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Power steering problems!
Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 10:14 am
by ryanpg
was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this on their polo 6R it is a 1.2 polo petrol engine not a tsi , so at idle when i turn the steering it sort of drains the electrics, the exterior lights and the interior lights dim, when I put the aircon on setting 4 it dims the lights, lowering the windows at idle does the same. The steering has actually jammed on me a few times, it has sort of got worse over the year i have had it. When i press the brake at idle the engine sort of goes to cut out then saves it self. I have had it scanned but no codes came up, but It definitely sounds like an electric issue haha but was wondering if anyone else had this problem and how they resolved it etc. Thanks for anyone that helps in advance!
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 12:56 am
by Ricmondo
Sounds very much like an earthing problem. Check for tightness and or corrosion on earthing points. Check for damage on earthing straps.
I’m assuming you have checked alternator output and battery condition.
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:14 am
by RUM4MO
I'm guessing that your car does not have start/stop fitted, so it will not have a "good" stabilised 12V power supply under all conditions. All these cars with electro-hydraulic steering do make the lights dim a bit when at idle and you demand some steering response as the electric oil pump does take quite a chunk of current - so starts to pull the supply down a bit. Probably the same for when you request chilling as the engine speed will momentarily drop.
Engine revs taking a dive when you press the brake pedal, not so good, I wonder if it could be an air leak in the vac pipe from the inlet manifold to the brake servo, maybe one thing to check though it might not be significant if you leave the car for maybe a couple of hours - is the brake pedal still light to press the first time before starting the engine, if not then then the servo line one way valve could be passing in both directions which could be contributing to the sudden drop in engine revs initially when you press the brake pedal.
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:23 am
by iichel
wrt power steering:
Like RUM4MO says, the power steering is electrically powered and it takes quite a bit of energy from the alternator or battery.
It does sound like normal behaviour to me, but it's difficult to see the amount of dimming and stuff going on.
I'm not sure about the age of the car, but it wouldn't hurt to have a closer look at the state of the battery and the alternator.
Alternators do fail, since they wear a bit over time and anything more than 4 years of battery life is a gift.
A bad(-ish) alternator, alternator belt or battery could explain the lights dimming with the aircon on high setting.
Does it do the same when the rear window heater is enabled?
wrt brake issues:
I suspect a leak in the intake tract could be a good guess. The brake assistance is powered by the vacuum generated by the engine.
If the brake is firmly pressed, the vacuum drains and this could have an effect on the engine running.
All in all it's difficult to put a finger on it, but I hope with the great advice from the guys above you'll be able to narrow it down.
Or bring it to a garage for a closer inspection. I can tell you from first hand experience, driving with a (sudden) loss of power steering is not very pleasurable
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:38 am
by RUM4MO
iichel wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:23 am
wrt power steering: snip snip ------
---- I can tell you from first hand experience, driving with a (sudden) loss of power steering is not very pleasurable
My first car with power assisted steering was a 1991 Vauxhall Cav GSI 2000 16V 4X4, sold elsewhere as Opel Vectra GTE 4X4, a brilliant car, but for the first few days I owned it, it had a very nasty habit of the engine dieing as you slowed down when approaching a roundabout, now that was okay when you were still moving approaching the roundabout as you had time to restart the engine - but at a specific roundabout there was not much time to sort things out, that caught me out only once, trying to turn the steering when on a small roundabout - with one hand, while grabbing the ignition key with the other, certainly wakened me up! That happened as you might expect at "driving home from work" time, so everyone else was really hellbent on moving quickly and traffic was busy, all adds to the excitement!
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 9:26 am
by ryanpg
Ricmondo wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 12:56 am
Sounds very much like an earthing problem. Check for tightness and or corrosion on earthing points. Check for damage on earthing straps.
I’m assuming you have checked alternator output and battery condition.
Yeah I have checked both alternator and battery and both are working fine! but i haven't done one in while so it would be worth checking again! I immediately thought earth problem as well but I can't see anything wrong with the earths
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 9:41 am
by ryanpg
RUM4MO wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:14 am
I'm guessing that your car does not have start/stop fitted, so it will not have a "good" stabilised 12V power supply under all conditions. All these cars with electro-hydraulic steering do make the lights dim a bit when at idle and you demand some steering response as the electric oil pump does take quite a chunk of current - so starts to pull the supply down a bit. Probably the same for when you request chilling as the engine speed will momentarily drop.
Engine revs taking a dive when you press the brake pedal, not so good, I wonder if it could be an air leak in the vac pipe from the inlet manifold to the brake servo, maybe one thing to check though it might not be significant if you leave the car for maybe a couple of hours - is the brake pedal still light to press the first time before starting the engine, if not then then the servo line one way valve could be passing in both directions which could be contributing to the sudden drop in engine revs initially when you press the brake pedal.
No it doesn't have stop start, not that posh lol
alright okay thank you!
I will definitely have a look at that, I'm assuming I would I have to drive the car and then leave it for a couple of hours then test the brake. I will keep you updated!
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:01 am
by ryanpg
iichel wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:23 am
wrt power steering:
Like RUM4MO says, the power steering is electrically powered and it takes quite a bit of energy from the alternator or battery.
It does sound like normal behaviour to me, but it's difficult to see the amount of dimming and stuff going on.
I'm not sure about the age of the car, but it wouldn't hurt to have a closer look at the state of the battery and the alternator.
Alternators do fail, since they wear a bit over time and anything more than 4 years of battery life is a gift.
A bad(-ish) alternator, alternator belt or battery could explain the lights dimming with the aircon on high setting.
Does it do the same when the rear window heater is enabled?
wrt brake issues:
I suspect a leak in the intake tract could be a good guess. The brake assistance is powered by the vacuum generated by the engine.
If the brake is firmly pressed, the vacuum drains and this could have an effect on the engine running.
All in all it's difficult to put a finger on it, but I hope with the great advice from the guys above you'll be able to narrow it down.
Or bring it to a garage for a closer inspection. I can tell you from first hand experience, driving with a (sudden) loss of power steering is not very pleasurable
Its a 2012 so 6 years old, do you reckon that its normal for a car of it's age? I had a either a service or MOT and that was the last I had changed the battery like maybe 1 year ago because the guy who had sold it to me had apparently fitted the wrong battery to it. I will check again the output of the alternator and battery when I get the chance, to be honest I have never really noticed it do it when I put the rear window heater on, I have to double to check but never noticed it!
I will get someone to have a look as I'm not really sure about that sort of stuff and don't want to be messing with my brakes lol, yeah they really do know their stuff really helpful! haha luckily that hasn't happened to me yet!!
Re: Power steering problems!
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:04 am
by iichel
Excellent. If your battery and alternator turn out to be fine, it's just a normal thing for the lights to slightly dim when power steering is used.
At top power, it can draw up to 50 amps, to thats over 500W of electrical power. You might notice that on an idling engine and a relatively small battery.
It's not a thing to directly worry about, with a one-year old battery.