Right seems like I've nailed the problem, but still got to sort it out, had a nagging feeling that this was a electrical problem due to the nature of the way the PAS has been cutting in and out, whilst braking, going down the gears or going over the odd bump in the road.

Got one of the lads to sit in the car and asked him to keep an eye on the Pass light whilst the car was running, no sooner had I reached into the engine bay and grabbed the wiring that runs down to the pump and gave it a wiggle that the lad called out that the PAS warning light had come on, so wiggled the wiring a little more and the light went out, repeated this a few times, with the same results, on, off, on off, looks like there are at least three earth wires heading down to the PAS pump area, one thinner one which maybe go's to the washer pump, then theres a intermediate one which seemed to throw the fault more so, then theres the heavier earth.

It now looks like I'm heading in the right direction, just got to figure out if the fault is at the plug terminals to the pump, or its a earthing issue, so its off with the bumper to access that part of the loom.

 

 

Good stuff. You're on your way to solving it by the looks of it

^ +1

 

It's easier to see through the foglight aperture on the Polo, so I've snapped and annotated this for you:

 

 

 

Seems like only the fattest earth you've found is relevant to the PAS, the only other one is  in the 3-way cable to the angle sender. All the wiring diagrams I've looked at seem to confirm. Could the moving of the wiring/external connectors be affecting the way the connectors connect internally to the PCB? In TMB's earlier photos, it  looks like some or all of the connections are like leaf-springs? Maybe? Gotta walk the dog now rather than double check that. Edit: nah, ignore that nonsense about leaf springs, I was looking at that all wrong.  

^ +1

 

It's easier to see through the foglight aperture on the Polo, so I've snapped and annotated this for you:

 

 

 

Seems like only the fattest earth you've found is relevant to the PAS, the only other one is  in the 3-way cable to the angle sender. All the wiring diagrams I've looked at seem to confirm. Could the moving of the wiring/external connectors be affecting the way the connectors connect internally to the PCB? In TMB's earlier photos, it  looks like some or all of the connections are like leaf-springs? Maybe? Gotta walk the dog now rather than double check that. Edit: nah, ignore that nonsense about leaf springs, I was looking at that all wrong.

With the bumper removed, I should be able to determine just where the brake down in communication is taking place, more wiggle testing, hopefully should not take to long to sort out, as I'm nearly out of hair to loose, bumper comes off pretty easy, just need some one to keep a eye on the warning light.

One thing I have noticed, that I'm not to keen on, is the fact that they have not been very liberal with the wiring to the plug in points on and around the engine and other points, this can lead to stress under vibration, when all that was needed was that little extra, but then I guess they have to penny pinch where they can, can't comment on Polos though.

No need to remove bumper, just engine tray, and or wheel arch liner lower bolts to push liner out of the way...............or look through the fog light area

Having "tight lines" does seem to be a VAG way of doing things across the marques, though I can only confirm that it is the same with Polo and Ibiza!

How is it going?