Go to the general tech section of this forum and read the sticky about it. There's more to it, and Mazda has issued a TSB to dealers. Follow the advice re avoidance because you may be in for a recurrence if you don't.
The problem is not confined to 2008 Mazdas, but is widespread among many makes of vehicles kitted with electro-hydraulic power steering systems.(EHPS or EHPAS).
If you have had a recoverable episode which doesn't repeat in the dealer's presence and he says the scanner doesn't show a problem, either he doesn't know how to use the scanner or he's lying. Once the light goes on, that fault in latched in the ECU memory and appears when scanned until the ECU is reset, so don't get brushed off this way either.
(The BMW Mini-Coopers had this problem, and the way BMW handled it was so appalling, and enraged so many owners that the BBC did an investigation and broadcast a documentary about it in the UK).

Another victim to PS failure.
 

So the power steering went out in my '08 2.3 yesterday. The dealership says the pump needs replaced and is on back-order and won't get it untill the middle of July.

The question I had is, have they done anything with the new parts they are putting on as replacements? Or am I going to hafta pay for it when the warranty ends and it goes out again?

From what I hear from the guy at the dealership and the people on here it seems like this is becoming a common thing, and Mazda better figure out what theyre doin.

The worst part about it is, they stuck me in an '09 PT Cruiser for the next month!:mad:

ive never heard of the pumps going out on any year other than the 07 and 08....no idea whats that about.

I dont understand your question really, are you talking about if they replace other components of the PS system?

My question is that, is Mazda trying to correct the situation since it is becoming a common problem?

The mechanic said that it was mainly the electric motor that was binding in my '08.

Very common: go to the general tech section of this forum; At the very top there's a sticky giving you some background and help on what helps to avoid recurrence.
Many auto makers using the Mazda type EHPS have been having the same type of problem. Mazda has issued a TSB to their dealers about this; you can possibly find a link to it on one of the other Mazda forums. (toronto or Ottawa I think).

Do you have the 08 or 08.5 model Mazda 3s.?

And I'm aware of how to look over and not abuse my power steering.

I am however, always getting on to my wife about holding the wheel when its all the way to one side or the other, she has gotten better.

well at least you got a pt cruiser... when my car was in the shop... i got no loaner and they said tough luck, find your own damn ride... even though its in my warranty info

Are these PS units Mazda products on Mazda engines or Ford products on Ford engines or some combo? On the "other " forum, this problem is posted too much to my liking. I have a MZ3s Touring 2.3 engine, that my son drives. Just got new in April 2009. Now I have to warn him of this defect. What are the warning signals that this is about to happen, if any..... This is DANGEROUS. I mean WTF. Is this what Mazda means by "Zoom-Zoom" - right into a wall!!!!!

You still have control of your car when the pump goes out, it's just hard to turn at low speeds.

As far as signs, mine just wen't out with no warning.

I've experienced this problem as well, however it lasted for a few minutes. PS went out for about 5 minutes. Turned off car to check the fluid, saw it was full, tried turning the steering wheel, and it was all good. Haven't had the problem since. Took the car to the dealership yesterday, and told me its a bad pump & hoses, they have an order in, hopefully i don't loose the pump again between now & then...... At least they are aware of the problem, and luckly it happened now, instead another 4000+ miles.... :)

The guy at the stealership told me the electric moter was binding on mine.
Even though I could still drive it they gave me a rental for the next month while I wait for the part that is on backorder.

looks like this is a 08 -09 phenomenon. Now I'm worried with my 08.5 MZ3 s with the 2.3 L engine...My son drives it exclusively... I will issue the warning to him to be on the lookout. At what mileage level have you guys experience this failure?

Maybe I missed it, but I don't believe there have been any reports of 2009 models having this problem. FWIW, my 2009 has nearly 17,000 miles on it and so far at least, no problems.

