Power Steering Light

[The Pielander]

When I started my car on Christmas Day the power steering warning light came on. I drove the car anyway as I had presents to deliver and it wasn't too bad on the move but the steering was very heavy at low speeds. When I started the car to come home the light was off and everything was normal again.

Is there a reservoir somewhere for power steering fluid I can check or was it just a one off fault? Any exeprience with this?

Cheers

 

[beezanick]

If its a TDi, its at the front right of the engine bay as you look at the front of the car. The actual resevouir is behind the ns wheel arch so you cant see it without taking the bumper off - 30 min job. But I think you can check the level without doing this, just very awcward to get at the container. Sorry for the spelling, but it is still early lol. Time to finish my Hid install

 

[Skisbp]

Ha had the same warning light on Christmas eve.!
Had to really force the steering wheel just to get it over to a lit lot to have a look...
Seems I picked up 2 nails that caused a small leak in the right front tyre. Yet nothing serious enough to have caused this light to have come on(had dropped less than 10psi). The dealer said that the light showed up as a random communication fault & nothing to be to worried about. Unfortunately the techie cleared the code before the service writer was able to write it down for me will post if I find out more... Good Luck!!!

 

[Chriswaite130]

i had the same trouble on christmas eve aswell! did you turn the ignition off before you drove anywhere? i did and the light went back off and hasnt been back on since.

 

[beezanick]

Good old reliable Seat electronics

 

[cheshire cat]

or a battery that is a little down on voltage having been hammered by the glow plugs

 

[robreidmotors]

more power needed at low speeds for the power steering, usually a badly tensioned belt. Same issue on my mk2, tension belt tensioner and problem solved.

Also check level.

 

[beezanick]

The mk4 is powerd by an electric motor, not off a belt. Could be a low battery voltage though.

 

[robreidmotors]

The introduction of electrics into the problem somewhat scuppers my abilities!

Lots of road grit about, have a look at connections/wires etc, might need cleaning up.

Thats all I can offer, im crap with electrics.

 

[Clone]

I had a bad flat spot in my steering and sometimes when i started my car the light came on - so it got topped up at a garage last month.

Now it's comming back on again? I park on a hill don't know if it's got anything to do with that? If i turn it off and on again it's usually fine. Strange...

 

[RUM4MO]

I think that you can expect this long run of low temperatures and probably less regular use of the car to throw up these problems if the battery or the charging system is a bit weaker than it could be. I'd expect that this would happen less if you gave the battery a minute to recover from a cold start before demanding some work from the steering pump - especially as you might also be "hitting it" with headlights fans and rear heater.

 

[Nath.]

The power steering pump suffers with water,salt and road grime getting into the electrical plug/socket for the pump. the pump is located behind the passenger side front fog light so not the best place for high current electrics.

My advise would be to desconect the battery and then locate the plug/socket for the power steering pump and reseat and clean it.

Do not do this with the battery connected or you could get fault codes up.

 

[Bondiblu]

Had the light pop up on the dash this morning. Took the battery tray out instead this afternoon and checked the level. It was fine. Cleaned out the airbox while I was there, rather than removing the wheel and inner arch cover.

 

[superkully]

The Ibiza ECU checks the battery voltage on startup and if it's low (don't know what level) will disable the power steering until the engine is switched off and checks again when the engine is started again.

As 'cheshire cat' and others said, the cold and extended glow plug on time repeated over a few days could cause your voltage to drop below the threshold - when you tried it again after your run the alternator had charged up the battery enough for it to be OK.

For this reason you don't get power steering when you jump-start your car either.

 

[The Pielander]

Thanks for all the replies. It was interesting to know that a few others had the same 'problem' over Christmas! I haven't had the light come on since then so I'm assuming it was a one off but I'll get it checked at the next service which comes up soon. The electrics are nowhere near as dodgy as my three previous Fiats though

 

[Ibiza Dan]

Hmm
seems were all getting similar problems!
Check this thread aswell http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=126876

 

[Fallen Angel]

The warning light on my mum 1.2 SX today, could this be the same issue? Is there a power steering reservoir on these?

 

[RUM4MO]

The warning light on my mum 1.2 SX today, could this be the same issue? Is there a power steering reservoir on these?

Yes you will find the top of it - ie the filler cap appearing away down below the N/S head light, but I'd be surprised if it needed a lot of fluid. Your mum's problem will probably lie with the battery or charging side of things - or maybe the type of driving she is using the car for - ie lots of short runs. If she stops the engine once the car has been running for some time to top up the battery, does this light go off?

 

[Fallen Angel]

Right i'll get her to have a look and see if it needs fluid just in case, it was serviced under a year ago so i doubt that also. She doesn't use the car every day and she is not living on her own and doesnt go out every day, when she does it is only fairly short journeys. I'll get her to give the car a good run and see if the light goes out, thank you

 

[Fallen Angel]

Not good news, she's just driven over to Leicester from Lincs, power steering light is still on and steering is getting stiffer! She stopped at a garage and a local mechanic has stuck it on diagnostics and said it bought the pump up
This is the last thing she needed, lost my dad under a year ago, has no job, no income has little savings left and has just had to fork out just under a grand to sort her camper van out!
I really don't know what too do, feel like crying big time, any suggestions?