Help no power steering

[Amraam]

Came back to car at work and wouldn't start, thought it was the battery so swapped. Got it started but now no power steering, can literally hardly turn the wheel. Awaiting flat bed to take me to the garage but what could I be looking at?

Sorry hands are really cold so can't the quickly on my phone lol

[Amraam]

No one?

[Ant21]

It's your alternator that's gone.
The PS works from this and if it's not providing any charge then you won't have steering.

[oilysean]

As above, get your multimeter out and do some voltage checks on the new battery with the car running. You want to see between 13.4 - 14.4 V ish.

[Amraam]

Alternator was fine. Jumped the car and instantly batt was reading 14.5v with the car running. Kill it and the battery died again. I think something has failed and is draining the battery. Maybe the relay built into the pump?

[oilysean]

sounds like you have got a parasitic drain on the battery. Only thing you can do is run the car up till that bat is charged, and then start yanking fuses to see when the drain goes away.

[Amraam]

sounds like you have got a parasitic drain on the battery. Only thing you can do is run the car up till that bat is charged, and then start yanking fuses to see when the drain goes away.

That's what I says thinking, but why would it cause the power steering to fail?

I did notice that upon leaving the car at the garage the rear plate light stayed on but I just put that down to the screwy electronics because of the flat battery. It was perfectly fine this morning then all of a sudden it's knackered.

[Amraam]

Bad news :/ Looks like PS pump and battery have failed. £630 + VAT and labour. No idea where I'm going to get just shy of a grand from. What could cause it to simply fail? They don't yet know if it's the pump or the control unit - I take it it couldn't just be a case of repairing the control unit?

[Amraam]

Any more thoughts?

[Amraam]

Guys please if anyone has any more ideas of what it could be. I really don't want to have to spend £700+ if I don't have to. Can the EPS's ECU or whatever it is be replaced separately or is it a single unit? I can't see how the pump failing would drain the battery. The electronic unit failing could however if it's stuck on even with the ignition turned off.

[Jessy]

Sound a right nightmare! Sorry I have no idea but hope you can get it sorted cheaply as possible. Keep us updated...

[craig_s]

Have you fitted a new battery?does the voltage hold at around 12v with the ignition off?

[Amraam]

Have you fitted a new battery?does the voltage hold at around 12v with the ignition off?

It's not the battery at fault. Nor is it the alternator. Dead battery was reading 14.5v with engine running. Something keeps draining it and the fact that the EPS is knackered tells me it's something electronic to do with the EPS. I'm just hoping I don't have to replace the whole thing.

[craig_s]

Help no power steering

Well what is it reading with the ignition off after having been run?

[Amraam]

Well what is it reading with the ignition off after having been run?

Dead as a dodo. The battery is goosed, but that's not what is killing the EPS. With it running at 14.5v surely the EPS would start running again? There is a short somewhere that has drained and killed the battery. The dead battery is a symptom, not the cause.

We left it running for about 20-30 mins and then shut it down. It would not start the car and didn't even have enough juice to get the radio etc on properly.