First post and looking for some advise.

1.8 ELX R-reg

My steering used to be light as a feather, until a few days ago when it suddenly went heavy whilst driving. It's not too heavy to feel like the PAS isn't working, but you certainly use a lot more force to turn the wheel.

Fluid is up to the top! No wobbles or noise, and as far as I can see all the belts are intact (although there are that many I'm unsure what I'm looking at).

Any hints of the problem, or where to start looking greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi welcome to the forum.

I'll see what i can do.
The power steering pump is driven by the same belt as the alternator, so check this belt.
If there's fluid enough and no air in the fluid there's 2 main problems that can cause this fault.
1. defect in power steering pump.
2. defect in power steering distribution valve (on the power steering gear).

I would go for the pump first, have it tested in a garage using a pressure gauge, a good pump should deliver between 3,5 and 85 bar.
I have attached a file showing the power steering gear.
Good luck!
Ps. does it help rising the rpm to 2000-4000 rpm?

Thanks. Soze the for delay.

I'll have another look around the engine bay and check the fluid again (in the daytime). I can live with the degraded PAS as it's not too bad, so not sure if I want to spend the money getting it fixed.

How much would a new Pump or the valve cost roughly.

Thanks

I'm not sure, i've checked the danish web shops, they don't sell them.
Try a local spare part dealer.
Michael

It could just be that the tensioner on the belt has loosened off, meaning the belt is still working but not as effectively, i'd check this out before going replacing pumps etc.

Have you had any other issues ie lack of charge in the battery etc.

The only other problem I have with the car is the wiper's don't automatically go back down when you stop them.

Other than that... and this problem the car has been sound as a pound. It doesn't get any better/worse as far as I can tell dependent on enginer speed.

P

OK, if the pump is worn it normally helps rising the engine speed...
is the belt tension OK?

Haven't had any problems with wiper (except noise caused by worn linkage)...