Gents, bit of help please;

Other half's 90k PD100 Elegance has several (possibly linked) steering issues the steering does from VERY light to VERY heavy within a few seconds causing the Mrs a few problems (she's only a little dot zand cant drive it when the power assist goes off). Battery although 2006 appears fine, it starts on the button even at -9 !

On a previous PD100 I have cured this by getting the local garage to change the sensor, and I'm tempted to do this but an MOT last week said the steering rack was leaking fluid and needed a replacement costing mega bucks.

Now a leaking rack doesn't mean it's not working? The reservoir can be topped up every now and again to keep it working until funds allow a change.

My question - is our steering problem down to the sensor, or a lack of fluid in the reservoir?

This all arose out of the blue at MOT, no problems whatsoever beforehand - along with a mysterious drop in the coolant level which was just enough to set off the warning lights ... funny that??

I thought a leaking rack was an automatic MOT failure - I had a leaking rack on the 2004vRS and had it changed. Leaking racks appears to be a MAJOR issue with Fabias - along with all the other problems that this model sometimes has if you have a rogue car...

For reference, mine passed with a slightly leaking rack. The bloke clearly noticed it as he spent several minutes on that side, compared with a couple of seconds on the other.

I think it's how badly leaking that's the determining factor - you could see it dripping on mine, it appeared slowly over time.

To the OP - when mine was leaking originally, it was fine in terms of operation. I think went to get it fixed, whereby the garage left a clamp over the feed to the rack, which crippled the steering, and it weighed a ton (no assistance!). After removing this it was leaking more than before, but the power steering was always there as long as the level was kept up. I drove it to another garage and it was fine, only when the level dropped did I have issues. Although I guess if the leak is bad enough, there won't be enough of a seal to generate pressure for the rack to work.

For reference, mine passed with a slightly leaking rack. The bloke clearly noticed it as he spent several minutes on that side, compared with a couple of seconds on the other. I think it's how badly leaking that's the determining factor - you could see it dripping on mine, it appeared slowly over time.

The manual states as a reason for failure:

fluid leakage from a steering damper seal or gland to such an extent that it is clear that the seal or gland has failed

I'd have thought that since it isn't designed to leak fluid that ANY fluid leakage would be grounds for failing the car at an MOT? After all this is a once-a-year inspection and it could easily get worse very soon afterwards...

Hmmmm, not sure then. Either way, it was booked in elsewhere to be fixed the next week, just needed to renew the MoT (or let if fail) so I could legally drive it to the garage to get it fixed. The fact it passed surprised, but pleased me though.