Hi all and a happy new year
Just a query about my power steering
On Monday my main auxiliary belt snapped, resulting in no alternator , but what confused me was I lost power steering as well , how can this be so when my power steering is an electric column!! Not hydraulic. Any ideas thanks . I have since replaced the belt and tensioner so everything is back to normal. Thx

Happy New year too!
No generated electricity, no electric steering it would seem. They must wire it so that it won't / can't use the battery only for steering, a little odd if the car maintained ignition without the alternator. It would be dangerous for any distance if the driver ignored a Christmas tree of warnings, but sudden loss of the steering assist is also bad....

Glad to hear you fixed it [emoji106]

Last month my tensioner pulley broke, --> no alternator as well. I was about 100km far from home, so I turned off everything electrical and Stilo made it home. But for last 500 meters voltage dropped so low, power steering also stopped working. It is just how things works.
Be sure to charge the battery, or it would be dead in few months.

I suspect the power steering draws a lot of current, so you would notice if the alternator is out of action.

But when my alternator packed up I don't remember the steering weighted up too much (I think I did have to apply *some* extra effort though). It could be your battery is a bit weedy. Measure it cold with the engine off.. it should say 12.3 volts. With the engine running you want to see 14.5v.


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

I suspect the power steering draws a lot of current, so you would notice if the alternator is out of action.

But when my alternator packed up I don't remember the steering weighted up too much (I think I did have to apply *some* extra effort though). It could be your battery is a bit weedy. Measure it cold with the engine off.. it should say 12.3 volts. With the engine running you want to see 14.5v.


Ralf S.

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Ah that makes more sense, it does use the battery then, just can't for long.

My battery is new , as soon as I started the car up to drive the 12 miles home , the power steering didn’t work, I turned all electrics off apart from side lights as it was pitch black , I got a lot of other motorists flashing me ! When I got home I turned engine off then re- started no problem, lots of power to re-start . My belt coming off Or snapping has been an issue for the last 4 years, so this time I put a new tensioner on , seems to have done the trick .