Can't turn steering wheel much

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 30 Mar 2006, 15:52

Hiya all,
It's me , the girl , again ! Battery got sorted , even the stereo got sorted but now i got a bigger problem.

I just went to collect my son and the steering wheel has become extremely stiff. Very hard to turn past 20degrees or so. It was awful trying to get round the roundabouts my wrist hurts so bad now. Also i noticed that the battery light was on .... i've absolutley no clue where to even start looking , does anyone have any ideas ?
PLEASE!!

Thanks
Sammy

Post by **RichardW** » 30 Mar 2006, 16:14

The auxiliary belt, which drives the alternator and power steering pump has fallen off. What car is this on? If it's a Xantia it is NOT safe to drive as there will be no brakes / suspension eventually. If it's a ZX or something then you will be able to drive it (carefully!) to the garage. Hopefully the belt has just broken, but it might be because one or other of the accessories has seized up - you need to get it to someone in the know to look at it

.

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 30 Mar 2006, 16:15

You have lost your auxilliary belt. The car will have no alternator (hence the battery light) and no power steering (hence the uber-stiff steering)

I'm assuming this is on a non-hydraulic car, as otherwise you would have no brakes or suspension either!

Get someone to have a look and not only fit a replacement, but see if there is any reason that the old one has gone. (it may have just snapped with old age.)

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 30 Mar 2006, 16:16

you beat me to it! Nice to note that we've basically said EXACTLY the same!

And looking at previous posts, it would appear that Sammy has a TD ZX.

So, yes, you can drive it to a garage to get it sorted. Do it soon though, as the battery is not being charged. Depending on it's condition you may only get a few more cold starts out of it before it dies.

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 30 Mar 2006, 16:25

omg i hope thats not expensive, thanks so much for getting back to me , i'll give them a call now and see
thanks guys

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 30 Mar 2006, 16:30

Anything more than £10 for the belt and 30 mins labour to fit will be a rip-off.

If the garage is any good they should charge about £25, and be able to just "pop it on" for you.

deian · Post by **deian** » 30 Mar 2006, 18:30

i wonder what happened to the old belt?

idea: maybe you or someone could get someone to pop open the bonnet to check that it's not floating about somewhere, that could be dangerous, and may cause damage to some other things... i.e water pipes, or sensor cables etc. but it would be quite obvious if you started the car, you'd here it rubbing or flipping about in the engine bay, just don't do it with the engine running!

maybe the belt has gone forever, stuck in a wet ditch, never mind, at least you'll have a new belt next time, it should last very long, and it gives peace of mind, i think mine will need changing soon

good luck

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 31 Mar 2006, 11:55

Hiya ... took it to the garage and a pulley has gone or something, the belt has snapped too they said, i can't afford to get it all fixed

going to be nearer £150.

mezuk04 · Post by **mezuk04** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:20

I would ring a couple of 'other' garages, tell them what the problem is and how much they will charge (roughly) if its around the £50 or less mark then take into them for a 'proper' quote to confirm...maybe a Citroen Specalist?

£150 compared to the £30 said on here....yikes!

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:20

Rip-off-alert!

There's only one pulley on a 1.9TD with 2 auxilliaries (PAS and Alt), usually referred to as the "lollipop" pulley, as it's bracket looks like a cornetto.

They almost never fail. I have about 3 in my garage, and every single one I've ever seen in a breakers has been in good order.

Any way you can get it to a different garage? One that isn't having a laugh. Whereabouts are you based? There may a garage nearby that someone can recommend.

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:44

you know where the belt goes round.....there are 3 wheels or pulleys? well the biggest one at the back is seized...i've just been out and checked. it won't move like the other two do, i guess that is what they are talking about.

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:51

That one won't move, because that's the engine! You were trying to turn the whole engine over by hand!

There should be the alternator, with a fairly small pulley, and a PAS pump: Smaller unit, with pipes going into it, but a bigger pulley. There's also a pulley that doesn't seem to be connected to anything. This is the tensioner.

4 wheels in total. Engine, PAS, Alternator and Tensioner.

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:53

corr you guys know your stuff, i'll go check the tensioner one, thanks

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 31 Mar 2006, 15:00

Nutkin333 wrote:you know where the belt goes round.....there are 3 wheels or pulleys? well the biggest one at the back is seized...i've just been out and checked. it won't move like the other two do, i guess that is what they are talking about.

There should be at least 4 pulleys in total for a car without air con. Crank pulley (which you shouldn't be able to turn by hand but will turn with the engine running, keep fingers away from this one). PAS/hydraulic pump, alternator and tensioner. I think the air con models have an idler too, as well as the air-con pulley, I'd have to check whether the non-air-con models have the idler or not.

I've had a tensioner become noisy but like FastandFurryous says, I've never heard of one siezing, just getting a bit noisy. They can be noisy for a very long time before they fail. A tensioner is about £30 + VAT and the belt is less than £10+VAT, so that £150 quote you've been presented with is £50 inc vat for parts, and another £100 for labour.

Check that all of the pulleys go around (except the crank) they should be smooth and quiet, if anything is rattly, scrapy or grindy it may want looking at further.

Nutkin333 · Post by **Nutkin333** » 31 Mar 2006, 15:26

yep i saw 4, the one nearest to the middle had a different groove pattern to the others, i guess this is the one thats a pain, i tried to turn it by hand but it wouldn't move , so thats two of them , the other one being the one on the engine. I went back out to start the car and oh my goodness i can't believe it, the bonnet won't open. Maybe i'm just not cut out to have a car