Fabia VRS power steering vibration

[Fitzwilliam]

I’ve had my 2011 Fabia VRS for about 3 months now, overall I’m very happy with it.

Where I live just in front of my house I have a concreted area where I park my car, the area is quite small so getting the car parked involves a fair bit of full lock use at very low speed to get the car into and out of the space. I have noticed that in particular just after starting the engine and starting to manoeuvre the car, particularly in reverse that I get a lot of vibration/noise as I’m turning the steering towards full lock. Is this something other VRS users have noticed, i.e. it’s normal, or have I got a problem. In the diesel VRS I used to own I never remember having this problem. Does this mean there is a fault with the power steering ?

[Ootohere]

Something is not right and needs diagnosed and fixed.

[Fitzwilliam]

27 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

Something is not right and needs diagnosed and fixed.

Thanks, I thought so, good job that it’s still under the used car warranty until the end of the month.

[Fitzwilliam]

Took the car in to get the PAS checked this morning, needed fluid adding, about 0.5 litres, mechanic could not find any leaks which is puzzling. Feels totally different to drive now, much better. Will know what it is for future reference if the symptoms return, just hope it doesn’t mean the pump is on its way out, think they’re about £300 to replace.

[rum4mo]

More like rack leaking, did they pull off the bellows to check for fluid filling one or both up?

Probably not, just added fluid to see you out of the warranty period - nice?

"They all use fluid sir" if you get that answer it is not useful !

[Fitzwilliam]

9 hours ago, rum4mo said:

More like rack leaking, did they pull off the bellows to check for fluid filling one or both up?

Probably not, just added fluid to see you out of the warranty period - nice?

"They all use fluid sir" if you get that answer it is not useful !

No they didn’t check the steering rack bellows as far as I know, there was no comment about it using fluid, I realise that statement would have been total garbage. I’ll mention it when it goes to my mechanic for its next service in a couple of months time and I’ll get him to investigate it, I assume if the rack is where the leak is it’s down to worn seals which can be replaced ?

[rum4mo]

Hum, I’ve not heard of anyone just replacing rack end seals yet, so I’d guess it’s an exchange rack that would be needed if it’s leaking from there! All the more reason to get this proved/disproved to be the source of the fluid loss before the warranty is up!

[Fitzwilliam]

42 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

Hum, I’ve not heard of anyone just replacing rack end seals yet, so I’d guess it’s an exchange rack that would be needed if it’s leaking from there! All the more reason to get this proved/disproved to be the source of the fluid loss before the warranty is up!

Unfortunately it was the last day of the warranty today, just as well I got the fluid topped up at least.

Edited 26 April, 2019 by Fitzwilliam

[Fitzwilliam]

If the rack does need replacing at least they don’t cost an arm and a leg, listed on ebay for £344 delivered.

[rum4mo]

Enough for me!

[Fitzwilliam]

1 hour ago, rum4mo said:

Enough for me!

I found a firm on ebay called Autosteer Direct that do exchange reconditioned units for £119.95 delivered, they even pay the postage for the return of your old rack, 3 year guarantee too.

[rum4mo]

Can't you hold back a bit on replacing that steering rack as there are not many things more annoying than trading in a maybe fully functioning steering rack for a warranted rebuild that turns out to be a load of poo - and then needing to put a lot of effort and time into sorting that out with your supplier.

Now if when that rack proves that it is faulty anything is better than what you have.

[Fitzwilliam]

20 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

Can't you hold back a bit on replacing that steering rack as there are not many things more annoying than trading in a maybe fully functioning steering rack for a warranted rebuild that turns out to be a load of poo - and then needing to put a lot of effort and time into sorting that out with your supplier.

Now if when that rack proves that it is faulty anything is better than what you have.

I’ll wait a bit and see what happens, I know what to look out for if the fluid leak continues, I think the fluid level must have already been low when I got the car at the end of January as now it’s been replenished the steering is lighter now than its ever been in my usage. If the fluid level had never been topped up since the car was new, 8 years and 57000 miles ago, the leak may be very slow, so it could be quite a while until the symptoms return, I’m not rushing to spend money any sooner than necessary.

[Fitzwilliam]

Well as it turned out 5 months on, with increasing mileage the steering fluid leak just got worse and worse to the point of the leak showing on the ground noticeably where I park my car so I’ve had to have the rack replaced. 

Managed to pick up a recon rack from Steering Specialists Ltd who are based in Wakefield and who sell via ebay, paid £119.99 delivered. Surprisingly not done on an exchange basis. Unit delivered in 2 days. The rack appears to have been remanufactured to a high standard, basically looking just like brand new.

Got the car back from my mechanic this morning, cost for fitting including retracking/ wheel alignment £280, so a grand total of £400, I believe a new OEM rack main dealer fitted would probably have been well into 4 figures so I got off fairly light. Although the steering with the original rack was pretty good the “feel” with the replacement rack seems better.

Edited 26 September, 2019 by Fitzwilliam

[Fitzwilliam]

Having had my steering rack replacement in situ for nearly two months now I have to say the improvement over the old one has become more noticeable the more I drive it, I think there was rather more up with the original than just worn seals and fluid loss, I get the feeling that the rack/pinion teeth were pretty worn as well and there was probably some amount of play which had gone unnoticed , with the new rack the turn in is now so much sharper than before, it almost seems like the steering ratio has been made quicker, not sure if there was ever a change made to the ratio through the production run at all, anyhow the car has a much more chuckable go cart like quality now which really puts a smile on my face, helps take the sting out of how much it cost me.