Heavy steering.

J

johnpirie66

New Member
Hi folks, I have an 05 plate A2 tdi and of late, the steering has went very heavy. The car still drives, but un-assisted. Had it into my local garage and they ran a diagnostic, which showed nothing. Checked a few pages on YouTube and it was suggested the power steering fluid could be low; the fluid level is ok. Is it a common problem with them? Is the steering part electric/part mechanical? I've had the car just over a year and I love it. The shape of it, its unique build, running costs and it still looks way better than more modern super minis out there. What a clever little car, way ahead of its time. Has anyone had similar problems with the steering? I'd love to hear any comments, as I need to get to the bottom of it. Thanks for your time folks. John from Scotland.
 
It maybe your battery lowish voltage, or check the 40 amp fuse under the passenger foot well, white high current fuse.
 
Ami said:
It maybe your battery lowish voltage, or check the 40 amp fuse under the passenger foot well, white high current fuse.
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Thanks Ami; I'll contact my garage and advise him of this. Chances are he may not be aware of this. Thank you yet again. Best wishes and regards-John.
 
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johnpirie66 said:
Thanks Ami; I'll contact my garage and advise him of this. Chances are he may not be aware of this. Thank you yet again. Best wishes and regards-John.
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Welcome JP in EK!

Normally "proper" steering issues are heralded with the steering wheel error message which you don't seem to have - as mentioned above there is a big power fuse in the underfloor compartment that supplies power to the electric steering pump as well as the "normal" fuse 38 in the fusebox under the steering wheel that powers the steering controller that can blow due to a wide variety of causes (usually old sensors) and wipes out the steering as well as a number of other functions.

As suggested above as well, starting point usually is to check the steering fluid level in the reservoir accessed under the left-hand headlamp ; secondly also as noted above, the A2 is quite adept at "load shedding" when the power available from the alternator is insufficient to charge the battery and power any other big loads at the same time. Essential loads are preserved for safety reasons, whereas anything deemed "superfluous" is shut down to keep the main functions operable. This is usually evident (particularly in 1.4i cars with the 90A alternator) if the battery or alternator aren't in the best condition, which can become evident during a cold snap of weather in the early morning.
 
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Robin_Cox said:
Welcome JP in EK!

Normally "proper" steering issues are heralded with the steering wheel error message which you don't seem to have - as mentioned above there is a big power fuse in the underfloor compartment that supplies power to the electric steering pump as well as the "normal" fuse 38 in the fusebox under the steering wheel that powers the steering controller that can blow due to a wide variety of causes (usually old sensors) and wipes out the steering as well as a number of other functions.

As suggested above as well, starting point usually is to check the steering fluid level in the reservoir accessed under the left-hand headlamp ; secondly also as noted above, the A2 is quite adept at "load shedding" when the power available from the alternator is insufficient to charge the battery and power any other bit loads at the same time. Essential loads are preserved for safety reasons, whereas anything deemed "superfluous" is shut down to keep the main functions operable. This is usually evident (particularly in 1.4i cars with the 90A alternator) if the battery or alternator aren't in the best condition, which can become evident during a cold snap of weather in the early morning.
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Hi Robin, thanks for taking the time and adding further comment to this issue. I'll contact my garage tomorrow and show him these comments. Thanks again for all the comments. Best wishes and regards-John EK.
 
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johnpirie66 said:
Hi Robin, thanks for taking the time and adding further comment to this issue. I'll contact my garage tomorrow and show him these comments. Thanks again for all the comments. Best wishes and regards-John EK.
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Hi Robin, just a short post. I didn't mention it at the time, so apologies if this has relevance. Every time I start the car up and drive it, it makes a beeping noise and the centre of the screen where you normally see your mpg etc., is yellow with an image of a steering wheel and an exclamation mark. Thanks again for taking the time to get back to me. Regards-John.
 
johnpirie66 said:
Hi Robin, just a short post. I didn't mention it at the time, so apologies if this has relevance. Every time I start the car up and drive it, it makes a beeping noise and the centre of the screen where you normally see your mpg etc., is yellow with an image of a steering wheel and an exclamation mark. Thanks again for taking the time to get back to me. Regards-John.
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It sounds to me very much like a low battery voltage issue, try to measure the battery voltage, very rare have I seen the power steering pump fail.
 
johnpirie66 said:
Hi Robin, just a short post. I didn't mention it at the time, so apologies if this has relevance. Every time I start the car up and drive it, it makes a beeping noise and the centre of the screen where you normally see your mpg etc., is yellow with an image of a steering wheel and an exclamation mark. Thanks again for taking the time to get back to me. Regards-John.
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No problem - when my car had dead steering I availed myself of the assistance and advice of many here at A2oc, only fair to try to help!
Out of interest, what is the battery in your car? Although the number is dwindling, people are still finding an original-from-the-factory VARTA with an 8Z0 code printed on it from time to time, which after roughly 20 years could be needing to be replaced. I had 2 in my 3 cars, all of which needed to be replaced.

