Thread: Disco1 v8 strange power steering loss and back

It sounds like the serpentine belt was slipping, This would account for the alternator and power steering not working properly.
Maybe there was some sort of contaminant in the water your wife drove through eg oil that has caused the belt to slip.

The only thing I haven't seen mentioned in your check list, that could cause a similar issue would be the harmonic balancer.

Although I dare say it'd make a fairly obvious noise if it were acting up.

Check it anyhow. Remove fan, remove belt. Grip the balancer with both hands. Does it have any freeplay at all. Does it rotate without turning the engine in unison? Is the bolt tight?

Hi guys,
thanks for your answers and ideas.

Faithfully, I do not believe it was something contaminating from first "splash", as it was spring water crossing a gravel road... and the rest of the story happened 1 hour later, after about 45 mn of dry tarmac road driving.

I will have a look at the crank pulley and damper, but hopefully they are right (hope so), as I have a 36-1 trigger wheel bolted to it for my EDIS ignition, and the engine was running nicely ignition side... but I will drop the belt this weekend and check all pulleys.

All other personal experience, knowledge and ideas on the matter welcome

Thanks

Erik.

My first thought was water in the electrics, but that doesn't explain the PS loss. The belt slipping theory doesn't explain the oil light. So I would suggest that the two were a coincidence. The PS loss must be mechanical, so the belt is the likely culprit there. In the described circumstances the oil light must be electrical. Oil pumps and worn bearings, the most common causes of oil pressure failure along with low oil level, do NOT fix themselves.

I would change the belt, do what AK83 says re the balancer. Then I would check the wiring from the oil pressure switch, and the switch itself.

Hi John,
thanks for your post.
I do agree with you that the battery+PS is consistent on one side (worry around belt), but the oil light matter on the other side is haunting me...
Either indeed it is a coincidence, or I will make a try when removing the belt, to start the engine and see if the alternator electrical "fault" does not also generate the oil warning light... never know !

I will replace the belt, and once removed, check all the pulley, inc balancer.
Will start briefly the engine without belt, just to check the warning lights behavior
With new belt on, will try to spray all the front end with water to see if I get any slipping and/or oil light switch coming on...

All other ideas and theories welcome

I must admit I am a bit worried about say the water pump, or alternator, or PS pump starting to seize, hence "blocking the belt", which then would slip on the crank pulley... worse, still not understanding why the oil light...

Thanks for your help

Cheers

Erik.

Note that with the motor stone cold, you can run the engine without water pump for a fair while, as in 5 mins without it overheating or causing damage if just idling.

Obviously driving is a different matter tho, as the load on the engine is what will cause it to heat up more quickly.

If you have the engine idling and turn the steering from lock to lock, does it make any groaning noises from the hydraulics?
Obviously you'll get tyre noise as the wheels turn if they're on the ground, but the power steering should make no groaning noises if in good condition.

Even tho you've checked the serpentine belt tensioner, I'd still be suspicious of it holding enough tension on the belt all the time.
It could be on the way out and this was a first warning for 'ya.
With the belt off, and a socket on the tensioner, you try to move it to it's furthest tensioned position.
If it snaps back into it's normalised position, as you release the tension it should be fine. If it has any slight resistance in coming back, ie. it has an almost hydraulic action as it comes back to rest .. it's cactus.

Hi Arthur,

thanks again for your new post.

I totally agree with you. I won't drive the car without the belt, just start from cold and see the warning lights behavior... just to check/try to understand the oil light !

As for the power steering, when I arrived on the side of the road and re started the car, as everything was back to normal, I asked my wife to turn the steering from lock to lock several time, to see if something would happen, but all was ok, no groaning noises from hydraulics.

As I plan to remove and replace the belt this weekend, I will check the play in all the pulley, and I will definitely make the test you explain on the tensioner, as that could indeed be a culprit for a slipping belt...

I am still very puzzled as to how all this happened... from cold start, 30 mn of offroad driving low gears, no worries, then 30 mn of gravel road with say 3 small river crossings (say 3 cm deep !) more a splash thing which caused the first quick battery light on, then more than 30 mn of dry tarmac road... including mountain pass road driving, all still fine ... but when steadily arriving into town, at say 30 km/h when exiting a round about... this is when the problem appeared without any different/new noise !!!
Switch off - wait say 20 mn till I arrive - Switch on : back to normal... crazy !

Thanks again

Best regards

Erik

I wonder if there was a puddle of water under the bonnet somewhere, waiting to discharge itself over the belt during the roundabout turn?

BTW there are plenty of cars that turn on all the dash warning lights when the alternator stalls, not sure if your D1 is wired that way. The oil pressure switch is down low on the drivers side anyway, could have been hit by the same puddle.