steering feels a bit odd??

[beemer]

Hi all - hope you can help (or at least put my mind at rest).

went out for a blast on saturday, car ('99 4.5) went like a dream.

got it out sunday for a 5 minute trip to take daughter to swimming lesson, and steering felt really odd.

Its as if the power steering is only working intermittently - at times normal, then really heavy with little or no self-centreing action. I've checked the PAS fluid level which looks OK - any suggestions?

cheers
sean

[gazzab]

UV joint in steering can go. Not that expensive to get repaired. Does the steering feel 'square'.

[beemer]

gazzab

by "square", do you mean heavy just off centre? can you describe how "square" feels?

cheers
sean

[gazzab]

Feels like power steering has failed at certain angles.
It is a year since mine went like that so cant quite remember the feeling.

[beemer]

sounds spot on - thanks.

not likely to part company imminently though, it it? need to get the car down to Andy at APM next Saturday anyway, so thought I'd wait til then.

can you remember what it cost to fix?

sean

[gazzab]

APM fixed mine - cant remember what it cost.

[dannylt]

Mine did this a while ago. Flushed through all the PAS fluid thoroughly and all was fine again! Guess it hadn't been done for a few years... try that first - definitely the cheapest option!

If you're unlucky, the PAS drive shaft has failed, though that tends to be somewhat permanently dead. VERY expensive fix if you do the standard engine out and jackshaft replacement, though Joolz has some tricks up his sleeve.

danny

[beemer]

thanks danny - fingers crossed its just the fluid or the UV joint. will get Andy at APM to look at it Saturday.

drove it into work again today just to check - definitely feels like PAS is not functioning, then felt normal for a couple of minutes, then heavy again. Could this happen if the drive shaft has failed?

cheers

sean

[daver]

Beemer,

I've got a '99 4.5 too and exactly the same thing happened to me. You'll have to excuse the crap explanation as to what the problem was, but it goes something like this: the power steering pump is a ZF part (I think) but in order to weight-up the steering a bit and avoid it feeling too light, TVR seemed to have modified the pump such that it had to work harder to force the fluid through a small hole. Some of the vanes on my pump had obviously been working a little bit too hard and fractured. Remedy: new pump.

You need to get this sorted out though. If the steering was permanently heavy it would be one thing, but if yours is like mine was, it'll be completely unpredictable and you won't know how much effort you're going to need to put in to get around the next corner...

Dave.

[monkeyjunky]

Had similar on mine a month or two ago and it turned out to be CV joint. The give away was that the steering allways seemed powered between certain points in the turn, not a random on/off. Also had the no feed back thing, could turn into a corner and let go of the wheel and the car would continue with the turn.

Cost 50 quid for the joint and 130 vat and labour (main dealer) fitting.

[beemer]

thanks guys - now I have 4 possible fixes!

sounds most like the CV joint - letting go of the wheel in a turn and continuing to turn is weird (aren't some old Citroens like this too?)

cheers
sean

[dannylt]

Nah - sounds like mine most, needing the PAS flushing through - this is *EXACTLY* what mine did, nothing specific about the lock, or timing or load, just random on/off, making any sort of limit driving too dodgy!

danyn

[beemer]

alright danny I bow to your infinite knowledge!!

as long as it's not the drive shaft, I'm not bothered

cheers
sean

[dannylt]

I'm sure I'll be proved wrong now! ;-) See if you can get a torch and shine it on the jackshaft? Front right of engine, bottom. Check it's all turning happily.

danny