Steering assist malfunction - Service required

[NattyNat]

I’m so glad I checked here first. My C Max Titanium 2011 plate; first started displaying the battery low warning light intermittently a month ago. Stupidly perhaps I didn’t take any action in regards to this as it wasn’t constantly on. However a week ago the steering assist failure warning message came on. This disappeared after turning the car off and on again on several occasions. However one evening this week this didn’t resolve the issue and the steering is so heavy the car is pretty much undrivable (plus I’m maybe very weedy). Two years ago I had to replace the battery which seems to deplete and deteriorate rapidly if the car isn’t used daily for longer journeys. I suspect some of the functionality like automatic lights when locking car etc help to rundown a not adequately charged battery all the more rapidly. I’m using the car even more infrequently now due to cycling my commute more often so it does sit on the drive for days at a time which won’t be helping. I suspect the battery and steering assist issue are linked as some of these posts suggest. I’m much happier to replace the battery again in the hope this will resolve the steering issue before approaching Ford about the matter. Fingers crossed!!! Thanks for all the previous posters you potentially have saved me a fortune. On another note I too have noticed the delay in steering assist kicking in when you turn on the vechile seems another oddity in the model of ford. 

[NattyNat]

Thanks for your post. It’s helped me hugely. I think your experience mirrors the situation with my own car (and it’s usage to be fair)! I can live with replacing a battery every few years! Hopefully that’ll sort the issue. 

[tomislav]

Hi and please help if somebody is sure about it.

I'm having the same problem on Focus Mk3 2011....last winter it happened now and then, but restarting the car helped...

Now it is permanent. I suspected on battery as it was weak and replaced it today with new one. The problem still remained, but maybe the battery isn't fully charged yet?

Can somebody tell me what is the normal voltage for EFB batteries? Is it 12.6V like for classic ones? I measured 12.6V today after a 3-hour charge, but the "steering assist malfunction" alarm is still on. Do I have to charge it more? Somebody mentioned that it should be no less then 12.8 V, but on the internet I can only find that 12.6 V means fully charged battery.

How does this alarms actually work...what is the criteria regarding the battery that turns the alarm on?

I can't leave the car charging overnight these days, so I wonder what is the approximate needed time to charge it from alternator while driving?

I'm trying not to go to authorized dealer before I'm sure that its not the battery problem....

Thank you

 

 

[ColW]

Hi Tomislav, I don't think the steering assist alarm has a specific battery criteria. When turning the ignition on the car goes through a series of checks and one of them is that the electric power steering has powered up. A low battery can cause the power steering problems.

When I was having problems with my 2011 titanium I found sometimes I had to turn the steering wheel a bit (with the ignition on but obviously without power steering working so very heavy).

Then cycling the ignition again usually brought it back to life. As I said earlier in this thread since I had all the software updates installed mine has been much better which I assume is down to Ford changing the amount of time for the steering to respond before going into alarm state. I did also change the battery at the time with my dealer paying for the battery as still under dealer warranty.

[tomislav]

Thank you CoIW for your reponse, I forgot to give my feedback earlier...but it's never too late! 🙂

So after I changed my battery (which was probably OK to do, because it was 7 years old and very probably weak), I drove around a bit a day after my last reponse. The alarm however remained on, so i decided to go to the authorized service to check with them. They checked new battery - OK, then we did (together, I was watching) the reset and update of the neccessary software modules regarding steering, and luckily - that helped.

When we checked the alarms through the diagnostic box at the service, there were many alarms regarding steering....I remember seeing "mechanical failure", "control module deactived"...

You are right regarding the voltage of the battery...obviously this is not the criteria for alarm by itself.

10 days have passed, there is no sign of the problem since. After all, I'm not sure what happened.....

Maybe this experience will help somebody else or maybe someone can explain.

 

[Dm75]

I had power steering malfunction message appearing intermittently for months during this year. In September, the fault became permanent. I was left with a car with no power steering. I got the module recalibrated and it went again within a week. The second recalibration found 2 faults but the issue returned intermittently again a couple of weeks back.  I started my noting down when the issue occurred and when it didn't and it revealed that it was always happening when I started the car without the seat belts clicked in and hit reverse. The seat belt warning sign was somehow triggering the power steering malfunction. I am not suggesting this is the fix for everyone, probably just me but so far so good with no further warnings. I am also leaving the car a few seconds in ignition and after starting before pulling away. I used to fire up and hit reverse within a second when I was being plagued with the power steering malfunction warning.  This is far from ideal and I don't want to have to drive forever more needing to remember to do this, but the alternative of a further big bill is more desirable or convenient in the short term.

[ColW]

Over Christmas my power steering finally gave up. It was working fine and I had been out in the car just half an hour previous but I came to start the car and it now has the alarm on permanently. I charged the battery in case it was low and reset the pscm module and dtcs with forscan but still have no power steering.

