The ULTIMATE power steering thread

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sleepy0905
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Post by sleepy0905 »

I have a reconned FDV I will PM you.
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tom
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Post by tom »

It is in fact the case that a BX will rise to its feet even if the doseur spews out torrential amounts of LHM, as I found over the weekend. It then sinks very fast, too. I think you have too much return flow when the brakes are applied, possibly due to wear in the doseur.
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Post by Kitch »

Tom: When you say sink, do you mean once the engine is switched off and the car is left to sink? Because mine sinks very very quickly....the whole thing is decked out within an hour.
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tom
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Post by tom »

DLM's car sinks on switch off but then his doseur leaks in the idle state and would flatten the accumulator in no time at all. I reckon that the problem is due to an excessive flow (Grit?scored valve body?) when the brakes are applied. The flow is from the operational return and should logically be very little, otherwise the tail would fall with the brakes held on
before the HC came in to correct it. It would then probably oscillate until the brakes were released. The Doseur is a bit of a pig to change on certain models and is often conveniently forgotten although it is one of the hardest used hydraulic components.
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Post by jeremy »

In the last 35,000 miles (admittedly over 7 years my TD Estate has had:

Off side strut - due to excessive leakage

Pump - wonderful for 4 months then the old problem of the light coming on occurred again. Power steering now worked properly and always has since.

Problem with light coming on - returned. Increasingly difficult to get the car to rise - possibly dropping when driven.

New Doseur fitted - after 3 weeks - no change at all.

Reconditioned FDV (By me) - no change.

Discovered non-return ball valve in accumulator could be re-seated - nice slow cycling - light still coming on.

Changed regulator - re-seated valve - no change.

Changed FDV back to original now assembled correctly - cured all problems apart from generally being a bit slow and sinking quite quickly.

New NS front strut - (leakage and siezure)

New pipe regulator to safety valve - not discovered on MOT - plastic bracket chafed through it! - dripping

As I say - the steering has always worked since I changed the pump.
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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

I've got a good PR if you need it dude.
Dont think it's the brake valve, they just never fail (well very rarely) :lol:

I cant take the credit for the following but it makes sense to me at least. Your rear spheres are flat as, er, well, a flat thing!
Change them! :wink:

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Post by jeremy »

Ideally you would test everything with an appropriate pressure gauge - which would entail considerable dismantling if it was available.

So what is known?

What is the regulator cycling speed? If its more than 30 seconds its a fair guess that any leaks beyond the accumulator (brakes and suspension) aren't so great that they would prevent the steering working and that the fault lies before the regulator - ie lack of pump output or FDV. (or but extremely unlikely the steering pinion)

The return from the pinion valve should be continuous until the steering is turned - when it should cut off smartly. If that is happening it indicates at least some activity from the pinion valve. If it continues then it would suggest to me that the pinion valve seals have failed. Normally one side could be expected to fail before the other but as this car has been driven for some time without the PAS its possible that both seals have gone as both can reasonably be expected to fail at a similar time.
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sleepy0905
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Post by sleepy0905 »

I have had 2 pinion valves fail on me one failed on the right hand lock with no warning and the other failed completely whilst I was out with no warning one minute i had power steering the next it had all failed. :cry:
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Toddman
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Post by Toddman »

Kitch - I am right in thinking that yiu currently have no power steering at all or just when you hit h ebrakes?

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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

I believe it has no PAS at all, ever!
Still, nothing like keep fit steering to build those arms up and impress the ladeezzzz :lol: :lol:

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Post by Way2go »

docchevron1472 wrote:I believe it has no PAS at all, ever!
Still, nothing like keep fit steering to build those arms up and impress the ladeezzzz :lol: :lol:
I found operating (straightening the wheels) the steering of a pas bx with the engine switched off, splits the rubber steering coupliing under the strain. :shock:
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Toddman
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Post by Toddman »

Well if it is dead at all times now I would have thought a good approach would be to check flow and return at the rack, pinion valve and ram.

With it being dead I would have suspected pinion valve or ram as Aaron suggested earlier but thankfully I have never had to delve into the LHM system on any citroen - YET!

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tim leech

Post by tim leech »

Kitch is your car really a 14E leader in drag? hence no power steering
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Post by Kitch »

Good point Chris, the rear spheres are quite flat. I know that probably wouldn't affect the steering but they do need changing.
I'll go down Tom's route first, purely because the theory holds water and its seemingly an easy thing to check. If that fails, the FDV would probably be worth sorting again, although truth be told I've got about 3 in the garage...might just be worth rebuilding one? Or buying Aarons?

Jeremy: The PR clicks about every 11-12secs. With its current setup, it should be considerably longer between clicks I'd say. But interesting point about the pinion valve return, thats another thing I can check.

Aaron: Thats exactly what happened mate....it just died totally one night.

Tim: Yes, you noticed my secret....damn! If I said I wasn't once tempted to fit a manual rack I'd be lying :P
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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

Kitch wrote:Good point Chris, the rear spheres are quite flat. I know that probably wouldn't affect the steering but they do need changing.
Like I said mate, it wasn't me that thought of it, however there is an explanation that goes with it. Makes sense to me, but your steerings been sha££ed for a while so I guess when it went the back end was ok??

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