Hi there

bought a 2005 fabia from an approved dealer last year - still within the year's warranty period.

I'm getting the intermittent power steering problem which seems to be popular - every so often the orange light will come on for a few seconds and power steering will be lost. I've had a read of the various posts and seen the cheap and expensive problems that can cause this. However - I'm trying to diagnose the fault before spending any money!

The problem seems to happen at times either when going over speed bumps, or hitting a particularly large pot-hole. This kind of behaviour would suggest it's not the battery problem (haven't seen any light flickering anyway) - does anybody have any thoughts on what it might be?

Thanks in advance

Keith

Has the car logged any fault codes after the fault appears?

Hi, and thanks for replying.

haven't got as far as taking it in to get any diagnostics done. During a conversation with a workshop about this they suggested that fault codes wouldn't be recorded for this (although I suspect they were at it). Anything that can be checked visually before it gets taken in?

K

Hi, and thanks for replying.

haven't got as far as taking it in to get any diagnostics done. During a conversation with a workshop about this they suggested that fault codes wouldn't be recorded for this (although I suspect they were at it). Anything that can be checked visually before it gets taken in?

K

Sporadic faults gets are erased if fault doesn't reoccur after 50 starts of ignition. So a fault scan soon after a PAS light would be the best way forward. As the fault is occurring after mechanical shock I would suspect the steering angle sensor, or wiring at the PAS pump itself. The pump can draw 60 AMPS, so any corrosion on plugs etc can cause a failure.

I wouldn't rule out the battery either, as there could be a cell with a loose plate that will die when going over bumps. You could always use the rubber mallet approach with the aid of an assistant to watch the PAS light.

Thanks.

OK - so I'll have a look for corrosion/connection problems at the battery/sensor/pump (assuming I can get to them!). OTherwise might be a defunct sensor, yes?

like the rubber mallet suggestion - although this tends to be cropping up when taking speed bumps a bit too fast - so a large mallet might be required.

Thanks for the help.

Keith