Mines around 30k

Power Steering Failure in 08 Mazda3
 

Dear All,

Another sufferer joins the team, I purchased a brand new 08 Mazda3 last April with less than 20K miles on the speedo. A month back, after grabbing a coffee from Tim Hortons, while reversing my car, the steering lcoked with the yellow hazard sign on the dash, couldnt move it. Franatically I called the Mazda service and the guy over there told me to switch off the engine and wait a while and then restart again!!!! I was wondering if Mazda took a leaf out of Bill gates to reboot it after a failure. I "rebooted" the car and it worked. Now friends, yesterday it happened again, guess where and when? :mad:when I was taking my graduate driving test in Ontario with the examiner sitting next to me. The steering froze not once but 4-5 times ,while parallel and reverse parking. Imagine the horror and embarasemnet I faced in front of the examiner, I was so tense:eek: and flustered that as expected I flunked the test , and down the drain my 75$.:mad: Fuming I drove the vehicle to my Mazda dealer and imagine, I was told that it will take 2 hours to check the car??? was it some kind of a joke? looking at this forum, I am sure , every Mazda dealer knows the problem so why this farce? As a matter of fact, my car was serviced by the dealer less than 3 weeks back? Though I have been given a rent a car, a suzuki by the dealership but the onus of insurance is on me.So more losses. I wonder if there are so many complaints, why doesnet Mazda recall back the vehicles and replace them with a brand new car for us. Your feedback is important, please let me know. Same like all of you, the pump is on back order and no one at the dealership knows when it will come?

with regards

vidya dhar
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada:mad:

they can't give everyone a new car who's had this problem, but they will replace the whole thing like in my case. They replaced the pump, the charger, and all the lines.

My Mazda 3 2008 power steering failed yesterday. The Mazda service department told me the date they have currently on new pumps is August 20th. They have 8 cars waiting to get fixed with the same problem.

ya so i have not had my 08.5 for a month now and they told me that it may be another few weeks before the power steering pumps come in....i have called the head office to let them know that this is a huge piss off as i bought that car for what it offers....the hatchback, the practicality. they put me in a Mazda 6 which is cool, but now i am paying more for gas because it has a 75 litre tank instead of the M3s 55litre tank, so i told them maybe they should compensate this.....they declined, also, Mazda only pays 35$ a day for a rental which is 100 kms a day or 1400kms a week.....that's not so bad, but the customer has to pay anything above....now that its summer and i have trips planned to go around and use the car i don't have, i may be hit with a bill for extra milage....that is bs...i called the head office and they said that Mazda is not responsible for my travelling plans....so now i have to cancel these plans because i am not going to pay for extra milage on my rental and now reading that i may not have my car till the end of august is pretty lame...i dunno what to do with this huge inconvenience but this whole paying for a car i don't have sucks, i went to the dealership to grab some cd's out of my car and there are three other M3s with the same problem there. not to mention my car is covered in birdcrap and filthy. anyways if any one else reads this and has the same problems lets hear them.

My dealership has been the opposite.
My rental is actually through Enterprise, my dealership does all their rentals through them because Enterprise buys from them.

So I don't get hit with extra charges.

Also I drove by my car the other day and it looks like they washed it.

some of you people have bad mazda car dealerships around you lol. I can't believe some of you didn't get a loaner car. And also to the people who have been without their car for a while, I can't believe they weren't willing to compensate you with your monthly payments or gas or something. When I had this problem I called mazda corporate and they offered to compensate me for my car payment. (were willing to pay at least half my payment, $430 a month)

Galpin Mazda here in Los Angeles footed the bill for my car, and even upgraded from a Mazda3 hatchbackl to a Mazda CX-7 when I told them I was going on a camping trip. It was awsome. I almost didn't miss my car at all.

THere was no limit on miles and only had to pay for gas.

I'm so sorry to hear that some of you had really bad expiriences with this.

Latest update on my wife's 3. Finally got it back on June 25th, was at the shop since April 24th. The dealer fixed the door dings, detailed the car, and turned the rotors before we got it back. Called Mazda corporate today to let them know that we received the car back and they offered to send us a check for two full car payments as that was the amount of time the car was in the shop. I am leaving this situation happy. My dealership and Mazda treated us right so we will be back.

My Mazda3 2008 is back on road
 

Dear All,

Reading all these posts about the Mazda3 2008 power steering pump failure and folks waiting for the pump since April 2009.I was worried :confused: but lo and behold, I got my car back with the new/repaired pump in less than 10 days. However there was more to it. I took it back on Saturday July 4th and only on Sunday when I drove it on highway, there was another surprise awaiting me. If I apply the brake on speed more than 50 kms/h the whole steering was shaking and wobbling so I took it back on wednesday July 8th and after 90 minutes, I was told that the brakes need servicing and I will have to shell 196 $ plus tax. I lost my head and after a lot of haggling, they agreed to do it free of cost but yes, I wasted 4 hours. Now it looks and works fine.....not ready for any road surprizes....and yes....i will have to sit for the G test again.

