Ford Focus 1.6 2011 

Hi Guys, im a new ford focus owner and wondering if you knowledge guys would be able to help me with a steering issue im having only had car 3 months still under warrenty and also been to ford with thus issue. I have written below what has happend and is happening. Hoping someone can help or advise as im pretty worried driving it. Thank you in advance 

Car lost all steering whilst driving. Traction control and abs lights came on and off, steering then cut in and out on a very narrow country road next to river coming round a bend with river in front of me. The car then lost all power, would not turn over, all the dashboard trip computers had reset themselves to 0 and car would not turn over. When trying to turn over all lights flashed on dashboard and then no power. Battery low displayed. Sat on side of road for 20 mins waiting for help to arrive. Help arrived and car eventually turned over and drove. Drove to garage fine no steering issues, after collecting the car Was told there was water in a connector on passenger side which they had dried out and “taped and bagged” they said the issue was down to a wet air flap causing connector to be extremely wet. The connector is for an automatic flap that opens and closes to allow cold air flow though the engine. On checked shocked at all they had down was poked the connector through a bag and reconnected it. Steering issue present on collecting 

Steering issues are 

Steering goes heavy and light on Lane changes on A47 & NDR

Power steering cutting out whilst driving and going heavy like car is going to cut out.

Steering going extremely light when going round corner, then tight when you turn back.

Car pulling to right into oncoming traffic when steering goes light, having to hold to the left.

Car swerving/dipping all over with light steering when on country roads with uneven surfaces.

Car goes light then heavy and pulls side wards when going over bridges (Coltishall bridge& Swafield bridge)

Car pulls and goes light when normal speed outside school on uneven road.

 

Have you checked your battery isn't failing? Also the steering pulling when the power steering stops working (is this on a flat road?) Could be tracking related, especially as focuses have a drift compensation feature that allows the power steering to counter some of the induced steering forces to keep the car going straight

5 minutes ago, Neb_engineer said:

Have you checked your battery isn't failing? Also the steering pulling when the power steering stops working (is this on a flat road?) Could be tracking related, especially as focuses have a drift compensation feature that allows the power steering to counter some of the induced steering forces to keep the car going straight

Hi Thank you for replying. The Battery is new on the 13th October,   the steering stops working as i am driving and round corners. the only way to describe it is im turning round a corner starts to turn fine then its loose like im driving on snow, then when you start to steer back out of the corner the steering is heavy like old fashined no power steering, then it rights its self 

 

 

Have you had a computer plugged in to read the possible dtc? It could be a steering angle sensor fault

3 minutes ago, Neb_engineer said:

Have you had a computer plugged in to read the possible dtc? It could be a steering angle sensor fault

No Faults are coming up, busseys kept trying to read it for 4 days a friends read it and another garge today has and no codes at all 

 

Did they have a code reader for high speed and medium speed can as some code readers can't read all the ford dtcs

I honestly dont know on that one 

Beyond that without having the car Infront of my I can't really assist 

16 hours ago, Neb_engineer said:

Beyond that without having the car Infront of my I can't really assist 

Busseys is a Ford dealership.  I hope they used the proper Ford diag tool.

19 hours ago, Bea-Norfolk said:

Ford Focus 1.6 2011 

Which 1.6 is it?  Ti-VCT, EcoBoost or TDCi?  

They use different types of power steering so need to confirm that ideally.

On 1/5/2024 at 1:32 PM, TomsFocus said:

Which 1.6 is it?  Ti-VCT, EcoBoost or TDCi?  

They use different types of power steering so need to confirm that ideally.

it doesn't have POWER STEERING

lorries get power steering - where a popped hose can lose steering - but a car will still have the wheel connected to the wheels just as it always was - cars can have Power ASSISTED Steering - (PAS) - in an emergency just try harder - whilst reducing speed with the brakes as fast as possible, till you are at a speed and get used to the now much heavier to turn steering

the law for a passenger car is the mechanical link to the wheels is always there - what can go wrong is the ASSISTANCE can stop - and because it can happen just at the wrong time - the then suddenly heavy steering is enough to put you off, and thus you might not react to the suddenly much heavier steering quickly enough

 

 

9 hours ago, Botus said:

it doesn't have POWER STEERING

lorries get power steering - where a popped hose can lose steering - but a car will still have the wheel connected to the wheels just as it always was - cars can have Power ASSISTED Steering - (PAS) - in an emergency just try harder - whilst reducing speed with the brakes as fast as possible, till you are at a speed and used to the now much heavier it is to turn the steering

the law for a passenger car is the mechanical link to the wheels is always there - what can go wrong is the ASSISTANCE can stop - and because it can happen just at the wrong time - the then suddenly heavy steering is enough to put you off, and thus you might not react to the suddenly much heavier steering fast enough

Thanks for the pedantry.   The phrase 'power steering' is acceptable in common parlance.

I also take it you haven't tried to steer an EPAS car with failed EPAS?  Personally, I didn't have the strength to turn the wheel in that situation!!  Much heavier than an old HPAS car with failed HPAS.

the OP said they lost steering and nearly crashed...

ITS HIGHLY IMPORTANT PEOPLE REALISE THIS IS EXCEPTIONALLY UNLIKELY - but Ford focuses have been cutting out and losing assistance since the day they came out with a mk1

I had a STUPID girlfriend with a brand new Mk1, have her car repatriated on a low loader from mid france back the the UK - because it lost its steering - No it stalled ONCE ! - because it didn't yet have the later engine map that gave a better idle and made 10bph more at 1000rpm 

had she phoned me and said what had happened, her holiday wouldn't have been ruined - she could have just been ready to leave the clutch alone and the PAS keeps going - or AND now more important on electric PAS cars, just be ready at tight junctions to put a bit more effort in....

when stationary as we got soft in head with many cars getting PAS they seem to have heavy steering - above 20mph if you can't cope quite easily (without the assistance) you should probably get the bus....  Its the sudden change - when not expecting it - that catches you out

Before PAS was common, no one normal tried to turn the steering wheel whilst stationary.... 

1 hour ago, Botus said:

Before PAS was common no one normal tried to turn the steering wheel whilst stationary....

That's certainly true. When I started learning to drive PAS was unknown on all but the most expensive cars. I recall my instructor telling me not to even try turning the wheel unless the car was at least  "creeping" along. Tyres were much skinnier then of course, steering wheels massive with many turns lock to lock and recirculating ball (pardon)steering rather than rack and pinion was still common.

 "Drive by wire" has been mooted for years but (I think) Toyota's bz4x and it's sister Lexus RZ450e are actually due to get it later this year so we'll see how drivers (and insurers!) react to that.