Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

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Retired TD
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Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Good morning and hello to you all - my first post on this site so I hope that I am in the right section.

I have the following Citroen - Picasso C3 - 61 Plate - 52,000 milage on the clock. - Battery is under three years old.

I was driving in Portsmouth a few days ago travelling at the prescribed limit of 30mph, when all of a sudden the power steering failed on me, no warning lights just a straight fail, which for an 81 year old came as a big fright I can tell you.

I proceeded to stop in a safe place, switched off the ignition and checked under the bonnet and all around the car, nothing found out of place, no oil leaks and the Power Steering reservoir was showing its usual level, a total mystery as nothing like this has ever taken place before and the PAS light always goes out upon starting so I had no warning at all.

I have my regular servicing at my local garage, not Citroen I may add.

When I restarted the Picasso the PAS was working as normal so I continued my journey with no further issues.

I took the Picasso to my local garage where they checked the battery condition and power from the alternator and said that all was in order.
Battery Voltage Cold : 12.5V
Started and running : 14.58V

My Picasso will be 10 years old this December so I wonder if any member can give me their comments please and any advice.

Kindest regards

Robert Maitland
Last edited by Retired TD on 02 Nov 2021, 14:55, edited 2 times in total.
Pablo
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Pablo »

I believe these are operated by an electric motor. I bought my 10 pate C3 Pic 3 weeks ago and mine was changed prior to delivery as the mechanic said it was displaying an error light. He said the built in module usually is the problem.

They are on ebay at around £200 to £300 but I have no idea how reliable they are. Here in the Midlands apparently the trade all use a place called ACS Tamworth.
Retired TD
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Thank you Pablo for your comments they are appreciated. Your Picasso did give you warning that the motor was showing a fault which avoids experiencing the 'sudden failure' that we had on a dual carriageway during morning rush-hour.

Having never experiencing the PAS warning light coming on, or the PAS failing before in our almost 5 years of having owned this car, we are not entirely sure what our next move should be, whether to let Citroen give the car a diagnostic test at £126.00 or to take a chance which is like playing 'Russian Roulette' or bite the bullet and have the test.

Ours is on a 61 plate 'Dec 2011' which will soon be due is 10 year cover that apparently Citroen have on these models, so I am unsure if it expires on last day of November or December.

We have owned this Picasso since Dec 2016 and it has been a great little car, we bought it because it was like a Tardis and the views were great with no big pillars that causes blind-spots.

Hope all will be well in the future with your C3 Picasso.
Kind regards.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by NickNack »

I just had the same failure on my 62 plate C3 as well.
Got my Lexia out, checked it over, didn't know what else to do. A P0606 fault.
Got an auto electrician in to check, he narrowed it down to the ECU on the steering motor.

He was right.

Took it into Citroen dealer, they checked it for £89 and confirmed a fault.

They rang back to say due to it being less than 10 years old, they will do the repair for nothing.

It is a warranty re-call if under 10 years.

I missed one service due to Covid, but that didn't make a difference.

Might be wise to take it in to a Citroen dealer, get a check done and mention if it is covered.
Retired TD
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Many thanks for sharing your experience as it is the same failure that we experienced.

I spoke to Citroen and they want £126.00 to put the Picasso though a Diagnostic Test which seems rather steep, but it would be I think safer to get the car checked because the failure points to the same as what you experienced, and I most certainly do not want to experience that again at my age. (81)

Thank you once again NickNack for your time and concerns.

Stay safe.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by NickNack »

No problem.

I have to mention though, my fault was permanent. I tried the BSI reset trick but it did not clear.

Hopefully your fault will still be stored. £129 does seem steep, mine was £89 but I had to bite the bullet
and they had to be sure it was that fault because it is supposed to be a £1200 part.

It needed an MOT and a service, but the steering had to be fixed obviously.

Had the car 6 years, never missed a beat @ 30K miles.

Hope you get it sorted.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Many thanks NickNack for your update, and note that your Picasso gave you good service over the six years of ownership.

I have booked the Picasso into a Citroen Dealership for a Diagnostic check for next week.

I just cannot really afford this output but my safety and the safety of others outweigh the cost because I was only travelling at 30mph on a dual carriageway along side a transport bus when the power steering failed, and had a struggle to move over to the right as the transport bus was pulling out in-front of me out of his/her 'bus lane. I was very lucky as the driver was unaware of my problem, which brings me to think that when something like the power steering fails, you would think that the Hazards would automatically be deployed. just a thought as I could not take my hands off the wheel in a live lane to switch them on, not to worry lets hope that the cure to my problem will not be too expensive, I will give an update when the Tests have been carried out.

