Power Steering Failure on way home :eek:

Capt Doufos · 11 Jul 2006 at 22:34

I was on my way home this evening along my usual 10mile stretch of twisties. I had just completed an overtaking manouver, and as I went to turn into the next corner the steering was incredibly stiff. Needless to say it took me by suprise, all was was well though and didn't cause me any problems, apart from a couple of missed heartbeats. I dread to think what might have happened had it gone mid corner, especially as my driving is usually very spirited!

Anyway I had assumed the pump had failed as I heard no horrible noises. I drove home carefully as it wasn't very far, popped the bonnet and immeditley I could see the power steering / aircon belt wasn't there! I have no idea where it has gone and anyone who has an MX5 will know how much plastic guarding there is on the bottom of the engine.

At least it's a cheap £5 fix. Just means I have to use a bit more muscle the rest of the week. It's made even harder by the fact the tyres are 205's on there now!

Firestar_3x · 11 Jul 2006 at 22:38

Bad luck mate, i was expecting to be asked what was up, running low fluid in these can cause all sorts of problems and thats what i was going to say.

Please its only a cheap fix, i would hate to loose pressure mid corner since i usually throw the car quite hard (down the roads i know well).

paradigm · 11 Jul 2006 at 22:38

You got off lightly. My PAS went on my saxo VTR, caused me to stack it into a nice concrete post.

Fortunately new car, under warranty, citroen UK footed the bill for that one.

Capt Doufos · 11 Jul 2006 at 22:53

I think the belt had been replaced before. I don't think it snapped or I would have noticed, I think it must have just come loose.

I noticed a squeeky belt on the way to work, I was going to check it when I got back.... Maybe I should have done it at work, but belts squeek all the time!

Moral - Squeeky belt - CHECK IT!!!

Zip · 11 Jul 2006 at 22:56

Why not just get rid of it all together?
It will lighten the car and it wont ever have a chance to do it again

Its not like your car is a huge beast of a thing

iCraig · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:24

Zip said:
Why not just get rid of it all together?
It will lighten the car and it wont ever have a chance to do it again

Its not like your car is a huge beast of a thing

Remove the powersteering? :confused:

But why? He loses the luxury of easy steering at low speed for what? A little less weight and the off chance it might one day fail?

Zip · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:25

iCraig said:
Remove the powersteering?

But why? He loses the luxury of easy steering at low speed for what? A little less weight and the off chance it might one day fail?

And better feel and feed back while hes driving

Firestar_3x · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:26

Yea, no chance, you would need to change the rack at a guess, too much work and no point, the mx5 steering is the best and most direct whilst offering the most feedback i have ever used, its close to perfect imho.

Lopéz · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:29

paradigm said:
You got off lightly. My PAS went on my saxo VTR, caused me to stack it into a nice concrete post.

Fortunately new car, under warranty, citroen UK footed the bill for that one.

You can still steer without PAS though, how did you manage that? :confused:

Now if a CV joint locks mid corner, that can be fun.....

paradigm · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:33

Lopéz said:
You can still steer without PAS though, how did you manage that?

Now if a CV joint locks mid corner, that can be fun.....

Lets just say I was going a tad quick, and wasn't expecting the steering to be so slow and unresponsive!

Yeah you can still steer, but nowhere near as easily as with a car that doesnt have PAS to begin with.

It had actually failed twice before, and citroen said it was fixed :rolleyes:

Adz · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:34

Isn't it very bad for the PAS pump to drive with the belt off? A supposed Rolls Royce trained mechanic told me this but I'm beginning to learn that he often talks from his rectum

.

DRZ · 12 Jul 2006 at 00:57

paradigm said:
Lets just say I was going a tad quick, and wasn't expecting the steering to be so slow and unresponsive!

Yeah you can still steer, but nowhere near as easily as with a car that doesnt have PAS to begin with.

It had actually failed twice before, and citroen said it was fixed

Once you are rolling steering shouldnt be an issue, especially if you are mid corner, unless that corner is a chicane or something?

I can see how the transition might take you by suprise but its only a teeny bit harder than driving a car without power steering at all.

At least you managed to convince the people with the money that it was all their fault though

Firestar_3x · 12 Jul 2006 at 08:52

DRZ said:
Once you are rolling steering shouldnt be an issue.

I don't agree, the rack for a PAS car is tottally diff to a non PAS rack, when the pump / belt fails not only are you moving the rack but also the fluid in the rack, it feels totally diff to the non pas version.

paradigm · 12 Jul 2006 at 08:55

Firestar_3x said:
I don't agree, the rack for a PAS car is tottally diff to a non PAS rack, when the pump / belt fails not only are you moving the rack but also the fluid in the rack, it feels totally diff to the non pas version.

Precisely. Infact with the PAS failed, it was nigh-on impossible to get a decent amount of lock on anywhere near quickly.

And to DRZ, the corner was ~90º, and no I wasn't mid corner. Secondly, I did no "pursuading", they knew the car was at fault (was a common fault).

Mickey_D · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:27

It depends on the car whether a loss of PAS is critical or not.
My Jeep, it only came into play when parallel parking. Once the tyres were rolling the PAS didn't do anything except rob power. But Holy Hell you certainly noticed it trying to turn 38"X12.50"X16" off road tyres when not moving, though!!

My Oldsmobile Cutlass was almost impossible to turn the steering wheel when you lost PAS, even at 60mph. It was a two handed effort with a death grip just to control it enough to pull over. The truck is much the same way.

My wife's Neon, it gets a little tougher, but it's not like it's impossible.

My Yoda, it's hard to even tell with or without the PAS at any time.......

Capt Doufos · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:38

Driving without the MX5's PAS is hard work. If you accelerate out of a corner you have to put a lot of effort in, you get a lot of understeer, you can feel the centrifugal force building through the wheel. Most corners are fine, it's just 90 degree ones that require a lot of muscle.

However the Midget which obviously has no PAS is nothing like this, or was the 1.6 Mk1 MX5 with no PAS I test drove a few years back.

slap ed · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:46

paradigm said:
You got off lightly. My PAS went on my saxo VTR, caused me to stack it into a nice concrete post.

Fortunately new car, under warranty, citroen UK footed the bill for that one.

that must have been hard to convince them it was their fault and pay up !

paradigm · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:47

slap ed said:
that must have been hard to convince them it was their fault and pay up !

Read the ENTIRE thread and you will see it wasn't hard at all :rolleyes: