Losing steering when braking 9N3

[SeamusHoward]

First off, I have an 06 plate polo, 1.4 petrol 80bhp variant.
Yesterday afternoon I was driving home from work, and when attempting to turn a bit of a sharp corner while on the brakes the steering went very stiff. Once I had passed the corner it seemed to be back to normal right up until I started to turn onto the front drive, when it went hard again until I was off the brakes.
I have since driven it to and home from work again and the steering it generally intermittent when driving, sometimes going slightly tougher and sometimes light, however whenever the brakes are applied hard it starts to go extremely stiff almost losing all power steering.

I’ve checked the battery voltage and it was 13.07v when not running and 14.30 when running so no trouble there, no lights on the dash, and I’m checking for codes tonight when I get home from work.

I have had a number of issues with the epc light coming on in the past month and had the brake switch code appear, and will be changing that switch tonight.

Any help will be appreciated as I would like to fix myself if possible.

Thanks

[Polo-Fiend]

First of all - NEVER brake whilst cornering. really bad practice and dangerous! Always brake before a corner and carry the speed through.

Secondly - I have no idea why your car is doing this but it would be a good start to post up what the codes (if any) are from the stored faults

[RUM4MO]

Nice posting there, I hope the OP appreciated it?

[Polo-Fiend]

Nice posting there, I hope the OP appreciated it?

Sorry to the OP - I didn't mean to sound brusque. It's just that braking whilst cornering is really bad practice and dangerous. I know - many years ago a friend who had recently passed her test took me out in her car and very nearly killed both of us by doing just that. Wrote off the car and we were lucky to get away with cuts and bruises.

And yes, if he can post the fault codes then it would be a start in helping him.

[wolfie]

Way way back 2002/3 ish when I had my 9N I had a similar problem, the steering would intermittently become very heavy in corners and on roundabouts, anything with significant steering lock (whether I was breaking or not) When I took it in it was apparently a known problem related to poor earthing on the electro-mechanical power steering pump.

It cost nothing just to have a little look at the earth points, check for corrosion and check everything is as tight as it should be. Likewise are the connectors to the pump in good order? Any signs of water ingress into the connectors.