Hi folks,

I have a 2011 Mk 3 Ford Focus 1.6l - a while after i bought it, I got a the power steering malfunction light and heavy steering issues, which was intermittent and didnt really stop me using the car took it to a garage and they said it was a steering column replacement fault and it would have to be replaced for £1000 said no chance, took it to ford and they updated the software and voila fault is gone.  Cut to now, 1 year later, the issue is back but I havent done anything with it yet, as I know the cost can be very high, but having had the issue for a while I have noticed patterns, when the car is first started it's fine as long as Im putting good revs through the engine, no problem, the issues starts when you idle in traffic or go slowly, which is making me think this could be the battery/alternator, has anyone else had similar issues to this and how did you go about getting it sorted?

Thanks.

I've yet to face this problem on my Focus but have seen it mentioned a few times. From what I've read it can be triggered by low battery voltage so possibly a fault somewhere along that side of things but I have also read that the EPS module on the power steering rack fails which would mean a replacement rack. 

There's a company that sells re-manufactured racks for around £400 but the name escapes me at the moment.  

Searching around on the forum should bring up a few topics on this. 

I had a similar fault on a 2 year old 18000 mile Mondeo, I thought it was symptomatic of a blocked filter, this proved to be the problem, the only issue was the filter is located inside the reservoir, so it was a new reservoir - but at  twenty odd quid it wasn’t to bad

cheers  

Im taking it round to Halfords tomorrow for a free battery check, so we'll see how it goes from there, it's odd when i ran the car in summer it was absolutely fine, but when I started having to use more lights heating etc in the winter, it seems it's not getting enough power, I have tried this out,  switched off everything i could, and over revved the engine and the power steering came back on after about 30 seconds.  hopefully it is just a battery fault, if it clears it I'll be getting rid of that car, nothing but hassle!