Having more issues with the mongrel's steering. Not getting the light up and the P.A.S is working but when driving at night I can see the headlights dimming every now and then (same with glow of instrument panel) as if there is a big voltage drop. This usually coincides with the steering going light and sometimes even getting the odd feeling as if the steering wheel wants to move on its own. I assume the P.A.S pump is having little hissy fits and pushing more fluid than it needs to? Any ideas? Have yet to scan it with VCDS, but the rack is only around a year old, and the angle sensor is even newer....

Check the battery earth lead to inner wing first, and the large blade fuses on top of the battery for hairline cracks.

Jason as you run a boot mounted battery (like me now)and i 'm sure the problem is related to your battery. It's cold out there, you'll be loosing a bit of power through the long battery cable and how old is your battery? These factors could cause your problem.

I've just fitted a new 77ah Bosh 096 S5 and it's cleared up my PAS fault with the light coming on all the time.

Battery is relatively new and good & strong. No starting issues on cold morning aside from those caused by the extra large nozzles I have installed. The earthing is a good shout though. The fuses from on top of the battery are still in the engine bay so I shall endeavour to get that checked out.

PAS sensor?????...do you still have the old type fitted???? :wonder:

Had PAS issues (light coming on occasionally and heavy steering) with my son's standard Fabia I Classic back in June. Dealer had to convince me it was a battery fault. Had the local ATS fit a new battery and it's been problem free since.

TP

I have the "old" style rack where there is a long cable going from the angle sensor in the rack to the p.a.s pump. However my rack was replaced recently with a refurbed one from a motor factors and its never been really right since. I also have the p.a.s pump from a fabia vRS too, as I changed that whilst I had the opportunity.

My lights also dip and getting the light coming on first thing on a morning.

I suspect it is my battery that's not too cracking.

My lights also dip and getting the light coming on first thing on a morning.

I suspect it is my battery that's not too cracking.

I had this problem this morning! started fine later on though lol

Yeh. It happens about every 1 out of 4 start-ups on a morning. Give the wheel a jiggle and tickle then throttle then turn off and restart and it's fine.

Will see about getting the battery checked for free somewhere. We have been doing a lot of short trips in the car lately which probably isn't helping. It's getting a run tomorrow though.

What gauge cable are you running to the battery from up front? And also assume the earth is the same gauge?

Have you earthed the battery in the boot itself? (the most sensible location if the battery is there). If so might be worth double checking the connections. Ensure you have bare metal contact and any paint is removed.

Decent gauge wire would either be http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WELDING-CABLE-365A-50MM-RED-PER-MT-AMP-BATTERY-POWER-/350357088059?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item5192e8e73b or for a bit more http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WELDING-CABLE-500-AMP-70MM-RED-PER-METRE-NO-35MM-25MM-/120403414223?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c089a4ccf

The wiring for the power cable came from a chandlery in a nearby boatyard as I could find nothing in Halfords etc that was up to the job.... I don't know which earth cable is used, but its only about 20cm long as it comes off the earth terminal and terminates at one of the brackets clamping the battery down.

Forgive the resurrection of a 2 month old thread but this is the same problem i'm having and wondered if you'd got to the bottom of it yet?

I had the similar issues to those described above and stripped/cleaned the angle sensor last weekend, topped up the PAS fluid and fitted a new aux drive belt along with a visual check of the coil pack and new plugs and checking the PAS 40amp flat fuse on top of the fuse box. Where as the PAS pump used to be randomly active when the car was stationary if the wheel was at certain angles now it isn't so I think i've fixed one part of a multi part fault with the same end result. Now i'm just left with a large drop in rev's when in 1st/reverse that causes a voltage drop that triggers the PAS light to come on.

