Power Steering "fix"

[huwb]

Hi all,

 

I'm not sure if I've posted here before. I've been a member for a while but have luckily never had any major issues. Ours is a 2007 2.0 TDCi 6 speed manual with 50000 miles on the clock - we bought it new.

 

The power steering has been heavy when parking for about 2 weeks - to the point of losing assistance altogether at times (sticking). I assumed the electrohydraulic pump or rack had failed but on the advice of a friend I bought some fluid for a flush. My first surprise was that the fluid in the reservoir is orangey red (ATF?) but the fluid Ford list in the manual is green - as far as I'm aware the system has never been tinkered with so must have been that fluid from new.

 

I bought the green stuff and emptied the reservoir with a turkey baster. The filter is fixed in the reservoir so I took the inlet/outlet pipes off and has look at the filter - it was black and caked with gunge though the fluid was clear. It took half an hour with a toothbrush and bleach to clean it and I back flushed for good measure.

 

I let it dry for an hour on a radiator and refitted then filled the reservoir with green fluid. Immediately the steering is light when parking and no sticking - I assume the pump was sucking away under load when parking but to no avail though that blocked filter.

 

I am going to drain the reservoir again tonight (and every night this week) to serially flush the fluid as I can't be doing with the mess of flushing it properly.

 

Hope this helps and fingers crossed I don't come back with further steering issues.

 

Huw.

[junky]

Hi

How did you get on? Did you resolve your issues as we are having very similar problems.

[Sher]

The question is here what is the source of the crud in the filter.

 

I seem to remember reading somewhere about faulty seals in the rack?

 

My automatic 08 2.0 gets heavy at low speed. The Battery voltage on mine seems low and even when charged does not reach over 13.2V (Failing cell? 5 years old almost).  When I charged the battery for a few hours the problem went away for a time.

 

But no starting problems! Will investigate more when I return from sunny Spain. 

[huwb]

Quick update.  The cleaning and flushing appeared to work for a few months but over the winter the issue came back.  It now "pops" quite a lot when moving from a stationary position ie: not heavy once moving but seems to stick if it's not moving.  The fluid and filter are clean.  The problem is much less noticeable now that the ambient temperature is higher but I am expecting it to come back with a vengeance over the coming winter.  I have yet to check out the wiring to the pump but that's on my list of things to do.  There are no codes stored according to my Torque app but as it only reads the ECM perhaps that was optimistic.  My hope is that a sensor is failing rather than the pump or rack but time will tell.  I'm nervous of taking it to a dealer who just replaces expensive parts at random without due attention to any diagnostic process.

[bizw0z]

so what did you do to correct your popping??

[bizw0z]

Quick update.  The cleaning and flushing appeared to work for a few months but over the winter the issue came back.  It now "pops" quite a lot when moving from a stationary position ie: not heavy once moving but seems to stick if it's not moving.  The fluid and filter are clean.  The problem is much less noticeable now that the ambient temperature is higher but I am expecting it to come back with a vengeance over the coming winter.  I have yet to check out the wiring to the pump but that's on my list of things to do.  There are no codes stored according to my Torque app but as it only reads the ECM perhaps that was optimistic.  My hope is that a sensor is failing rather than the pump or rack but time will tell.  I'm nervous of taking it to a dealer who just replaces expensive parts at random without due attention to any diagnostic process.

I have done the same now. i have flushed the fluid through and replaced the old fluid with:

 

http://shop.autoparts-inverurie.co.uk/comma-multi-vehicle-automatic-transmission--power-steering-fluid---1l-2862-p.asp

 

and

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/281665368429?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&rlsatarget=&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

 

the system wasnt leaking but i had it lying around and it said it will improve the performance.

 

the end result was similar to yours. the steering is vastly improved. although it still pops, its very slight now and far less often. mainly after and extended time in a straight line (motorway or dual carriageway)

 

whereas before this, i really couldnt pin down where the fault was, im now 99.9% certain its the rack.

 

Im going to see how it goes and how it lasts, but more importantly, it gives me a little longer to shop aroung for a recon rack.