Power Steering gone, very heavy steering, help!

[MK8]

Whilst driving round a bend ina carpark yesterday, got a wierd feeling, like a tyre had gone flat because of the noise, and my steering became very heavy. And since then, the power steering has completely gone and the whole feel of the car is very strange, the steering is very heavy, but heavier at random times.

sometimes i can hear the a very very quiet grinding (Sort of) noise at low speeds.

Can anyone tell me what it might be?? Im quite worried about it, today going into a side road the steernig beccame extremeley heavy and i completely over shot the corner into the the other lane! And ive got a 100 mile journey to do in the next couploe of days and dont want to make it worse.

The seering light is not on the dash, can anyone tell me what it is? power steering fluid???

Any help much aqppreciated, geting quite worried.

 

[Guinness]

shoudlnt be the pas fluid level if everything is good, think its under the battery anyway mate if you want to check. But never had to replace or heard of anyone replacing that fluid or well rather topping it up

 

[MK8]

Any ideas what to do?

Will the seat garage charge just to have a look?

 

[Nath.]

first thing is to check/top up the power steering fluid
if it needs topping up then you have a leak
the reservoir is under the battery with a green lid

 

[Guinness]

mate honestly I wouldnt like to be driving with failing power steering. Would take it to the garage asap but check the level if its crap then top it up and that shud get u 2 the garage find for a check over

 

[MK8]

Orite cheers for the resposes, dos the battery have to be removed to get access to the reservoir?

 

[Guinness]

depends on the size engine mate I think. My 1.2 you dont need to

 

[tommmineh]

I know the Fabias have an issue with the PAS sensor...

I wouldn't do a long journey with it tbh. Go get it checked out/scanned

 

[MK8]

cool thanks for the help, going to check the fluid and try and get it sorted today then

 

[MK8]

Checked the PAS fluid, and the reservoir was completely empty, took a litre to fill it up again...im guessing its a leak, ill check it out

 

[Guinness]

that wud be why then mate, I could udnerstand low being slightly normaly, but empty u can almost be certain there is a problem. But atleast toping it up should get u around ok

 

[MK8]

Is there any permanent damage that could be caused by the reservoir being empty? It'll be a while untill i can get it booked it tbh.

 

[Nath.]

let's hope not

the pump was prob running dry so I'll keep my fingers x'd for ya

when you can check all the power steering pipes/unions and fittings as you deffo have a leak

 

[rashcupra]

if the problem persists when fluid is topped up and the leak is sorted then the pas codes need clearing on diagnostics kit. Had a ibiza fr come into work the other day went over a tree and the pas lights and airbags went off needed the pas light resetting and the pump worked again

 

[MK8]

well after topping it up, after one or two seconds after turning the car on, the pas kickied in again. But that was yday eve, just cecked and its nearly empty again! Spoke to my dealer, he wasnt service, but 'guessed' the job as about £60-80. Going to check with my local mechaninc on the price.

RASHCUPRA: The PAS light hasnt come on the dash, do i still need to get the system resetted? If i do i'll have to take it to a dealer i guess.

Must be a quite large leak, its emptying quickly! I'll probably keep a bottle spare in my car whilst doing couple i have to over the next week

 

[rashcupra]

is there any fluid on your drive after you topped it up?? if light isnt on the dash then no resetting is not required

 

[MK8]

Ive tried to look but theres too much snow to tell! ill try and have a look though, when the snow melts away

 

[rashcupra]

ul beable to see it throu the snow or ontop of the snow could just be a lose pipe or something cheep fix so dont get too worryed at the mo

 

[MK8]

Ok, thanks a lot mate, will find out soon enough

 

[MK8]

Just an update, got a quote from the garage this evening, they want £600!! They say it needs a new steering rack?!? I never thought it could cost so much, I'm going to take it to a dealership and see what they say and also Inde-Tech. I hope its not the steering rack, is there any way to tell if you need a new steering rack. Apart form heavy steering, there was nothing else that seemed too obvious.