Hi all, noticed that my power steering seems ok on motorway and general driving but if i turn the wheels sharply then the power steering goes stiff, as if it stopped working, now is this common or is the pump on its way out, can the pump be serviced ????.

Just asking before it does pack up then i can source one before it does......

Thanks all

and a happy new year to all.

spevie

More likely to be the sensor. Has the steering wheel light come on on the dash? If you find it varying in power a bit, and at night you notice your headlights varying in strength a little - should be the PAS sensor. About £40-£50 new and easy enough to fit.... (coming from experience on my 2001 "Y" fabia in the last 4 months or so )

VAG com scan should confirm the sensor is on the way out.

Well not seen a wheel lit on the dash yet, also the head lights seem ok ?, it only seems to do it if you turn the wheel sharply, like doing a 3 point turn quickly.

I have a friend who has a garage and he has a laptop type thingy that checks for errors, will this pick up the fabia error codes, it picks up my astras codes.......

Need to reset the OIL flashing word every time i start the car, has been serviced by my mate but only starting flashing before xmas.....can this be done by hime or doeas this VAG COM stuff specific or can any garage do it if they have this laptop thingy that checks the codes.

Was ok this morning but just motorway use, just wondering if its gonna pack in....

Thanks

Spevie

Have the steering rack seals checked , they may be weeping slightly. The Fabia's power steering is electro/hydraulic , so it doesnt use a vast amount of fluid and when you loose some you start to notice! Your problem sounds like what happened to mine , I needed a new steering rack , which wasnt cheap , £677 in VAT , fitted , but the car would not pass an MOT without it , so I had to bite the bullet and do it!

Heres my original thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/fabia/power-steering-problem/58617/?highlight=power+steering+problem+fabia

i have a y reg fabia and the steering was becoming heavy and it turned out to the the steering rack which ended up costing £550 to replace have a look to see if the power steering fluid is leaking!

Where do i look for leaks on the power steering, not seen any patches on the floor, as i say this is the only thing thats wrong so far, noot really a problem yet as i only do motorway driving in this car, no need for sharp turns but to miss the odd a-hole on the road who dont care about other road users.

Spevie

PS, did someone say that the reservour? for the steering is under the battery ?

The pump and reservoir is indeed under the battery. The sensor is in the steering rack area, and threads through to plug into the pump.

Is this the month for all Y plated steering pumps to play up?

Our 81k combi has started to show the warning light this week. I have driven figure of 8's around a large car park and its only at the far end of each end of the rack that iut feels different in any way.

Does this sound like the pump or the sensor? Help !

When it was the rack , I didnt get any lights , I think It could be the sensor in your case , I think having your car's fault codes read by a VAG COM will reveal more.

Phew, thanks ... I'll gladly have your babies if this turns out to be correct!

Dave

The pump and reservoir is indeed under the battery. The sensor is in the steering rack area, and threads through to plug into the pump.

On my Y reg (8V mpi), one isn't supposed to take the battery out. I asked about this and someone said they had incurred much expense just from removing the battery - Eek!'. As garages can take them out, it's seemingly a case of "knowing things". Just thought I'd mention that.

Regards

Mo

my ones being a pain in the backside now! getting it looked at tomorow steering is overlyligth sometimes and no pas what so ever. must be the time of year skoda send a message to all fabias to break or something!:P:O

In that case I hope my car isnt listening.......

Hi, Mine is a 2001 1.9 tdi elegance estate and is having the headlight flicker and PAS warning light problem. It looks as if I will have to replace the sensor as described. can anyone refresh me in how to do it , I cant find the relevant thread. I also need to speak to ( and pay ) someone in the Bristol or Bath area ( I'll travel further to sort this out if necessary) with a VAG Com unit to sort out my radio/CD which is cutting out after an hour and failing to show any illumination ?. Apart from that all is well, at least for the time being. I have to admit that have let these problems run for the last 6 months as I was unable to get access to the Briskoda site on my computer!. I blame depression brought on by worrying about everything too much. Can someone help me sort these things out,please. Thanks in anticipation, Rich James

I've just done this on my Y plate combi comfort.

Sensor was £43 from hootiemcboob, and my local garage charged me £35 to fit it.

I stuck it up on the ramps, but the car was sat on my chest when I got to the sensor ... and I didn't fancy it much, so the garage fixed it.

I printed out StevRS's excellent description and gave it to the grease monkey.

I had this problem on our Fabia 1.9TDI. Y Reg. The steering would be heavy when the steering wheel is turned sharply at low speeds. This made parking and manouvering very tricky. Driving at higher speeds never gave an indication of a problem with the steering. firstly the dealer changed the battery as it seemed to fail the electronic test. This made no difference. Then the dealer changed the power steering hydraulic pump. This has completely fixed the problem on our car! costly though, the pump cost £400.00 just for the part.

Yup, it's 2001 PAS failure time!!

Mine was fine, no hint of a problem till sat morning when I started it and had no PAS and a lil light on the dash.

Skoda say it's the pump, so had to almost fight them to change sensour first,.. apparently thier read out says it's nothing to do with the "02" sensor?

They want

Well i removed the sensor, cleaned it up and checked the wires, all ok since then, mind you i did notice t'other week when i removed the under tray to fix MAF wire that the pump had white lettering on it, wonder if its been replaced allready???

still ok at the moment.

spevie

my 2001 16v fabia has flickering headlamps and sometimes the power steering gets heavier for a short time and then its ok, i dont get any warning lamps on but the light flicker is always there is this fault the sensor? thanks