C3 Picasso Power Steering Failure

[GiveMeABreak]

Sorry to hear about that - but I could of told you Citroen new racks are mega expensive and you can do better with a refurb.

The C5 X7 are notoriously bad and rust at the pinion (my C5 had three!) the first 2 being Citroen original new racks and the last one I purchased from Autosteer Direct. They offer a faultless service and a few others on this Forum that suffered the same issues, so I would recommend you give them a call for a quote. Have your VIN ready in case they need it.

http://www.autosteerdirect.co.uk

[pagesy1958]

Thought I would update if anyone is interested. After lengthy but I have to say very friendly and courteous discussion with Citroen customer care and using evidence from this and other forums. Citroen have agreed to pay in full for the replacement of my steering rack. Nobody is more suprised than me but they were at pains to agree if it needs doing and there is a possibility the motor failing damaged the rack they consider it a safety first issue and want it done properly. The quote was £1880 which they are going to fund. I know I got my way in the end but even if I hadnt full marks to Citroen for listening ,debating and not fobbing me off even though it is a nearly 10 year old car. All being well it will be done in the next couple of weeks as the rack is on back order at this time. Im sure other factors are in play but in this instance Im obviously impressed with Citroen once again and take back all the swear words.

ps: thanks Marc and others for the recommendations, refurb would have been the route, I watched a you tube vid about 20 times and was ready to have a go. Thankfully not now

[GiveMeABreak]

Thanks for updating us - and I'm really pleased you had a result - sometimes it does pay to persist, but regardless a result for you and a few moths saved from escaping the wallet!

[markpickett]

power steering issue happened to me this weekend
cars 10th bday on 28/07 and have read that they will honour FOC repair for up to 10 years
have booked in for diags to be done this coming monday but trying to get info from citroen UK is getting no where
car only has 53,000 on the clock. they wont confirm if they will honour until the diags have been completed costing £108
i would like a idea of what their outcome will be if it is the known fault.
if they are going to say no due to a clause in T&C then i would prefer to take to another garage who can repair for half the cost.
not only that local garage will be a 2 mile drive, citroen is 6 miles and with no power steering it wont be a fun drive....

Anyone else had experience of their FOC policy with this??

have replaced the car battery and tried the 3 times on and off trick with the key to no avail

[GiveMeABreak]

The reason is because they will have a guided procedure to follow using the official diagnostics (something that another garage will very likely not have). They need this to generate a report for a claim against the manufacturer of the power steering system. So nobody can tell you the outcome of this until it is done.

If the fault is in line with a replacement, then they will be able to replace it for you free of charge if that is what they have indicated. I doubt whether it will be cheaper to go to another garage as you'll have the part to purchase, the fitting and configuration to pay for which will be a heck of a lot more than £108.

[tommyhmooney]

The Power Steering failed on my 2nd hand 2012 Citroen Picasso C3, on three occasions over the past 6 months, since I purchased it. In the first instance the failure lasted only seconds, as I was driving. The second happened, a few days later, when I started on a journey, but diverted to a local Garage when I found that the steering was almost jammed. The third time, yesterday, the break again lasted only for seconds. So far it has come right again on every occasion but I fear a permanent failure. What can be the reason for these breaks and what can be done to rectify them (as cheaply as possible, naturally) ?

[GiveMeABreak]

It really needs a diagnostic done to find what the issue is as it could be as simple as a weak vehicle battery (anything older than 5 years needs replacing ideally), or it could be a connection or an internal problem. Any codes, pop them up here with the VIN.