Steering.

BX Tech talk
User avatar
cavmad
Keeper of the site Goat
Posts: 7857
Joined: Fri May 20, 2005 9:13 am
x 1
Contact:

Post by cavmad »

Stewart (oily!) wrote:Look down the front of the motor, see where the Accumulator sphere is? on one of the blocks of gubbins there you will see a smooth headed 12mm bolt facing forwards (pointing at yer knees) its about the only 12mm thing down there, if you loosen it three quarters of a turn you should hear the sound of pressure squelching back to the reservoir (engine off) just loosen it and let the car idle for a minute or two.
DO THIS FROM ABOVE, THE CAR SHOULD DROP AND WILL SQUASH YOU.
Have fun!
Stewart
Cheers Stewart, I take it you mean the pump thingy with some LHM pipes running into it?
Vauxhall apologist.
User avatar
DLM
Our Trim Guru
Posts: 1620
Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 6:41 pm
Location: Gosport, Hampshire, UK
My Cars: Historically, lots of BX hatches/estates in the 90s/00s - 16/19i/17td/19d
Recent scruffy diesel n/a estate - "The Red Shed" - is no longer mine.
x 9

Post by DLM »

It's green (or starts off that colour) like nearly all hydraulic components, and it has the 5th sphere, the adccumulator, mounted on the l/h side of it (looking at it from the front of the car ). On a 19TGD you can access the pressure relief valve screw from above, which makes life a little easier an some ways. Haynes has a reasonable piccie, as far as I remember.
Back on two wheels and pedal power for the moment.
jeremy
Over 2k
Posts: 2112
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:58 am
Location: Hampshire UK

Post by jeremy »

You ask the question 'Is it safe to drive this car with intermeittent power steering when I go on holiday?'

I think the answer is in the form of another question 'How would you feel if your family were seriously injured in an accident with a car which went out of control due to an intermittent power steering fault.' Do you need me to go on?

Jeremy
User avatar
cavmad
Keeper of the site Goat
Posts: 7857
Joined: Fri May 20, 2005 9:13 am
x 1
Contact:

Post by cavmad »

jeremy wrote:You ask the question 'Is it safe to drive this car with intermeittent power steering when I go on holiday?'

I think the answer is in the form of another question 'How would you feel if your family were seriously injured in an accident with a car which went out of control due to an intermittent power steering fault.' Do you need me to go on?

Jeremy
No, that`s why I asked the question initially. If it just loses it`s assistance I can live with that but if it`s in any way dangerous (i.e steering fails completely) then I won`t be going anywhere in it, not even round the carpark.
Vauxhall apologist.
jeremy
Over 2k
Posts: 2112
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:58 am
Location: Hampshire UK

Post by jeremy »

Having suffered from intermittent steering (Triumph Stag - professionally maintained but belt left loose so when I hit a puddle in the middle of a roundabout it ceased altogether for a while) I would say it is extremely dangerous. An intermittent power steering system is certainly an MOT failure and the risk in driving is that the thing doesn't respond properly or consistently on a corner and could cause the driver to loose control and cause an accident.

The manual steering used a different rack with a slower response - so less steering effort and also a consistent loading.

I certainly wouldn't drive my family round in a car with a defective power steering system.

The other risk is that if you drive the car knowing it to be defective is that your insurance will probably be void - and so you may end up facing a claim by the insurance company for money they have paid out under the MIB agreement.

Jeremy
Post Reply