Every time I want to start modding this car to my liking, something expensive breaks.

Long story short, weeks ago I brought it to a small local mechanic because something was squeaking when I was steering. It was just snowing recently so threw the car on the lift, took the wheels off, sprayed some degreaser stuff at the shocks, manually steered the wheels (by grabbing onto the brake disks) to work the degreaser stuff in, clean the salt out, rinse and repeat a few times. I think we also replaced some bushings? X shaped bushings, unsure what the part they attach to is called

Ever since I've had the yellow steering wheel light lit in the dash. Everything was fine so I said no biggie, when I have time I'll throw a tester on it, see what's up

Today that day forcibly came when the yellow light turned red, bomb ticking started playing in my speakers and the power steering completely went out. One arm workout later, I'm at the laptop guy and he's giving me these codes:

00573 Steering Torque Sensor (Implausible Signal)

00569 Current, Power Steering Motor (Upper Limit Exceeded)

He can't really tell exactly what they're about, telling me something about the steering rack? Call a steering rack shop, they give me a quote - over 500 USD, **** me! The car's worth like 2 grand.

So here I am, hoping someone more brilliant than me will say "that's exactly what I had" and save me from skipping another summer vacation.

Extra info: The issue is intermittent. Sometimes I start the car and it's gone, then after some driving the bomb starts ticking again and I'm going head on with the truck from the opposite lane because the lack of power steering caught me off guard. So it must be some wiring stuff right? Not the whole rack

What I'm thinking:

• Guy who did my suspension work few months ago dislodged some wire / sensor and it's now coming undone

• The car's had plenty... A LOT of electrical issues - central locking working only when it wants to, fuses killing themselves every few weeks, lights burning out, A/C working intermittently, so I'm thinking still something wiring related? Computer? Maybe bad ground?

• Whole steering rack needs replacing (please no)

Thanks lads

Check the fuses in front of battery. The strip ones. I think its 60 or 80 amp for Psteering. Look carefully for hairline cracks. Its sometimes difficult to see them. Sons Fabia ABS one was cracked and as car heated up it opened the crack and put on warning lights. When cool it was fine

8 hours ago, Alasdair1 said:

Check the fuses in front of battery.

All the fuses are intact, tried switching them around, issue persists

The yellow light appeared right as I gave it the first key after doing the suspension work. So I'm inclined to think it's something related to the actual rack. Hoping it's some plug, wiring or something like that

Hope so. Hopefully its just a damaged wire or pulled/dodgy connector.

Alasdair

Ended up replacing the steering rack with an used one for $160 in parts + $90 mechanic fee + $25 front alignment. However the issue isn't completely gone, I'm back to working power steering but yellow steering wheel light in the dash with the same 00573 error popping up shortly after deleting it (10-15 mins of driving). Tried reading steering values, tried doing the max left - max right steering technique, nothing works, so I'll end up returning the used steering rack and buying another. Headache.

Did read somewhere re resetting steering torque sensor and also steering angle sensor but I think it required VCDS. Not sure how to do it but someone on here may shed some light on it

Alasdair

Last update: The used steering rack was faulty too. Working, but with the persistent yellow error. Ended up getting another used rack and throwing it in. Error gone as soon as it was installed. I feel like the steering wheel is a bit heavier than it was before, but maybe I'm just tripping. Everything is working well, just had to pay for another alignment. A new steering rack is about double the price of the used one, although for just $150 I'm not sure if it was worth the hassle. Should have just bought new.