On my 2014 Mazda 2 sport (1.5, manual), the power steering has quit working and numerous warning lights have tuned on (ABS, power steering, tire pressure, traction control). Dealer ran diagnostics, says it may be the instrument cluster. Dealer wants US$1000 parts and labor to replace, with no guarantee that that is the problem. If not, next steps would be the ECU and power steering motor. (Dealer probably wants to sell me a new car, but as far as I know his diagnosis is honest.)

I'm really frustrated, because I don't want to give up on the car (I like it), and I don't want to buy a new one. But also don't want to do $1000 repair with no guarantee it will be fixed.

I'm tempted to try to replace the instrument cluster myself with a used one from the internet. Getting to it and replacing it physically looks complicated but probably doable. But I'm confused about whether anyone other than a dealer could reprogram a new one. And then the ECU, if necessary. It actually looks easier.

Any advice? Anything at all?

Thanks.

 

I know this is an old thread. But it might be useful to anyone else who finds this thread. Check battery voltage and that battery is charging fine. On my brother's Ford it had a similar problem with warning lights and no power steering. This was because the battery was almost flat. Strangely it still had enough power to start the engine but the voltage was so low that everything else was playing up. We fixed the charging problem (which was the one way clutch in the alternator pulley had failed - not all cars have a clutch in the alternator pulley) and then everything was OK again. We didn't work this out straight away as we did not know that any alternator pulleys had one way clutches in them until we had made some wrong turns in trying fixing the problem.

 

Friend had this issue on a fiat punto. We disconnected the wires and the power steering pump, used contact cleaner to see if that would help, still same issue, no power steering and dash lights. Picked up a second hand unit, swapped the pumps over, all issues fixed.