Power Steering Fault

[xavier]

Howdy all, been a while since I've been around, I suppose that could be testament to the better reliability with the MK3?

 

Should be in my sig, but it's a Mk3 2008 2.0tdci galaxy.

 

Anyway, driving into work the other day and power steering fault popped up. Thankfully I'd had my wheetabix and managed to make it the rest of the way and back home, but it's not a pleasurable experience and I was looking for some pointers for a fix. I've checked the fluid levels and that all looks ok. Fluid is clear in colour and up to the correct level.

 

Things I've read so-far that it could be :

 

- blocked filter in the power steering header tank

- faulty pump

- knackered steering rack

 

As a start I thought I'd clean out the header tank and replace the pump - then saw the price of a pump. So think new header tank could be first up as a starter, I figure it's worth a try. I've also read that even if I do get a new pump, it needs coded to the car. Is this something DIY'able? Anyone done this before?

 

Thanks in advance all, one disadvantage of the car's being more reliable I guess is less people to share their experiences!

 

 

[xavier]

Good to see the forum's back up and running again. I'm still no further forward with this. Tried changing the header tank and fluid but no dice. Next on the list is to get a garage to replace the rack with a refurbished one to see if that helps, though part of me wonders if I should just put it into the dealer and let them deal with it, no matter the cost.

[BrianH]

Its detecting something wrong - it should be possible to read the power steering system with diagnostics to find out what exactly is actually wrong. Not sure if Focom could do this, but would feel that would be worth a try? I've not got a MK3 to try it with to confirm if it works, but it may be worth either considering getting the dealer to do a code scan or seeing if you can do some diagnostics on it rather than throwing parts at it hoping it will fix it. You'd need something more capable than a standard obd reader which will only look at the engine (like the coverage VCDS has on the earlier vehicles).

[xavier]

I went out to try forscan again on it to see if there were any codes registered but she's been sitting for so long the battery was flat and needed charged.  From memory there wasn't anything useful either logged, or that the code reader could access.

[xavier]

The only code logged is U3000, had her booked in to ford last week but they cancelled on me. Hopefully get her in soon.

[xavier]

Car has been in to a Ford dealer who said the pump was gone. New (or maybe refurb - not sure) pump fitted, MOT'd for another year so we'll see how that goes. I'll post back if there are any further developments, but for now all seems to be working.

[xavier]

Three months down the line all the old noises are back, pump still working for now but I think it's on borrowed time.

[xavier]

Hello all,

 

Quick update from me in the hopes this helps someone out.

 

To recap, as per my last post, the noises had returned and I was concerned. I then experienced a momentary loss of power steering a few days later. I read that the problems are due to the seals in the steering rack breaking down and clogging the filter in the power steering fluid header tank. Figuring I'd try and get a few extra miles out the pump, and more for the experiment to be honest, I bought another power steering fluid bottle and changed this new one in for the old one on the car. Expecting not much difference I was rewarded with no grindy noises, and no power steering issues for around 1000 miles when the grindy noises came back. Queue another power steering bottle, and again, no sign of any issues for another 1000 or so miles. Now until recently, 1000 miles would take me around 6 months to do so shelling out £40 on flea-bay for a genuine ford part wouldn't have bothered me, but recently I find myself doing 2000 miles a month so buying 2 a month seems rather wasteful. So I tried cleaning the three or four I had by that point. And it worked! I now rotate the power steering bottles every 2 weeks, thoroughly cleaning and rinsing the old one and fitting a cleaned, reused one. So far, I've done 6000 miles following this technique and have had no pump failure as yet.

 

I understand that the proper way to fix the issue involves replacing the steering rack, but at 2K for a replacement people might be interested in a possible cheaper alternative, at least in the short term. I'll post instructions on changing and cleaning the bottles over the weekend.

[BrianH]

Good to know you sorted it, I think the forum has become somewhat deserted due to it not really working fully (posting replies can be a bit more of a challenge than it should be). Most of the same faces have gone over to the other site if your still having problems and getting no answer here.