Xantia...Power Steering seizure!

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yardcrew
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Joined: 04 Nov 2002, 17:54
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Xantia...Power Steering seizure!

Post by yardcrew »

Hello all,
Here's a shiny new Xantia problem that occured the other day...I had just come off the motorway and was heading up the slip road when all of a sudden my steering wheel when totally stiff and the orange ignition/engine light flickered up on the dash. Luckily a sharp turn left brought it back to life and I carried on normally for the rest of the day (if a little cautiously).
I was wondering if this steering seizure has ever happened to anyone else before and what the cause may be?
It my be of interest that i had just had a couple of spheres re-gassed two days prior and a fuel filter replaced?
The car is a 1995 2.0 petrol VSX model.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Jay.
reffro
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Post by reffro »

Any chance your car was about to stall its engine. If the engine speed drops below 500rpm, the steering will get very heavy. The engine warning light makes me think your car had a little hiccup, almost stalled but recovered to work normally afterwards. My 94 VSX will do the same sometimes, though in my car, its due to the car not recovering to idle quickly enough, I always know when its having one of its turns as the steering becomes unbelievably heavy approaching a junction and coming to a stop.
As an aside it might also be a symptom of a Low LHM level, have you checked your levels since the sphere work.
yardcrew
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Post by yardcrew »

I did have some problems a few weeks ago in the revs department. I would start the car and it would idle ( a bit erratically), but as soon as i touched the accelerator it would drop revs suddenly, and then stall.
I had got stuck in heavy traffic and run out of petrol on the motorway a couple of days before and presumed the old fuel filter had been clogged up by that. It was due in to have the spheres gassed so I had the filter changed and an ECU check done at my local specialist, which threw up no problems. The filter change seems to have fixed the problem, or so I though until the hiccup the other day.
Thanks for the advice on the LHM, I will check it this afternoon.
wrinklet1
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Post by wrinklet1 »

I had a similar problem with my steering but it was intermittent. Did your steering come back on after a second or two? if it did, check your aux belt that drives your High pressure pump, it may be slack and check your alternator belt too. If they are okay, it could well be that your high pressure pump may be on its way out. That was the problem with mine. The suspension is supplied via the pump into a 'reserve tank' if you can call it that, the steering is supplied direct and therefore if the pump is failing the first signs are your steering feeling as though the steering lock has just engaged.
To replace the pump takes about 45 mins and is very easy, but also replace the accumalatore sphere as well unless its less than 12 months old as damage could have been done by the old pump.
I did mine and it was 100% after.
Good luck
Paul
nick
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Post by nick »

Loss of power steering is completely normal if the engine stalls, or almost stalls. It can be very unerving though. A friend of mine nearly drove his old Jag (over 2 tonnes) straight through a hedge when the engine stalled when cornering. It went straight from being so light you could steer with just your fingertips, to being so heavy he could barely steer at all using both hands and all the strength in both arms.
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