Hi all

concerns my wife's fabia silverline. I know that power steering light is an issue. However up to now not had any probs with the car (2002 model).

Car driven yesterday with no probs. Woke up this morning and it was freezing last night. When wife started the car and drove off to work she noticed dash light on and no power steering.

Any ideas of a fix. i'm wondering electrical fault/ battery seeing as it was so cold last night. hopefully not the pump.

thanks

andy

Edited 16 January, 201214 yr by Stirl-TDi

Without a code reader to scan the fault codes then we are staggering in the dark!........BUT

Check the metal bladed fuses in the top lid compartment or the battery box..check for hairlink cracks.

Check the PAS fluid level when cold.

Check that the stated capacity of the cars battery is 60Ah (printed on the top of the case) or more.......if it is less then DEFO a cause for concern.

I suspect the Silverline will be the 1.4 8v mpi engine. A weak battery is a common cause of power steering issues - AND - cold weather generally makes bad batteries more obvious. Did it sound like the motor was turning over slower?

More important than the AH rating for operating power steering, is the CCA rating (which dictates how much power the battery can supply, before the voltage drops to a certain level) but the ability of a battery to supply power is one of the things that deteriorates as a battery ages.

If looking into getting a new battery I would fit a bigger one than the standard. If the battery is the original it has done extremely well indeed. The original 063 battery is a bit small for a car with such a large amount of power consumers IMO. A 096 battery should fit, although I understand different battery boxes have been used over the years in the same models, so measuring the box up with a tape measure is a good idea.

I suspect the Silverline will be the 1.4 8v mpi engine. A weak battery is a common cause of power steering issues - AND - cold weather generally makes bad batteries more obvious. Did it sound like the motor was turning over slower?

More important than the AH rating for operating power steering, is the CCA rating (which dictates how much power the battery can supply, before the voltage drops to a certain level) but the ability of a battery to supply power is one of the things that deteriorates as a battery ages.

If looking into getting a new battery I would fit a bigger one than the standard. If the battery is the original it has done extremely well indeed. The original 063 battery is a bit small for a car with such a large amount of power consumers IMO. A 096 battery should fit, although I understand different battery boxes have been used over the years in the same models, so measuring the box up with a tape measure is a good idea.

Cheers for the response. Had a chance to look at it properly in my lunch hour. Fluids level was fine. Battery is the original one. I have fitted the 096, a bit of a snugg fit but its in and working. Light has reset itself and when started up no light appeared and power steering returned. Soon see in the morning as it looks loke we in for a cold night again in sheff.

As always thanks for the advice that this forum provides.

If it does it tomorrow morning, flick the throttle a couple a couple of times, switch off and start it up again. I've got 2 SDIs that do this when it's cold and both have decent batteries.

Pete, I've been doing exactly the same almost daily whenever its under 4° ish since I've owned my VRS (4yrs) then Monday I lost all power??

I cleaned up both battery terminals and both cable connections with emery paper and a wire brush, started it up again and not only was power back on but so far... the power steering has never faulted since???

Might be worth trying?

Edited 2 February, 201214 yr by ScottyMcloue

Ours does this about 1 out of 3 times starting from cold.

I put it down to our battery. Think it's getting a little old. The lights dim a fair bit when the wheel is turned.

Phil