Steering problem

[Skinneroo]

Anyone noticed a vague feeling in the steering when driving on a motorway or dual carriageway?

It's like a feeling of, for want of a better word,notchiness , when the steering wheel is moved slightly either side of centre.

 

Car is a 2016 Monte with 14k miles

 

Thanks

 

[rum4mo]

With these small cars having electric steering, ie Polo/Ibiza/Fabia, I have read about this in the past, exactly as you have described it - my wife’s 2015 Polo has not, so far had this problem.

 

Edit:- maybe use the search function in this section of this forum.

Edited 17 March, 2019 by rum4mo

[peter3197]

Mine does this, very difficult to demonstrate to the techs though.

[Garykelsey]

Same here mine does this it's only done 9k,all you get from skoda it's fine not to worry 

[KenONeill]

Well, I've never driven a Furbie, but I get the same sort of feeling from my Mum's Jazz (electro-hydraulic PAS). AFAICT it's because the electric motor only starts when the steering wheel goes off centre. (as an aside I had no similar issues with Citroens which used pressurised hydraulics as the base system rather than "saving fuel" by only pressurising the system when you made a steering input.)

[GeneralPurpose]

Make sure the tyre pressures are spot on too. If they go even a bit lower than the recommended book figure on these Monte's (such as on a very cold morning), you can notice the steering lag in the middle of the steering range. It's actually almost considered normal on many makes of car with front drive, lower profile tyres running on 16" wheels or above, although it shouldn't be so bad that it troubles youi. If it is then it can also mean the tracking is off slightly, that's leaving aside other possible more serious causes.

Edited 25 March, 2019 by Estate Man

[CWARD]

As Ken said. It’s only a tiny delay m/s and not a fault but now your brain has tuned into the lag it’s more noticeable. 

[Skinneroo]

On 25/03/2019 at 21:32, CWARD said:

As Ken said. It’s only a tiny delay m/s and not a fault but now your brain has tuned into the lag it’s more noticeable. 

 

I think you may be right.

Been away this week and done a lot of driving, not really noticed it.

Yet did a journey a couple of weeks ago and it was the only thing that I could focus on and it seemed horrendous.

Thanks to all for input.

[Garykelsey]

Have taken the Monte back again to Skoda with this notchy steering problem,and after having a rather heated conversation with the service manager, a further investigation by one of there technicians discovered that there was a fault with the steering column.The technician told me it appears Skoda are aware of an electrical problem with the steering columns on some cars something to do with magnets in the mechanism.The franchise have now ordered a new steering column which will be fitted shortly.I will keep you updated on the result 

[FabiaGonzales]

15 hours ago, Garykelsey said:

Have taken the Monte back again to Skoda with this notchy steering problem,and after having a rather heated conversation with the service manager, a further investigation by one of there technicians discovered that there was a fault with the steering column.The technician told me it appears Skoda are aware of an electrical problem with the steering columns on some cars something to do with magnets in the mechanism.The franchise have now ordered a new steering column which will be fitted shortly.I will keep you updated on the result 

 

The way i usually go about something that's potentially going to cost for diagnosis is i pose it as a safety problem that way they will do a vehicle health check for free, anything steering, suspension, or engine related will likely be covered under that. They also let me take the car out with them as a passenger and then them drive to help faster pinpoint the issue. On another note if the steering feels "sticky" when trying to do small adjustments, and gives a small clunk (best tried when stationary) it's a possible steering rack issue.

My steering felt completely different once i took it in to a decent alignment place. At 20K miles i had the front tyres changed and alignment done by Tyremen (hull), it took them 3 tries to get it pretty much on (though the steering wheel was maybe 1-2 degrees off center, the car drove straight and didn't pull at all, having since moved to sheffield, i took my car to dexel, and they took half the time to do the tyre changes and alignment, and the alignment was absolutely spot on first time, not only that but it felt much sharper and much more responsive, i've no idea what on earth they did, but it transformed the feel of the steering! Felt like a new car!

[Garykelsey]

New complete steering column assembly fitted at Skoda and no more notchy steering issues 

[GeneralPurpose]

Gary, that's great! Thanks for posting back with the fix info.