Power Steering Woes

[james525]

2 weeks ago the power steering on my fiancee's 1.4 16v failed, but isn't showing any warning light. I had a quick scan online and then looked at it at the weekend and the fluid level was very low (below the dipstick) so I topped it up. It was reading almost perfectly in the middle and still is. Then when I tried to start it (the car had sat for a few days) I got the tick of a starter motor struggling. Another try soon after and there was nothing, the electrics entirely dead.

 

I read that power steering sometimes fails without a warning light when the battery is dying, so this lined up. Next week I got a new battery and the car sprang back to life with everything fine, except there's still no power steering (and no warning light).

 

I spoke to the local Skoda garage about getting a diagnostic - they're usually pretty helpful but they say I'll need to book it in and it'll be at least a couple of weeks.

 

Any ideas on what might be wrong? Could the battery failure be unrelated? I've started building a list of issues that can cause it to fail, but all the examples I've read about include various warning lights and I'm getting none.

 

Thanks.

[TMB]

Have you checked the fuse strips on top of the battery? Have a good look because they can develop hairline cracks. PAS fuse strip is position 3  (50 Amp). Or position 5 (05/2006 onwards).

 

Edited 7 November, 2017 by TMB

[brad1.8T]

Also corrosion where the wires go into the power steer

[mogwye]

It's worth undoing, cleaning and re-connecting the earth strap that goes from the battery to the LH front suspension turret close to the battery.

 

DB.

[fabdavrav]

Power steering sensor??  know to cause sudden loss of power steering....then it works..then it doesn't..

[james525]

Thanks for the suggestions, but nothing has helped yet. I've noticed when I open the reservoir after the car has been running there's a hiss of pressure releasing, which would indicate the pump is running?

[Red Studio]

I have sort of the reverse of the problem - the power steering works fine but the light sometimes comes on when starting from cold and goes out after 5 minutes or so. I checked the fluid too and it was a bit low but now sits just above the lower mark when cold. The car has just been MOTd and no leaks or steering faults found (light had gone out by then).

With the light on and a scanner plugged in I get no codes relating to steering either so does the steering pump sometimes not log faults?

(Battery seems healthy, I frequently get the engine management light on with code P1178 but don't think that's connected - O2 sensor, but all other lights behave as they should.)

[LB123]

To OP. Have another really really close look at the fuses on top of the battery. The flat grey metal strips are usually dull and oxidised and it can be very hard to detect that the power steering one has an almost invisible fracture. I would even go so far as to suggest you unbolt them, they are held with two 10mm nuts, to check them. It's a 'common' failure. The power steering takes big current.

[Red Studio]

I'd second looking closely at the fuses - our ABS one fractured in the summer and I missed it at first, it was almost imperceptible.

[RedOctaviavRS20]

My pump went faulty. Level was fine but would make the lights flickr and power steering light and abs and esp light comes on dash. Change the pump easy to do it can cause electrical problems. If the levels low it won’t bring a light on the dash. My fault was intermittent but it drained the battery