Hello,

Iv had my fabia for less than a week, and this light has come on, i have searched through the forum

telling what it might be,

But it doesn't say if i can still drive with it on,

Will it do any harm?

thanks

That light is for the power steering. If the power steering has failed you can still drive but you will find the steering extremely heavy (far worse than an old un-assisted car). When ours failed my husband took the car to the local dealer two miles away, so it is possible but was very hard work at low speeds. Better make sure you eat your weetabix!!!!

Edited 25 February, 201016 yr by JulieD

ive had the light on in the cold weather and the steering was very heavy. Since then it would stay on while ignition was on, but turned off when engine was started. It ended up being power steering fluid leaking from the steering rack. Need to get steering rack replaced!!!

If the steerings not heavy, it could be battery related. Mine started doing something similar over christmas, but after the alternator had given it some juice for 3-4 minutes if i turned the car off and back on the light went. Also had returning abs lights for a split second after turning over.

In the end I just replaced the battery, been okay since. Not sure if this can also be caused by a low fluid level?

good luck!

Iv had my fabia for less than a week, and this light has come on, i have searched through the forum

telling what it might be,

But it doesn't say if i can still drive with it on,

If the Power steering fails completely, you'll not be able to drive the car. There is a known problem with all the VW's that share that Fabia MKI/Polo/Ibiza platform. The original power steering pump get's ingress into the electrics and fails and/or the power steering sensor in the steering rack fails. Another symptom is severely dipping headlights when you turn the steering wheel at idle with the engine running.

A sensor fault will cost you around £60 + Labour

A new pump will cost you in excess of £200 + Labour. If you get a new pump make sure it is the newer one, not the original part number that has the fault.

If you can drive the car I recommend that you book it in and get a diagnostic done.

If the steering fails when you are not expecting it then it can give you a scare (personal experience). I ran my Fabia SDi with a faulty sensor for several months with no problems before I got it replaced, but when the pump went it had to be sorted straight away.

Hope this helps,

Phil.

On 26/02/2010 at 01:15, Confused_Cheese said:

If the steerings not heavy, it could be battery related. Mine started doing something similar over christmas, but after the alternator had given it some juice for 3-4 minutes if i turned the car off and back on the light went. Also had returning abs lights for a split second after turning over.

In the end I just replaced the battery, been okay since. Not sure if this can also be caused by a low fluid level?

good luck!

 

So happy I saw your answer! I had the same issue… the battery was weakened by the cold whether. I could have lost significant time with this if i wouldn’t have read this… Thanks!

Edited 13 January, 20251 yr by CatalinG