Power Steering Failure..

[Guest]

Drove home from work today... parked up. About an hour later went to reverse the car out of the drive.. but my P/S light came on and it felt like the car weighed 5,000000 tonnes !

Now I need to get to work tomorrow morning.. but I don't know what I can do about this. I did read a fix about smacking the powersteering relay but that didn't do anything.

Any suggestions ? Is it safe to drive ? I at least need to be able to drive it to a toyota dealer.

[Guest]

does anyone know where the closest toyota garage is to me ? ? ( Pumperston/Livingston (ish ))

[TheNissanMan]

jimlad, i know this souns stupis but try turning your car from the off to the on (not turning engine over) about 20 times....

believe it or not this should sort you out, happened on a few peoples...

[Guest]

ok.. does sound strange.. will try this in a little while... and get back to you.

took it for a drive, still driveable if not a little hard to steer... soon I'll have big fat arms !

[Bibbs]

It works (but turn the turbo timer off :D) ..

One of the relays "furs" up .. and by flicking it on and off burns this off and should be okay ..

It's scary when mine did it .. 17's are SO much harder to turn than my old Rev1's 14's

[Guest]

how long should I wait before each on/off switch ??

What happens if it doesnt work after the 20 times ??

I've not tried it yet, but I will do in the morning before I goto work. Hopefully it will be fine. Can't be ubikd to fight with the steering wheel when half asleep.

[Bibbs]

try and do it as quick as pos .. do it for 30 secs .. if it don't work, try again .. otherwise it's diagnosis time.

[Dame]

Yep that should sort you, it's a very common problem, I've certainly experienced it a few times before and I know others on the forum have.

[Guest]

do I turn it all the way to the notch just before the one which makes the engine start?

[Bibbs]

heh heh .. to the one before start yeah .. :D

[Guest]

doing this now.. or early in the morning b4 I go to work is well gonna ***** the neighbours off.... oh well . lol

sorry I'm speaking :censor: , I forgot you don't need to actually start thew engine.. DOH !!

well it will annoy them if it doesn't work after the first attempt

[Conor-Mr2]

This happened to me today Jimlad so you are not alone!!

Make sure you have fluid in the reservoir!!!

Basically for me today it was the power steering relay. If you lift up the front bonnet then put the key in ignition and turn it to one before actually starting the engine. You should hear a click noise. That is the relay switch. Now it can happen that the contacts get corroded or dirty. What people are saying here is quickly turn the key from off to the "one before starting engine". Do this really quickly for about 20-30 times.

This should help clean the contacts in the relay and hence allow the power through to the power steering pump.

Failing that as said its diagnosis time. This is the second time my p/s light came on.Last time I had to get a new power steering pump!! A bitr more expensive so Ive had lotsa expereince with the power steering area in my car!! :(

[Guest]

bluddy hell .. it worked !... lol

[Bibbs]

ye of little faith :D

[TheNissanMan]

and you doubted me... even for one second :D

[Guest]

cheers geezers

[Conor-Mr2]

Enjoy that good feeling that everything is ok!!!