Bought a 2005 croma prestigio auto a few months ago and I am generally pleased with it. The dreaded PAS light started to go off over a couple of months but always came back on after 5-10 mins. Eventually about 3 weeks ago it didn't go off and believe me you need arnies arms if it a tight spot. With the help of the forum I found the pas lead and discovered it was new looking. Checked paperwork and it was a year old so that wasn't the problem. Checked battery OK. I have an AA breakdown warranty but didnt think it would apply but I gave them a ring and they said no power steering IS a break down and therefore would contribute up to £500 for repairs. Happy days. The AA guy told me a new pas pump was expensive but I got a shock when fiat quoted £602+vat. Took the car to indy alfa/fiat specialist for check. Meanwhile I got on tinternet and after many searches found a company in Germany www.rexbu.eu . It has english web pages and delivers to uk at a reasonable cost. Their price for pump is €360, what a difference. The mechanic got back to me and said he jiggled the socket where the lead goes into and pas came back on and has stayed on for 4 days now. Dampness/crud/loose wire was the problem. Plaudits to specialist for not ripping me off (charged 1hr labour-£30) . He also said it would be a days work changing pas pump as subframe has to come out. Specialist is JRC auto in Lisburn, N.Ireland so wont be of much help to most forum members. Hope this long winded tale is of some help to the forum
General PAS, AA warranty and cheap parts.
- Thread starter duncan11
- Start date
Currently reading:
General PAS, AA warranty and cheap parts.
Thanks very much, very useful to know about. The PAS is the one fault I haven't had yet, so it must be my turn next.
I've driven mine without PAS when the alternator failed - I had to park it on the drive after taking it off the AA tow truck. Arnies arms indeed - it's not only higher-geared than a non-PAS car, it's also a heavy car with wide tyres, plus you're turning the dead pump. Not wishing to sound sexist, but a woman would be stranded - just due to the physical strength needed.
I've driven mine without PAS when the alternator failed - I had to park it on the drive after taking it off the AA tow truck. Arnies arms indeed - it's not only higher-geared than a non-PAS car, it's also a heavy car with wide tyres, plus you're turning the dead pump. Not wishing to sound sexist, but a woman would be stranded - just due to the physical strength needed.
Your not wrong there, after a week I could feel my biceps getting a damn good workout, 3 point turns out of the question.
Hello I had my ears bent and demands for another car from from my better half
until I fixed the thing with a new power lead.I think that it is asking to much of a spade connector to handle all that currant and wouldn't be surprised if the male spade at the pump connector could be eroded by arking . I will fit a bolted connector to ours should it play up again.
until I fixed the thing with a new power lead.I think that it is asking to much of a spade connector to handle all that currant and wouldn't be surprised if the male spade at the pump connector could be eroded by arking . I will fit a bolted connector to ours should it play up again.
Telegraph: Could you please tell me where to look for the earth connection of the power cable. I'm asking you, because I know that you have already changed the it for yourself. I've explained my story in another thread one week ago. I've already found out the positive connection on top of the battery in the fuse box and it is ok. Only the earth connection remains to be checked. I still think that a pressure drop of around 2V is abnormal, in spite of the big current.
duncan11: What you mean with this "jiggling" that your mechanic did with the male connector on the power steering pump? Excuse me for my bad English, but I'm not sure whether you mean some shaking/moving of the connector or some sort of cleaning.
duncan11: What you mean with this "jiggling" that your mechanic did with the male connector on the power steering pump? Excuse me for my bad English, but I'm not sure whether you mean some shaking/moving of the connector or some sort of cleaning.
The earth lead goes from the battery to the bodywork in front of it, between the front of car and battery. As regards to 'jiggling' you got it right, both moving and cleaning. Access to pas pump is easy if you have long thin arms. As you look at top containing fluid the connector is on the left side. Easier if you put left hand down to release connection and another person pulls on lead. Its a one handed operation to reconnect. To clean connection on pump the vehicle would have to be raised and probably the under tray removed (a few bolts).
duncan11, thanks for your quick answer! I've already accessed the pump and checked the cable connector. It looked OK. I'm not sure about the condition of the male connector on the pump, but I thought that the weaker element is the cable. Are you talking for the location of the battery earth connection (I know it and it is on the place, described by you) or for the PAS power cable earth connection? I'm asking for the latter. Maybe it is also in this zone.
