My wife drives a 2004 Chevy Malibu and for the past year has had issues with the power steering periodically going out while driving. It has primarily happened when making turns at lower speeds <45 MPH and a dashboard warning will flash power steering when it happens. The temporary fix has been to pull over, turn the car off and back on and it corrects itself, but when taken to mechanic nothing registers as wrong. Was not as serious of an issue when it happened at low speeds, but the other day it happened at freeway speed. Nobody seems to have a solution, including Chevrolet. Does anybody have any thoughts on a fix or should we be shopping for a different vehicle?
There was a campaign in Dec of 04- TSB number 04050A about power steering assist.
I See Chevy Has A 3 Page Service Bulletin, Written For Their Technicans, Pertaining To 2004 - 2006 (With 3.5L Engine) Malibu Power Steering Going Away, But It Talks About High RPM, Above 3500.
I don’t know if you’ve got the 3.5L. You didn’t say, and your problem is at low RPM, not high.
Anyhow, FWIW, the bulletin says the DIC will display a power steering message for the driver and it’s possible that the instrument panel and radio displays become erratic.
It’s caused when the system voltage exceeds 16 volts for one second and the system shuts down to protect it. A technician could find DTC (codes) C0900 and possibly B1325. These look like BCM (body) codes.
The voltage increase is caused by an interaction between the alternator and the ignition coil/module assembly and the fix is a new coil assembly and coil ground strap. I don’t know if the fix includes “revised” parts or not.
Was any of this mentioned ?
As I say, it doesn’t fit your problem because of the RPM issue, but I’m just wondering if another problem could cause the voltage spike and lead to a similar shut down of steering assist. I don’t know. I’m just throwing this out there. Has anybody done an electrical/charging system test ?
The bulletin is # 08-02-32-005
CSA
Thank you both for the information. I will look into these bulletins further.