Yes, your above comment is definitely relevant, as suggested by @Ami above it definitely sounds like a low-voltage-related "inactivation" of the steering rather than an actual pump failure - as Ami mentions also, pump failures themselves are extremely rare.
 
As above, the only time I’ve ever seen experienced this issue was shortly after I purchased Tonka and changed the battery. Whilst driving down a particularly bumpy and undulating road, the steering went heavy and the same light came on. It transpired it not properly tightened up the battery terminal 😬

Let’s hope it’s a similarly simple fix for you.
 
Robin_Cox said:
No problem - when my car had dead steering I availed myself of the assistance and advice of many here at A2oc, only fair to try to help!
Out of interest, what is the battery in your car? Although the number is dwindling, people are still finding an original-from-the-factory VARTA with an 8Z0 code printed on it from time to time, which after roughly 20 years could be needing to be replaced. I had 2 in my 3 cars, all of which needed to be replaced.

Yes, your above comment is definitely relevant, as suggested by @Ami above it definitely sounds like a low-voltage-related "inactivation" of the steering rather than an actual pump failure - as Ami mentions also, pump failures themselves are extremely rare.
Click to expand...
Robin_Cox said:
No problem - when my car had dead steering I availed myself of the assistance and advice of many here at A2oc, only fair to try to help!
Out of interest, what is the battery in your car? Although the number is dwindling, people are still finding an original-from-the-factory VARTA with an 8Z0 code printed on it from time to time, which after roughly 20 years could be needing to be replaced. I had 2 in my 3 cars, all of which needed to be replaced.

Yes, your above comment is definitely relevant, as suggested by @Ami above it definitely sounds like a low-voltage-related "inactivation" of the steering rather than an actual pump failure - as Ami mentions also, pump failures themselves are extremely rare.
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Hi Robin, had a quick look in the boot tonight and both battery leads are tight. I'll try and upload the photos that I took of the battery. There is a date on the battery-08/12/2020 (manufacture date?) I started the car tonight and it spun over quick enough. It didn't seem that the battery was struggling, or under great load. The joy of cars, eh? Yet again, I really cant thank you all enough for taking the time to comment and offer your advice. Thank you Robin, thank you Ami and thank you Erling the younger.
 
Would be worth getting it scanned with vcds, your garage may only have a generic scan tool which will ignore a number of fault codes which vcds will report
The ‘clock spring’ behind the steering wheel. Could be at fault

Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
depronman said:
Would be worth getting it scanned with vcds, your garage may only have a generic scan tool which will ignore a number of fault codes which vcds will report
The ‘clock spring’ behind the steering wheel. Could be at fault

Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks for your comments Paul. Yeh, bit of a head scratcher this one. Best wishes mate.
 
The fuse for the power steering under the passenger floor has been carefully checked? The pump has the correct level of CHF fluid in the reservoir? The electrical plug on the pump is not corroded and all contacts and wires intact? Good battery and alternator working? At least 12.7 volts from the battery?

If those all check out then the VCDS scan really is needed as there are components in other systems of the car that need communication with the power steering and they may be at fault or the power steering pump itself faulty.
 
audifan said:
The fuse for the power steering under the passenger floor has been carefully checked? The pump has the correct level of CHF fluid in the reservoir? The electrical plug on the pump is not corroded and all contacts and wires intact? Good battery and alternator working? At least 12.7 volts from the battery?

If those all check out then the VCDS scan really is needed as there are components in other systems of the car that need communication with the power steering and they may be at fault or the power steering pump itself faulty.
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Thank you very much "Audifan" for taking the time to comment on this problem with my car; appreciate it. Everyone has been so helpful with their comments. I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of it. Watch this space.
 
Hi @johnpirie66 did you ever get to the bottom of the issue?
Mine is doing similar (without the steering wheel symbol) after being stood for roughly 3 weeks whilst I changed my front suspension.
All fine when I dismantled, took it for a test drive and heavy steering now.
Fuse 38 is fine, I haven't checked under the passenger floor or VCDSd it yet though. Battery was in good nic, but the cold weather could have taken its toll.

Al
 
The garage (not VAG experienced) says they think it might be the Support Pump under the PAS reservoir. Would a VCDS scan confirm this?
 
Pie-eyedpiper said:
The garage (not VAG experienced) says they think it might be the Support Pump under the PAS reservoir. Would a VCDS scan confirm this?
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Not necessarily. If the, (integral to the pump assembly), controller is faulty, yes, but pump itself, probably not. Good check would be measure the positive supply voltage at the big fuse, while an assistant moves the steering wheel. If the pump is working, or trying to, you'll see the volts drop as the pump draws lots of amps.
Mac
 
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