C4 Power Steering Quirk

[gosnoid72]

C4 2.0 VTS - 54 plate. When the engine is first started, regardless of how long the car has previously been previously running, the power steering does not kick in. Leave it ticking over at idle or with revs and it still does not kick in. Move off, either in neutral or under engine power and it then kicks in after a couple of seconds / a few metres. Turn the engine off and straight back on again and this is repeated, ad infinitum. Anyone come across this before?

[Gibbo2286]

On the C5 that happened when the battery was down, the starter took all the available power and the power steering was the first to switch out, start it up no power steering let the alternator do its job for a few minutes switch off and start it again and there's enough in the battery to let the pas work.
Check the battery condition.

[gosnoid72]

Thanks for the reply. I have tried charging the battery overnight and starting - no joy; leaving it ticking over for half an hour - no joy; running at 1500 RPM for 5 minutes - no joy. I can go on a 2 hour motorway drive, turn off, turn back on again and still it remains a problem!

[gosnoid72]

Update - after a Lexia scan I got this -

[GiveMeABreak]

Was this with or without the engine running when undertaking the diagnostic? It basically means the engine running signal has ceased whilst the vehicle is moving. As a safety feature the power steering ECU may then activate the power steering pump in backup mode if this is the case.

[gosnoid72]

Hi Marc,
This was without the engine running. Is there merit in doing another scan with it running?

[GiveMeABreak]

Ignore that error for now - it's diagnosing the power steering ECU without the engine running. so is not getting engine running data.

[gosnoid72]

Ahhh, I think I'll erase all of the messages and then run a full scan with the engine running and see what's left.

[gosnoid72]

Ran a scan with the engine running and still had the same message.