Power steering problems

[elegancefabia]

Hi there

I'm new to the forum and my wife's mark 1 Fabia 1.9TDI power steering light came on a couple of months ago. The power steering still works, but does get very heavy at parking speeds. I took it to Skoda who diagnosed faulty steering sensor(which they replaced) & they said the battery was also faulty as the fault code low battery voltage was indicated, so light still on. The battery is just over a year old and the car starts every time. I rang the battery supplier to discuss. They said check if there is a current drain. I put a meter In series with the battery and it was reading approx. 120ma. I then started pulling fuses one at a time & when I pulled fuse 43-central control unit, the current draw dropped to 20ma. I took it back to Skoda who then confirmed my diagnosis! but said the unit is behind the dashboard & want exactly £500 inc VAT? to replace the unit inc labour. I smell a rip off (unless this unit is very expensive) Is this unit easy to get at and if I bought it, would I need VAGCOM? to reset fault codes?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Regards

David Collins

[Corni]

I think 120mA is normal current draw. Mine does 110-120mA and I've never had any problems wit it. Might be if you wait half an hour or so all the computers go to sleep mode and current draw drops. It is probably faulty battery.

[elegancefabia]

Thanks for your help. We did consider trying this but we trusted what the battery supplier told us. it may be worth paying £70 ish for a decent VARTA or BOSCH battery and see what happens.

Thanks once again.

[elegancefabia]

Fitted the new VARTA battery this morning after charging it up yesterday. Started up the car, steering light still on! So that didn't fix it!

It's going to an auto electricians on Monday. Is it possible however, that due to the battery change there is a fault code now for the power steering which needs to be cleared?

[Phil-J]

Have you tried going from lock to lock after you fitted the battery?

[elegancefabia]

Yes I saw that in another post. It made no difference. I did it with the engine running? Was that correct?

Or should I disconnect battery, reconnect & then try lock to lock, no engine running?

[Steve Neate]

Have you checked the output of the alternator?

SN

[elegancefabia]

Hi there. Battery is receiving approx. 14.2v when running, so battery is being charged. I've checked the bat voltage tonight-it's 12.8v. I will check it again in the morning, to see if any major current drain.

[elegancefabia]

Battery checked last night(engine off) 12.8v. Checked this morning(engine off) 12.73v, so minimal voltage loss.

Is it possible that the power steering light fault code just needs clearing?

[Phil-J]

Yeah, and the sensor may need a basic setting carrying out if the voltage has been so low that it lost the original adaption.

[elegancefabia]

Phil

Thanks for your help. Hopefully the auto electrician can do that.