Today i have noticed an occasional bout of heavy steering when turning the wheel....it can be as little as turning to avoid a pot hole to going round a corner.

my steering wheel goes heavy and and its as if there is something stopping the wheels turning...

the car has been serviced and MOT'd as recently as last week, tyre pressures are as they should be etc....

is this the first signs of my power steering giving up? or something else...?

Thanks in advance...

#1 contender = power steering angle sensor. Roughly a £50 part and bolts on to the bottom of the steering wheel and tells the PAS pump when you're turning the wheel. When it starts to get flaky these signals get all mangled so you get frequent bouts of heavy steering, then light. Eventually it will get bad enough the PAS will die altogether and the steering wheel light should come up on the dash.

A scan with vagcom now should bring up a fault something along the lines of "steering angle sensor, signal correlation error, intermittent" or something along those lines.

#1 contender = power steering angle sensor. Roughly a £50 part and bolts on to the bottom of the steering wheel and tells the PAS pump when you're turning the wheel. When it starts to get flaky these signals get all mangled so you get frequent bouts of heavy steering, then light. Eventually it will get bad enough the PAS will die altogether and the steering wheel light should come up on the dash.

A scan with vagcom now should bring up a fault something along the lines of "steering angle sensor, signal correlation error, intermittent" or something along those lines.

Thanks! that probably whats wrong with it....i presume this power steering angle sensor isnt something joe public can do....? it'll need to go to a garage...?

I experienced a similar situation when driving my wife's Fabia 1.4 TDI..

I noticed the PAS light was lit up, I was only going a short distance, however when I had to park the vehicle the power steering failed and I clouted the kerb because I was not expecting to have to maul the steering wheel with such great effort.

After shopping I started up, no light on the dash and drove home.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said that occassionally the light would come on, on start up and by switching off and re-starting the light would stay out.

Could this possibly be a poor battery connection as it only seems to happen on start up ?

DB.

I experienced a similar situation when driving my wife's Fabia 1.4 TDI..

I noticed the PAS light was lit up, I was only going a short distance, however when I had to park the vehicle the power steering failed and I clouted the kerb because I was not expecting to have to maul the steering wheel with such great effort.

After shopping I started up, no light on the dash and drove home.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said that occassionally the light would come on, on start up and by switching off and re-starting the light would stay out.

Could this possibly be a poor battery connection as it only seems to happen on start up ?

DB.

Everything seems to be in check with regards to fault lights etc. the PAS light hasnt ever been on, nor have any other warning lights. Ive never noticed this problem before, im hoping its not an expensive fix !!!! especially just after forking out for a service and MOT.....!!!!!!!!!

Was experiencing the same problem with my PAS light staying on, and occasional heavy steering for approx the last 3 months.

Over the weekend the battery was dead. RAC came out checked the battery over and confirmed it would need replacing. Replaced the battery and there is now no sign at all of the PAS light (except upon initial starting of the engine of course.)

So after a couple of days motoring, I think I can safely confirm in my case it is was not enough power to the PAS motor, hence the light occasionally coming on. I did mention the problem to the RAC man before the new battery was fitted and he said the light coming on could be due to insufficient power to the steering.

I experienced a similar situation when driving my wife's Fabia 1.4 TDI..

I noticed the PAS light was lit up, I was only going a short distance, however when I had to park the vehicle the power steering failed and I clouted the kerb because I was not expecting to have to maul the steering wheel with such great effort.

After shopping I started up, no light on the dash and drove home.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said that occassionally the light would come on, on start up and by switching off and re-starting the light would stay out.

Could this possibly be a poor battery connection as it only seems to happen on start up ?

DB.

My old ibiza would have the same problem where I started the car, drove about 200m with the PAS light on and heavy steering then would go back to normal. Would happen when cold and occasionally when it felt like it.

Is the PAS electromechanical on the Fabia? I.E no Powersteering fluid and just a motor to assist with the steering like the Octy II?

If so, i believe a poor battery could be a cause. I've no warnings/codes, but whilst turning the steering doing 3 point turns in winter i found the steering to go really heavy.

Now the weathers warmed up, its stopped doing so.

Just food for thought, although im now expecting people to say its Hydraulically assisted.

You could well be on to something there. My ibiza battery was on the blink when I sold it!

Check the simple items first.

My ibiza occasionaly had heavy steering but with no fault light.

Even though it had been serviced by the stealers each year - the power steering fluid was very low.

No signs of any leak anywhere so I just topped it up with slick 50 power steering fluid.

not had any more issues in two years.