Steering Assist Failure

[Sammyd82]

Hi I'm new 😀

I have a 56 plate focus 2 litre to tdci 6 speed ghia - 75k miles on clock had it for 9 months - just had -steering assist failure 😔 luckily in car park - chimed as I was reversing - steering went hard - rolled back into space - turned off and turned on again went away !

It's never done it before - never had any issues with it I know it's due service and cam belt change - any ideas much appreciated 😀

[dezwez]

Hi welcome :)

[Dee_82]

you don't have one of those bluetooth ELM adaptors do you? mine did exactly as yours did a while back, looked down at the OBD port and there she was, pulled it out and all was fine in the world and no problem since.

[Sammyd82]

Nope no adapters I'm already looking at £600 for major service and cam belt change could do with it being something stoopid rather than new pump

[Vendee]

Mine does it quite regularly now but only when first starting up. Its never done it on the move. Turning off and on always fixes it. Mine always seems to do it on misty mornings when there is a lot of moisture in the air.

[Sammyd82]

Cheers ppl I'm hoping it's just being stupid today!

[Enduser]

I think that this may be an electricial fault, poor earth or something like that. I had a weird electricial fault on a Mondeo. I wouls select reverse and let in the clutch and nothing would happen !. It was definatly in gear. I later found out that gear selection had an electricial imput of some kind, although why one is needed goodness only knows. Anyway like the above faults turning the ignition all the way off and restarting the engine cured it every time. Never did get to the bottom of it, it happened really randonmly, eventualy sold the car.

In my motorcycle days I was amazed to discover how even a small earthing problen would through up all sorts of weird, and seemingly related electricial faults.

[Focu5]

If we're talking weird electrical faults I once had one where the drivers window would roll down on it's own if I went over a speed bump. That car was French though.

[FatHead1979]

Hi I'm new

I have a 56 plate focus 2 litre to tdci 6 speed ghia - 75k miles on clock had it for 9 months - just had -steering assist failure luckily in car park - chimed as I was reversing - steering went hard - rolled back into space - turned off and turned on again went away !

It's never done it before - never had any issues with it I know it's due service and cam belt change - any ideas much appreciated

My MK2 was doing this before the battery & alternator finally crapped out. The ECU kept turning PAS off because it wasn't getting enough voltage consistently enough for it to work safely. Even if the cambelt is due to be replaced it shouldn't cause those issues, it sounds like an electrical issue of some sort. If the PAS pump was faulty I'd expect it to misbehave all the time.