I have spoken to Ford and have been quoted the price of the steering rack at just over £1000 for the part plus fitting. They wanted me to bring it in for diagnostics but it is a bit far to drive without power steering and I have checked everything I can think of with forscan. The battery is fine, was 60% charged before charging it, reads 15v with the engine running. The voltage on the pscm shows fine, the steering torque sensor reads fine both ways from the pscm, the steering angle sensor on the steering column works.

I am looking at getting a refurbished steering rack which comes with a 2 year warranty with delivery for £395 and pay for fitting at my local garage.

[ColW]

I have just got back from the garage after having the refurbished steering rack fitted.

All good again, the rack supplied looked like new packed up in a plastic crate with return paperwork and invoice. I can highly recommend Western Power Steering if anyone else gets to the point of having to replace their steering rack. They do offer fitting as well if you can get to them in Bristol.

[Reay]

I’m having early signs of this with my steering delay every 1 in 10ish. Would this still show up on a diagnostic? My car has 1 month warranty left, would it be covered if Iv had no warnings on the dash yet ?

[Tdci-Peter]

3 hours ago, Reay said:

Would this still show up on a diagnostic? My car has 1 month warranty left, would it be covered if Iv had no warnings on the dash yet ?

It is common for errors to be stored as DTCs before any warning lights come on. It may take two occurrences of an error within a certain time frame to put a warning up, but pending DTCs will still be stored. You would need a good, Ford specific diagnostic system like Forscan to be sure of getting codes out of the steering module. Most generic OBD2 scanners will not do this.

Checking voltage drops in the system would also be a good idea. With the engine idling, measure the battery voltage, and also the volage from the battery -ve terminal to a good bit of solid clean metal on the engine, while someone turns the steering wheel. The EHPAS unit draws some very large current surges to run its pump, and if the voltage drops too much, it will not work, or even shut down. Weak batteries, dodgy alternators and bad connections, including the earth wire to the engine, should all be checked and riuled out before considering replacing the rack or EHPAS unit.

 

[ColW]

If you are only getting the delay in power steering on start up I doubt they would replace it under warranty. The software update hides the warning when it only happens at start up.

Mine got to the point where I had to stop and start the engine several times until it kicked in but it was nearly a year before it totally failed and wouldn't start at all.

Had the refurb rack fitted last year and no problems since plus I got one with 2 year warranty.

[Fedupinireland]

I’ve got the same issue on my Ford Focus 1.5l tdci automatic and the power steering has gone completely, it’s got keyless start stop!!  anyone got any ideas please?!! I’m in Ireland on holiday with my family until Saturday and need a solution to get me home!! All Ireland ford dealers are telling me is a complete new steering rack and they can’t get the part until next week!!

[ColW]

If it is the electric power steering rack and it isn't powering up at all then it sounds like you do need the full rack.

Direct from Ford it will cost around £1300 fitted or you can go for a refurb from a good power steering company for around half the price.

The only things you can check are the 2 connectors on the power steering module, you can reach then from above in the engine compartment. If you have an elm obd reader you can check in forscan that the unit has power and you can see the turning angle and torque readout from the steering wheel but when mine died I kept trying over a number of days before admitting defeat and ordering a refurb.

[Tdci-Peter]

23 hours ago, Fedupinireland said:

I’ve got the same issue on my Ford Focus 1.5l tdci automatic and the power steering has gone completely,

I guess the warranty has just expired if it is a 2016 car!

It looks like the 1.5TDCI has an electric rack, all one unit, so apart from any electrical connectors, there is little to be done to it.

If it is an internal fault in either the pump unit or the rack, then replacement is probably the only option. A nightmare when away from home I know!

If you had access to Forscan, then tests as suggested above might possibly reveal some electrical gremlin that is more easily fixed, but it is a bit of a long shot.

[Ian Milne]

This car is an absolute lemon. Ford should be ashamed and take some responsibility.

[FatHead1979]

On 9/22/2019 at 11:18 AM, Ian Milne said:

This car is an absolute lemon. Ford should be ashamed and take some responsibility.

Eh?

[AdrianA123]

Have the same problem ,got the steering module changed 3 months ago at a ford dealer  £350 ,the problem was not evident in the garage they done a pin and grip test not sure what that is ,but now it has started again,I would be grateful for any advice 

[Swiftfocus69]

Getting the dreaded stiff steering on start up , but clears after a second or two . Diagnostic test done . New steering rack needed .OUCH !!

[Rayn]

On my 2014 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI,I initially had the Power Steering Assist Malfunction, service Required message, which I simply turned off the ignition and restarted and it went away...  For a while....

I then noticed that the steering started to stick a little bit when going round roundabouts.  It was on for a second and then freed up and I started to notice a grinding noise when turning the steering wheel.  After some research and discussion with a few mechanics, I determined that I needed to replace the steering rack.

Being a five year old car with 80k miles on the clock I didn't really want to spend the £2k quoted by Ford to have the steering rack replaced.  I found on eBay a refurbished steering rack from seller fbsautomotive for £320 + £200 deposit.  I quickly received the steering rack and was impressed with what I received.  It looked like new!  I managed to replace the steering rack by dropping the subframe and releasing the anit roll bar and sliding the old one out.  The refurbished one works perfectly and saved me lots of £££.

