Re: Power Steering Fault
Hi
Just thought I would give all of you GP owners with questions about the power steering system the benefit of my experience.
I run a power steering remanufacturing company, we have been repairing the EPS system on old style mk2/3 puntos for many years, as they have a long history of power steering failure.
Up to about 12 months ago we had only a few GP's with EPS failure , but in the last 12 months we have been doing more and more, currently 10-15 a week.
The system used on the GP is a Delphi system, it is a modular system that is very similar to the one used on 500's , Panda's ,Vauxhall Meriva, to name but a few.
90% of the failures are due to the torque position sensor ,usually leading to a groan or vibration when steering and also the steering going light on one lock and heavy on the other and even if the unit is re-calibrated it does not cure the fault.It looks as though the sensors have about a 5 year life span although this is dependant on the type of use the vehicle gets.
The sensor is inbuilt into the centre of the EPS unit and can only be changed when the column is stripped down and is one of the components that we have to renew when we rebuild the column, the torque position sensor then has to be calibrated to the steering ECU so that you get equal assistance on both left and right lock and also knows where the centre point of the steering is.
The motor and ecu are all part of the EPS unit on GP's rather than the individual components that were used on mk2/3 punto's and do not fail very often on GP's, although we have seen a few.
We do supply reconditioned columns for the GP and also fit them in the workshop and if you need any advice on EPS problems we are always happy to help.
Gary
www.westernpowersteering.co.uk
0117-9602906