Asenkd, battery earth as the pas lead just goes to pos/neg. Its a red and black cable on my new lead. Strangely the original lead which is still connected to battery is red only, no black cable to negative! The earth or other must join up in the cable tubing somewhere. Bear in mind I know diddly squat about mechanics, just finding out as I go along and from other forum info. Good luck
That's also my case up to now. But I think that the black cable is bolted somewhere to the bodywork. I'm attaching the earths diagram from eLearn. ELECTRIC STEERING FRONT EARTH is C014. C003 is the mentioned by you battery earth lead. It looks like both are near to each other
Thanks anyway!Attachments
I've found it. It's very funny. The PAS negative lead is bolted on the battery negative terminal. I somehow neglected this connection up to now. Anyway, I've cleaned the connection and it doesn't seem to have a change in the voltage drop when actuating the PAS.. Maybe it's normal (hopefully) or maybe I have another problem in the system.
Asenkd, what are your symptoms and have you ruled out defective pas pump and rack.
I'll copy and supplement my story from the other thread....
My power steering is (still) working without any interruptions. However, I am observing an abnormal voltage drop during the operation of the power steering. When measured at the battery leads (or on ECU via diagnostics) the drop is up to 1-1.2 V. When measured at the power steering pump leads (via a Multiecuscan reading) the drop is even up to 2 V! Apart from that the voltage on the power steering pump is around 0.5 smaller than the actual one on the battery. Do you think that this is normal?
I've started the investigation because of an irritating alternator belt squealing when operating the steering right after a cold start (and sometimes in other situations). All belts and pulleys have been changed/revised recently. Timing belt with all its pulleys is new. The crankshaft to air-conditioning compressor belt has not been changed, because it was in very good condition according to my mechanic. Its tensioner however was changed. Alternator belt is new. It is elastic and doesn't have a tensioner. The battery was replaced with a new 85Ah Varta. ... Nothing changed regarding the squealing. It exists since I have bought the car.
It think that there is something wrong with PAS system, because it draws a lot of current and evidently overloads the alternator. After a quick search in the forum, I've found out that the PAS issues are frequently listed and the usual fix is with replacement/fixing of the power supply wiring. Of course, I've started with a check of the pump body connections. It looks like everything is OK, there are no damages, melts, rust etc, the connector looks like new. As wrote in my previous posts, I've just revised the other endings of PAS power lead - everything seems to be OK.
My power steering is (still) working without any interruptions. However, I am observing an abnormal voltage drop during the operation of the power steering. When measured at the battery leads (or on ECU via diagnostics) the drop is up to 1-1.2 V. When measured at the power steering pump leads (via a Multiecuscan reading) the drop is even up to 2 V! Apart from that the voltage on the power steering pump is around 0.5 smaller than the actual one on the battery. Do you think that this is normal?
I've started the investigation because of an irritating alternator belt squealing when operating the steering right after a cold start (and sometimes in other situations). All belts and pulleys have been changed/revised recently. Timing belt with all its pulleys is new. The crankshaft to air-conditioning compressor belt has not been changed, because it was in very good condition according to my mechanic. Its tensioner however was changed. Alternator belt is new. It is elastic and doesn't have a tensioner. The battery was replaced with a new 85Ah Varta. ... Nothing changed regarding the squealing. It exists since I have bought the car.
It think that there is something wrong with PAS system, because it draws a lot of current and evidently overloads the alternator. After a quick search in the forum, I've found out that the PAS issues are frequently listed and the usual fix is with replacement/fixing of the power supply wiring. Of course, I've started with a check of the pump body connections. It looks like everything is OK, there are no damages, melts, rust etc, the connector looks like new. As wrote in my previous posts, I've just revised the other endings of PAS power lead - everything seems to be OK.
Hello I am sure that the positive connection at the pump is the problem it is worth the effort to carefully inspect the plug by removing the blue thing that hides the female spades in the plug . I managed to get at the male spade with a needle file it was painful with my big hands.As I said this spade connector isn't strong enough and wouldn't be surprised that a replacement lead would fail again. The battery end of the lead connects to positive and negative terminals.If giving the plug a good wiggle gives a temporary fix then it can only be the connection or the inside of the pump but as the pump is not cheap and a real night mare to change I would be sure to eliminate the connector even get another lead!.
From original post I gave wrong web address of parts company. Should read www.rexbo.eu