Living in Leeds, I took my old rack back and the guy checked to see if it was still serviceable, which was and quickly refunded my £200 deposit.  If you need help on how to replace the rack there is a very useful YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzzoee1-nU0

 

 

 

[FatHead1979]

On 11/19/2019 at 2:05 PM, Rayn said:

On my 2014 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI,I initially had the Power Steering Assist Malfunction, Service Required message, which I simply turned off the ignition and restarted and it went away...  For a while....

I then noticed that the steering started to stick a little bit when going round roundabouts.  It was on for a second and then freed up and I started to notice a grinding noise when turning the steering wheel.  After some research and discussion with a few mechanics, I determined that I needed to replace the steering rack.

Being a five year old car with 80k miles on the clock I didn't really want to spend the £2k quoted by Ford to have the steering rack replaced.  I found on Ebay a refurbished steering rack from seller fbsautomotive for £320 + £200 deposit.  I quickly received the steering rack and was impressed with what I received.  It looked like new!  I managed to replace the steering rack by dropping the subframe and releasing the anit roll bar and sliding the old one out.  The refurbished one works perfectly and saved me lots of £££.

Living in Leeds, I took my old rack back and the guy checked to see if it was still serviceable, which was and quickly refunded my £200 deposit.  If you need help on how to replace the rack there is a very useful YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzzoee1-nU0

 

 

 

Good post mate, that info could save someone else £££ 👍

[Emmlee]

So I had the steering wheel light come on about 3 weeks ago on my ka 09. Took it to the garage who diagnosed it needing a new steering column . They used a company to do a refurb on mine with a life time guarantee , brilliant has only cost me £350 including labour . Or so I thought , drove away from garage today, steering light is still on!!! 
garage were great, took it back to investigate further And have refunded my money . So after reading through I’m now hoping it’s just a flat battery , or is there something even more expensive than a steering column that could be the problem? 

[SophieJ]

We are having the same dreaded message (3 times now) in a BRAND NEW  Ford Fiesta bought in September 2019. The arguments with the dealer / Ford are currently ongoing. We feel we've been sold a defective car but as the message re. the steering comes and goes they can't pinpoint the fault and sort it. Any advice? We've put in a formal complaint.

[N3gke]

Hi all

i have just brought a 2016 2.3ltr eco boast  Ford Mustang.

on picking up from garage I drove through country lanes with no problems.  I then hit the motorway and in middle lane I got the dreaded ‘steering assist malfunction, service required’ message.  Reading this thread it appears it can be fixed.  However, I don’t just lose power steering, I’m loosing all power!!! As you can imagine on a motorway this was frightening and i got stranded in a live running lane of traffic!  This happened literally 30min after picking up car.

long story short, this then happened again to me on the same day after the fault had rectified itself from earlier that day with no faults being evident from diagnostic test from AA.

on reading all other messages as anyone got any advice or experienced similar where the message has flagged up and total power loss to the car?  
 

 

[Pulsarpacksniper]

Got same message on my MK3 focus, ford said needs new rack at £1800 supply fit.

Found a company called westernpowersteering.co.uk supply recon rack with 2yr warranty, plug and play £395.

Garage will be fitting in couple weeks, will keep you updated.

[Digital Nomad]

Thought this may help someone out there.  I have a Ford Focus 2013 Titanium with approx 139,000 kms on the clock and started having troubles with the same problems in this thread with steering malfunction problems.

The symptoms were usually very heavy steering when the ignition (Power button was turned on) for a short while and warning came on and then sometimes if kicked in and worked and other times not.

I was then forced to restart the car and then it would suddenly clear again and steering return to normal.

This was a second hand car I had just bought from an owner that had recently fully serviced it as well as replaced it with a brand new battery a month prior to me buying it.

When I spoke to a mechanic at workshop he tested the battery and confirmed it was brand new and was working perfectly and holding it's charge.

After I explained about these intermitten problems, he suggested that although the battery was new it may not have been fully charged  up if the car had only been used on short trips and the power might be dropping and affecting the steering assist.

As it happens,  I had also been in my car waiting around over the past month, for sometimes up to an hour with the music turned on and ignition turned off regularly whilst I was waiting to pick up my partner 2 or 3 times a week which may also have exacerbated the problem.

Well since I live in Australia I was going on a holiday to North Queensland that was a 2,000 Km round trip and average of 400 to 500kms a day along the way,

Since this trip I have now not have suffered any of these steering power malfunctions so I can only now deduce that this is in some cases a battery problem not being fully charged or holding it's charge.

Therefore I highly recommend that this should be investigated first by all owners that have similar problems rather than just assume it is a faulty steering rack.

I hope this may help some owners out there and not be out of pocket for a steering rack that may in some cases may not have to be replaced but trial a new battery that has been fully charged up, as well as other exploring options like ensuring the charging system is equally as adequate.