Peugeot 207 1.6 HDi Power Steering

[DHallworth]

Our 207 is a 1.6 HDi GT with the electric power steering. When we got it the steering was as light as a feather at standstill and got heavier as your speed increased.

When I drove the car on Friday night I noticed that the steering felt heavier then usual. I didn't think much of it other then I'll keep an eye on it and will have a look when I get time.

Cheryl was driving the car on Saturday afternoon and needed to go onto a full lock to get out of a carpark, she said that it felt like it lost it's power assistance at one point and that it was almost unsteerable. Apparently the power assistance was there one minute and going the next, almost like it was surging.

On this electric system there's no fluid or anything to check and the motor seems to be integral to the steering rack which is priced at almost £1500 from Peugeot.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to what might be worth checking?

Thanks in advance,

David.

[spider]

This is not uncommon, a few years ago I had a corsa with the same setup (manual rack and electric column) and that used to do it sometimes too. I seem to think the 107 / C1 has the same setup although I do not hear of those failing, at least I've not heard.

You could try disconnecting the battery (follow the correct procedure for this as its multiplexed) for a short time, an hour or so would do then see if there's any improvement.

[addo]

My first suspicion would be PSF1, especially if the diagnostics are generally not helpful.

[DHallworth]

Addo,

Am I being daft?

What is PSF1?

David.

[addo]

It's the bit breakers often mistakenly call a BSM - your underbonnet fuse and relay control box. They and their harness plugs are often tending to dodgy behaviour now.

The part is uncoded, and same on a wide variety of vehicles.

[DHallworth]

Had the car into the dealers today and they've confirmed that it needs a new steering rack.

A new rack from Peugeot is around £1400 and comes with a 12 month warranty.

I managed to pick up a second hand rack from a 35k mile car with a 6 month warranty on it for £121.20 delivered.

The big saving grace is that there is 8 days worth of the used car warranty remaining at the moment! The dealer have phoned the warranty company and they've approved the fitting of my second hand steering rack and they'll pay for labour and the part.

To say I'm please I checked the purchase receipt for the date is an understatement as I could of sworn we'd had it for more then 3 months!

The car is going to the dealer hopefully on Friday to get the part fitted.

David.

[citroenxm]

One up for the Reno here then.. Sarah has a 1.2 16v Clio (Not sure where the second set of 8valves are) and its an 05 with 120k on the clock. This car has "Electric" steering. The motor is NOT fitted on the rack, theres just a plug on the pinion. Still on original rack, with no issues..

Glad you got your sorted D... hope it lasts longer this time..

[DHallworth]

Well, upon stripping the 207 down today we got to the true cause of the problem.

Both front coil springs have snapped at the top loop which has left sharp bit gouging the strut top. As a result the steering rack has been working much harder then it needed to and has basically burnt out the motor.

I managed to get springs, shocks and strut tops for it today and got them to the dealer for fitting.

Annoyingly though the warranty company won't treat this as a separate claim because it was discovered during the replacement of the steering rack and as there's a £500 claim limit on the warranty there's no leeway to claim the extra.

Argh!

Beginning to wish we'd bought another Xantia now!

David.

[DHallworth]

Well,

2 coil springs, 2 shock absorbers, 2 strut top mounts, a steering rack and having the tracking done the car is totally transformed.

Total bill for the lot came to £848 as we didn't have time to do this one ourselves. Luckily the warranty company are covering £500 of this to have the steering rack replaced.

David.