Power steering problem A2, 1.4 TDI, 2001

Hi A2 people,

one day i had i power steering error message on the screen,
and it became stiff.
Looked for some independent specialist (cheaper then Audi).
Found 4 Rings - Dean seemed nice guy, they diagnosed (£90) - Power steering pump fault. He quoted £870 to fix.
Looked up the part, found it for £285 online.
Then looked for power steering specialists,
they agreed to replace the pump for £520 (part+labour+vat).
Now they have replaced it - power steering still does not work.
They say it might be wiring fault, need some mobile electrician
to find what is the cause. Or to take it to dealers, as they cant diagnose themselves.
I feel a bit lost, i said that will not pay unless they prove that my pump was faulty, i also asked them to bring the faulty part back too. Because they said that they have exchanged parts with supplier which tested my part and said it is faulty.
At the moment result is:
Waiting on their electrician quote.
Asked them to provide oficial report stating my part was faulty.

Should i trust the report that the part was faulty?
Should i ask Dean for any compensation?

It is all a bit chaotic but any ideas on the subject are welcome.
Thanks.

You need to know what fault code (s) they found from the diagnostic scan, as this will help identify what was/is wrong.

Also I believe that some time back, Skipton had problems with his power steering and it turned out to be a faulty wiring loom in the engine bay. It had rubbed / worn against the body and shorted the wiring.

John

I presume you have checked Fuse 38?

fuse blows, will ask to check wiring

yeah, 4 Rings said they`ve tryed the fuse and it blows out - sorry i dont really know what that means.
error code - i think it was on report, need to look it up.

it is a bit depressing when people who advertise themselves as power steering specialists, just do one job they`ve been asked to do - in my case change the pump and then say - we did not diagnose the fault, now get someone else to re-diagnose it and do the next job.. . like now they need electrician to see what is wrong and fix it.

anyone had any expirience with Dealers? is it worth going to them,
or they treat you similary?

i still try to calm myself i am saving some money
but the time.. i loose time and nerves too

Thanks for your words guys, appreciate it.
I will keep you in the loop of my story.

Skipton had problems with the wiring loom going to the steering pump. Post 9 of this thread shows the problem area - http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9095&highlight=power+steering+loom

Cheers Spike

sorry to hear about your experience

At least a vw/audi wouldn't have ripped you off in terms doing a rubbish diagnosis! I'm not joking really here either my experince of main dealers has only been spoiled by cost rather than anything else and they do have access to the wlak through faault diagnosis system. But they do like to replace a whole part or unit eg turbo rather than trying to clean /repair components
I would go so far as to say a lot of fault codes more often than not refer to a connection problem, a split hose etc even though they might be defined as faulty pump your garage has to find out what is making the pump faulty.
I think your experience shows the downside to independents but it seems evident from your posting that you were sceptical of four rings so that isa problem for their customer relations
I don't think it's worth your time and the aggravation trying to get anything back spend as much time researching good local gagrages and use them you'll end up trusting them and getting VFM
Car mechanics mag has a list of 'god' garages by region

should be 'good' on last line

it continues...

thanks for support, here is the update:

the electrician came, checked all the wiring, checked the pump.
His verdict was - pump is faulty, signal goes in but does not go out.
They have replaced it with another one - nothing works.
Now they say ECU needs re-programming, so this guy
will get some diagrams (i have no clue what that means, sys files i guess?) to re-programm the ECU. Waiting on it for 3 days now.

Meanwhile one of my friends who looked into the problem
said he found one guy with the same A2 model, same year and same problem and sympthoms who solved it in the end by replacing an alternator.

So i phoned the garage and told them about it, they say it is up to me to
decide if i want to replace the alternator, but they recomend re-programming the ECU first.

If you have anything to say please do... Battle is still on.

Hi I know it's an old post but did you fix this problem? I now have 2 pumps both not working and no power to the pump I think I need an electrical specialist.