Graham Posted April 26, 2021 Report Share Posted April 26, 2021 This little 'nugget' may be of use to any of you that have fitted Electric power steering to your car. I found out about this while doing some research into issues my daughter is having with her Alpha Mito. It shares the same electric power steering stystem as used by Vauxhall on the Corsa. The issue is that the power assistance simply stops, leaving you with a car that almost impossible to drive due to the weight of the steering without assistance. Turn the car off and back on and all is good until the next time. 3 things can cause this, failure of the steering position sensor and failure of the assistance motor both of which i'm told require a new/recon steering column to resolve (Very expensive) but this issue can also be caused by a low/poorly charged battery, the alternator simply can't keep up with demand and so relies on a top up from the battery, if the battery is in a low state of charge there simply not enough Amps to go round. Given that a lot of our cars may sit, either unused or short trips thought I would call this one out in case it might save somebody the expense of a new steering column when all they need was to charge the battery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tim D. Posted April 27, 2021 Report Share Posted April 27, 2021 just bought a second hand clio for my kids to learn on.. bought from a back-street garage... flat battery before test drive and undrivable.. dealer said leave it running for 5 mins to get some charge in and all OK. Been fine since. Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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