Power steering question

[Billathome65]

Citroen C3 LX 2002

I've seen online power steering issues on the C3 and the issue is known by Citroen and that they gave customers free replacement units should the issues arise but with a cut off of 80K?

I bought mine at 86K and only noticed an issue after heavy breaking one day the power steering just died however after leaving the car off for a while the power steering came back on.

At the time I thought it was an issue with the battery or a short and so replaced the battery and after doing that the car was OK for a few weeks so thought it was sorted but no. Ive since found out that the power steering is all electronic wtf and the only fix is to replace it?

As my car is an 02 I don't to waste cash on that if it is in fact something else causing the problem because as I say it did sort it for a short time after changing the battery.

Just spent £600 after timing belt snapped and £350 for a new clutch. The cars a brilliant car so want to keep it so any ideas to check before calling the power steering would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Billathome65]

Any ideas guys save replacing the PS

[Stickyfinger]

Have you had the pump checked ?..............intermittent problems like you describe are often electrical

[jaizan]

Have you had the pump checked ?..............intermittent problems like you describe are often electrical

I believe there is NO pump. If I'm not mistaken, the car has a pure electrical system, with a motor driving a worm gearbox to provide assistance torque.

I would crawl underneath. unplug every harness & spray connector cleaner on all of them. Then carefully reassemble. Also, follow the earth lead.
If that doesn't work, get a proper diagnostic code reader on it.

[Billathome65]

Cheers Jaizan that's what i was thinking thing is the clutch has just been replaced so am assuming the harness and earths would have been disconnected as the issue was there before and after i'm thinking maybe the PS is faulty but to fully identify this are there other cables to check that would not have been removed when clutch was done?

[GiveMeABreak]

Your Power Steering system on the TU3JP engine consists of an electric motor and torque sensor:

(3) Electric assistance motor supply.
(4) Signals from the torque sensor.
The power delivered to the electric assistance motor ( 5) depends on the following elements :
Vehicle speed &Torque applied to the steering wheel.

The electric power steering ECU is located behind the battery tray (regardless of engine type):
The electric power steering ECU is linked to the following connectors :
(6) Electric assistance motor supply Electric motor harness
(13) Electric power steering ECU supply
(14) Torque sensor signals and diagnostic information

So these are the connections you can check first. If you have checked the obvious, and have access to a lexia, there are some parameters that can be measured to aid in determining the problem, such as:
Vehicle speed - Value in km/h
Engine speed - Value in rpm
+APC - 0 = ignition+ not present. 1 = ignition+ present
Torque applied by the driver on the steering wheel - Value in Nm (Newton metres)
Measured current - Value in amps
Supply voltage - Value in Volts
Assistance - 0 = no power-assistance. 1 = power-assistance operational

[Billathome65]

Cheers for that Buddy will have a good check.

[Filberton]

If you have just had work done it is worth looking for accidental wiring damage. On my Pug, during a clutch change they nipped part of the wiring harness in the bell housing with similar results (but on lights). Every time the engine rocked (e.g. Braking, the lights flickered!)
Had similar on the 605 where a wire was left touching the exhaust giving intermittent electrical faults.

Mike

[Billathome65]

Issue was there before

[RichardW]

You'll need to get it on Diagbox, and hopefully catch some live data when it does it. It may be that it loses the torque signal or something.

[Drizzit]

Hi i have a problem with my power steering it happened a few days ago. I was driving down country lane and brushed up a kurb 2-5 my power steering light come on now my steering wheel is stiff when turning left and right. Av taken it to a local garage and nothing coming up on his diagnostic machine so were stumped

[GiveMeABreak]

That's very important information you have supplied. Officially, any knock to the wheels like kerbing it can damage the power steering mechanism itself - there may not be any obvious damage but the rack can be damaged internally. If it was an ABS / ESP fault I would suggest one of the ABS sensors has been knocked / damaged on the wheel, but an ESP / ANS sensor alone would not cause the steering assistance to be affected.

So it needs properly checking in case it has damaged the rack.

[Jay-Bruce]

Your Power Steering system on the TU3JP engine consists of an electric motor and torque sensor:





(3) Electric assistance motor supply.
(4) Signals from the torque sensor.
The power delivered to the electric assistance motor ( 5) depends on the following elements :
Vehicle speed &Torque applied to the steering wheel.

The electric power steering ECU is located behind the battery tray (regardless of engine type):
The electric power steering ECU is linked to the following connectors :
(6) Electric assistance motor supply Electric motor harness
(13) Electric power steering ECU supply
(14) Torque sensor signals and diagnostic information



So these are the connections you can check first. If you have checked the obvious, and have access to a lexia, there are some parameters that can be measured to aid in determining the problem, such as:
Vehicle speed - Value in km/h
Engine speed - Value in rpm
+APC - 0 = ignition+ not present. 1 = ignition+ present
Torque applied by the driver on the steering wheel - Value in Nm (Newton metres)
Measured current - Value in amps
Supply voltage - Value in Volts
Assistance - 0 = no power-assistance. 1 = power-assistance operational

Sorry to necro n old thread, but I was wondering if it's possible to obrain a replacement for the sensor without buying a full rack assembly, and or if it is possible to re-calibrate/zero the sensor?

[GiveMeABreak]

This is a different system to what you have on the X7 - the above was specifically for the C3 which has a completely different Power Steering system Jay.

[Jay-Bruce]

Hi Marc, I'm sorry for the confusion, I should have put a bit more information in my post...

I know this thread relates to a completely different system in a completely different vehicle, and that my C5 uses LDS fluid in a hydraulic power steering system whereas this thread pertains to a C3 with an all electric PAS system. But I've also got a Peugeot 1007 that I look after, which I believe uses the same system as this? And it's got an issue whereby it's gotfeather light steering one direction, and only light, rather than feather light steering the other direction. Having had a play with it a while ago I found that on full lock right its' recording 11.1nm torque, full lock to the left shows 8.9nm torque and rest is 1.1nm torque to the right. So that's why I'm asking about the torque sensor, I'd rather reset or replace the sensor than buy a used or refurbished rack.