Good luck folks who are still waiting!!!!:)

Regards
Vidya Dhar

What things led you to notice issues with your power steering pump? When I am outside of my wifes 08 3 (2.0 I Touring Value) and when she is pulling out of the driveway, I tend to hear the pump when it is turning. Not sure if hearing the pump outside of the car is normal, just doesn't seem normal to me.

Go the Virgin 1's sticky near the top of the "general tech" section of this forum entitled "Premature Power Steering Failures in Late Model Mazdas".
I listed some does and don'ts to avoid pump problems. For the record, it is normal to hear a whine from the pump when it is under load; it is abnormal if the whine becomes an loud attention-grabbing issue.
You can do the medecine dropper test too. If the fluid is red and doesn't have an acrid smell, you're fine. If it's brown and has a burnt smell, you are not.

Has anybody heard if Mazda is doing anything to correct this problem?
I have emailed corporate 3 times now and the guy keeps giving me stupid answers that do not do me any good.

I emailed him again a minute ago, lets see what stupid ass answer he has now.

Mention "consumer protection laws", "class action suit", "lemon laws". and "magnusson act". Depending on your jurisdiction, you may be able to lawfully demand they buy back your car.
You should firdt check the laws specific to your jurisdiction as they pertain to "vices of design or manufacture."

I had this problem happen on my 2008 Mazda 3 driving into New York City. I was in traffic for about 2 hours when I noticed the Power Steering Light come on. Next thing I know...I loose all power steering. I went straight to the Car Dealership only for them to tell me that it will take about a week to see my car. So I decided to leave and when I started my car back up, the power steering turned on. Been running good since! I noticed this has been a problem happening more and more to other owners.

Thats what happens, it works every once in a while.
What it is, is the electric motor in the pump is binding, and every so often it will break loose and kick back in.

Take it to the dealership and get it fixed, on their expense not yours.

The only response I got back from Tim Kotlar at Mazda corporate, was that the problem is being looked at and they'll let us know if there is a recall.
Too political for me, I wanna know whats really going on.

This same thing happened to me 2 days ago when I was driving around Boston. I went to park in a lot and as I cut my wheel sure enough the PS warning light came on and I had no PS. I tried turning on/off my car many times within the first hour and it was still not coming on. I finally let it sit for about 3 hours and then the PS came back on. I immediately took it to the Mazda dealership in the morning after reading this thread and they changed the PS pump, lines, and gaskets all in a day. They said that this is becoming a common occurrence and they have a stockpile of parts now at the distribution center finally. So if this happens to you and you are under warranty. Take it down immediately, you shouldn't be without your car for more than a few days now. At least if you are within the Boston area.

I just brought my 2008 Mazda 3 in for service on the Power Steering. The power steering has shut off on me a few times already in the past 2 - 3 months. Mazda said I need a new pump and hose. Hope this fixes the problem. Its covered under warranty...thats a good thing :)

Great job Byers Mazda!!!!
 

My power steering failed on me while stuck in traffic coming home from work. I called first thing in the morning and they had a tow truck at my door in just over thirty minutes. By the time I was ready to leave work, they had the repair finished. They ended up using a "Oil Pump Service Kit" to replace the pipe(line) which is consistent with what people were saying about rust in the line. I checked my power steering fluid before handing my car in. There was an orang e color at the bottom of the reservoir which I assume was the rust people were talking about. Anyway, they did a great job turning it around so quickly. It was also covered under warrantee.

How would 'rust' form in the power steering system?

Curious, are all of these issues happening in the rust belt or in other places too? I haven't had any issues but things don't rust in Colorado like they do in other areas.

2007 Mazda 3 Power Steering Failure.
 

I am at 46,000 miles on my 2007 3. The power steering went out. I got out to check the fluid and it was fine. Got back in to crank it and the power steering was working again. Who knows for how long, though.

From this forum, it has become apparent to me that that has happened to enough people that MAZDA SHOULD ISSUE A RECALL.

Thoughts?

Just bring it in
 

Initially, I think people were having trouble getting the dealerships to fix the problem if it didn't exist by the time they brought it in, but that's not the case now. I had mine in earlier this year. Mazda probably should have issued a recall, but they took good care of me. I called and someone was there within 30 minutes to pick up my car and I picked it up later that day (and the problem seems to have been fixed).