Kind regards, sorry about the long story but 'thats life' - Peace.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by GiveMeABreak »

A p0606 fault can be the Power steering ECU, battery, connectors or electrical harness.

@Robert: It may seem a bit expensive, because they have to undertake several tests to ascertain the problem and if by some chance they cover it, they will need to follow guided diagnostic procedures before they themselves can claim the cost back.

Best of luck sorting it out with them.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by NickNack »

Hence why I said what I said:

Got my Lexia out, checked it over, didn't know what else to do. A P0606 fault.
Got an auto electrician in to check, he narrowed it down to the ECU on the steering motor.

Narrowed it down being the operative word.

I did what I could up to this point and didn't know what else to do to isolate and pinpoint the fault.

The fault was classed as permanent, but I didn't know where it was being permanent as the diag unit never gave any definitive answer.

The auto-elec systematically went through each item on the car and concluded that the ECU on top of the steering motor was faulty.

Hence why I took it in for repair knowing that the ECU was the problem, also knowing that this was a recall and I would not be charged.

It's OK having all this diagnosis equipment, knowing what to do with it is a different story.

We are given here a "general" my steering came up as faulty without knowing the basic knowledge of what it is.
Therefore, the assumption of it being a recall fault could be unlikely , it could just be as simple as a loose connection.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by NickNack »

This is the page it came up with:
Attachments
PSF[1].jpg
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Well I can see straight away from that diagnostic screen that the supply voltage is way too low, assuming that readout is for the power steering motor itself. It's hard to tell from the portion of the display shown.

The electric power steering motor consumes a minimum of 0.8A with a voltage of 13.5 V when it is applying no assistance.
The electric power steering motor consumes a maximum of 90A with a voltage of 13.5 V when it is applying the maximum assistance.

So with 3V not a lot is going to be happening.

I've just checked and the 3.0 V reading is for the Electric Motor Supply Voltage, so it's way too low.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Many thanks to you both for your contributions re this problem.

Marc many thanks for your breakdown of the work required to pin point my problem as to why the cost of the Test to this Old Codger seem quite high, and the fact that it could be a difficult fault to find. My concern is that with there being no warning of the pending failure, and the fact that the dashboard warning light have never come on other than when the ignition is switched on, so I know that it is working, the engine was not labouring at 30mph, the battery was in good condition at the time and there was nothing in the roadway that I may just have run over, everything happened so quickly so all in all it appears to be perhaps a simple problem like possibly a loose connection could be the cause, which looks rather slim as I have been cautiously driving locally covering a few miles and all is normal, 'at the moment' until...

Next Wednesday I hope that the problem is found and we can move forward feeling much more safe on the roads.

Kind regards to all, I will be back.

Robert
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by GiveMeABreak »

They should find it easily enough, but I suspect they will just replace the ECU or the torque sensor or maybe even the whole thing.
C3 Pic PS.PNG
"a" Electric power steering ECU.
"b" Power steering electric motor.
"c" Torque sensor.
"d" Steering rack.
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Again many thanks for your valuable contribution to my Power Steering failure issue.

We will eagerly await Wednesdays Diagnostic Check by a Citroen Dealership.

Kind Regards

Robert
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Re: Citroen Picasso C3 - PAS Failure

Post by Retired TD »

Today was the day for our Picasso C3's Diagnostic check after the recent Power Steering failure that we had in Portsmouth City Centre.

We went to Yeomans Citroen in Fareham in Hampshire and left the car with them at 09:15 and at 10 am we were told the following;

Carried out diagnostic checks read fault code
Checked all connections and electrical feeds and traced to electrical power steering module
Fault required new module - Replaced module under Citroen Goodwill.

Yeomans fortunately had a module in stock and fitted it to the Picasso and called us at 2.:45pm to say the car was ready for collection, as you can imagine my wife and I were delighted with this result and only had to pay the £126 Diagnostic Check charge.

So we have a big thank you to FrenchCarForum and its members for the information that many kindly gave my wife and I. We now feel it was a small price to pay for our safety on the roads as there was no telling just when it may have failed again, and who know what may have happened.

Thank you all once again for 'just being here'. Kind Regards.
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