I can 'drive round' the issue by bringing the rev's up to say 2,000 but this isn't ideal, when driving at normal speeds I get the pulsing headlights and dash. I'll check the alternator/battery voltages this w/e and swap the battery out of the Leon but my initial ideas were voltage regulator, clutched tensioner wheel on the drive belt, the battery (it's a Bosch S4 but i'm not sure when it was changed and the previous owner only did 2k a year so it's probably not had the easiest of times). Apart from that i'm back to alternator or PAS angle sensor again but the sensor on the car has the metal band on the casing so I believe it's the revised part and combined with the improvement following a clean I don't think it's that. I'll give the earth points a good clean but i'd welcome any suggestions or feedback on how you all got on

From memory i'm getting over/under voltage on the airbag system and the usual PAS error(s) though i've not cleared the DTC's since doing the belt/cleaning the sensor :think: but i'll do that tonight.

Thanks

Alex

Mine's been fine since removing, and drying out the angle sensor and the housing from inside. I just know after a period of heavy rain the water will get back in there. I just wish I could find out where the water is getting in behind the angle sensor.... No logical way of it getting in there.

Thanks for the quick reply, that's not the answer I was hoping for if i'm honest as I was just beginning to have some faith in my angle sensor I'll dig out the multimeter and see what I can find, Rainworth seem to be the cheapest for angle sensors via ebay, Silbury (local dealer) made me pay retail for something the other day and I felt dirty and not in a good way! It seems Skoda dealers are a little less inclined to use the trade cash account for regular clients than Merc were but then again I was in most weeks!

Just a quick update, it looks like devonutopia was right (thanks btw), I got in the car last night and as soon as I started the engine the P/S pump was kicking in/out as though I was moving the wheel left/right fractionally except it was stationary. As my car's not got ESP/TC (it's a 2001 1.4mpi Classic) the p/n 6Q0423445 isn't correct for me. Thankfully Rainworth have the correct part in stock and are sending it out tonight, £139.99 less £42 surcharge so £97.99 delivered compared to Silbury who wanted £104.74+VAT with no mention of a surcharge and the usual 3 day wait.

I'll update this post with the correct p/n when it arrives on Monday and hopefully this will be my PAS issue sorted.

Just to update this, it was the angle sensor, fitted it weekend before last and it's been fine ever since. It's not a particularly hard job and for anyone doing the same job the only bit of info i'd add is you remove the connector on the PAS pump first and work it back as the sensor end is too large to fit the other way.

So did this fix the issue? ive just gone to a 2001 1.4 mpi fabia comfort spec what has been stored (not very well) for 18months, its been showing similar symptoms to yours Avalon.

Did you get the part number?

So did this fix the issue? ive just gone to a 2001 1.4 mpi fabia comfort spec what has been stored (not very well) for 18months, its been showing similar symptoms to yours Avalon.

Did you get the part number?

If its been stored its most likely the battery, can you check the battery voltage it should be around 14v(iirc) with the engine runnning?

check here for more symptoms / fixes http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/186217-fabia-power-steering-problems/

Also worth check what sensor it is, the newer ones are metal (silver) and green and are unlikely to be the cause of you problems.

I have a feeling it is the sensor, i just need the part number but as far as im aware there are two different types of sensor?

Rainworth supplied this part for my 2001 1.4 MPI. It's has the lead attached to the sensor which makes it a bit of a pain to thread between pump and rack. I too had the lights and dash illumination flickering, PAS light on and off unpredictably but power assistance felt pretty well OK. All good for the month since I fitted it and the steering just feels more stable/less noticeable.

GENUINE SKODA SEAT VW AUDI STEERING ANGLE SENSOR 6Q2423291AX

This sensor is for the earlier rack that has a single row of vanes it reads.

There is a later sensor which reads a double row of vanes and that has a plugable/un-plugable wire. 6Q0 423 445. The two are not interchangeable.

So did this fix the issue? ive just gone to a 2001 1.4 mpi fabia comfort spec what has been stored (not very well) for 18months, its been showing similar symptoms to yours Avalon.

Did you get the part number?

Totally fixed the issue for me