset.

 

[Beedo]

The streets in the Dominican Republic sound like they deserve your attention when driving on them . Good that you found the problem and it is readily fixable. Maybe consider replacement with a stronger aftermarket version. MetalCloak makes a good one.

They dooo, and city will NOT take any responsibility for any of it

 

[Beedo]

Wow that's a pothole!

Do you think replacing the drag link would solve the power steering issue or you think something else broke too with the impact?

 

[Grayhound]

I would start with the drag link and inspect everything as you go.

You may run across more damage. That being said once you're in spec it should keep giving an error

 

[watchluvr4ever1116]

Potholes suck! I live in Michigan where they can get pretty bad. I hit one a couple of years ago within a week of buying a new car, and it did almost $3000 in damage to my car. The messed up thing is I had full coverage, and Progressive screwed me over and wouldn’t pay the full bill. I was a progressive Diamond customer, with over 20 years with them and no previous claims. Switched insurance companies after that.

 

[Maverick909]

check the power steering revivor for fluid also look for the pressure sensor for the power steering and make sure it didnt disconnect. Replace the tie rod and get an alightment

 

[Beedo]

[SOLVED] So this is interesting.
As you may have read a giant pothole took my EPS, and “bent my drag link” (?). After driving the car with no power steering down the mountains for about 20 miles and getting home I took the car to the mechanic and he took a look at the engine bay and after 1 hour of looking around he told me to take it to an electronics mechanic, I even pointed out the drag link and he agreed it was a little bent but assured me that the EPS issue had no relation to this. At the electronics mechanic, after 2 hours of testing and stuff they found out I had mismatched connections out of my fuse box, the fixed it and I was only charged 70$.

if you go back to my old posts you would see I had already had problems with the Power Steering but it was “fixed” by me, and it’s curious how it came about again when I hut the pothole.

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