Thread: Heavey Steering 300TDi

I have a "98 D1 TDi Auto, always serviced every 5Ks. Yesterday went to Wollongong, when heading home, steering VERY heavy, pulling to left. Checked tyre pressure 33, put it up to 42 that side, other side 39.5, no difference. Pulled over to servo, rang road assist, had it brought back home.

In the morning prior to leaving checked pwr steer bottle, not registering on dipstick, it has done this before on return trip to Melbourne recently, noticed that steering box underneath appears to be leaking. Filled it up, was one of the first things I checked when it happened, it was still full.

Serpentine belt changed on Wednesday as broke on way home (dose this every time engine gets wet).

I understand that the if steering box fault, vehicle would tend to wonder not just let go as it did, if pump didn't think it would just stop like that.

Not being that technical, was wondering if any body may be able to give me some idea as to what the problem might be.

I love the car, always wanted one, but "Larry the Lemon" just breaks your heart.

[quote=951cxn;727762] ..... steering VERY heavy, pulling to left. ....
quote]

Since you have lost fluid at times, I suggest you need to thoroughly check the system and find where the fluid has leaked and fix that first.

steering VERY heavy = lack of fluid or faulty pump or both.

If you didn't bleed the system, you may still have air trapped in the steering box causing the power assistance to not assist.

pulling to left = maybe not PAS problem. The PAS may have "hidden" some other problem by lightening the steering so that you didn't notice the problem.

I'm no expert on PAS systems, so hopefully someone with more knowledge will chip in to assist.