Help! FL2 has lost power steering

So my 07 plate FL2 lost its power steering this afternoon. A little bit of background. It had the rack replaced about 9 months ago and I’ve just replaced driver side front wheel bearing and lower arm ball joint (not sure if this could have impacted anything). So it happened suddenly on the school run this afternoon. There has been no fluid leak and I’ve not noticed any whining from the pump. It felt stiff yesterday when manoeuvring in a car park but then seemed fine.

My first thoughts are that the pump has packed in so I’m considering replacing myself, it doesn’t look too tricky a job.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on likely cause? As I said it hasn’t lost any fluid and rack was replaced recently. I’m trying to avoid another extortionate bill if I can. And has anyone replaced the pump themselves and is it an easy enough job?

Thanks in advance.

It's very unusual for a PS pump to suddenly fail. Presumably the correct PS fluid was used.

The PS pipes are known to rust through and fail. Mine failed earlier in the year, which resulted in instant power steering loss.

Was the fluid reservoir replaced with the rack? There's a filter in there which is known to block, resulting in stiff steering through lack of fluid flow. I'd start with the reservoir first.

Hi Nodge and thanks for replying.
No the reservoir wasn’t changed. I’ll give the pipes a good check tomorrow in the daylight but they seem to be in good order visually as does the pump itself. I’ll see if I can get the bottle off to see what state it’s in.

As ever thanks for the advice and fingers crossed the fix could be that simple.

Have a look at this see if it helps. if your rack was changed nine months back, is it still under guarantee?

Stv123 said:

Have a look at this see if it helps. if your rack was changed nine months back, is it still under guarantee?

Click to expand...

Hi Stv123,
Thanks for the video, really useful to understand how the system works and gave me a few ideas of things to check. Unfortunately his test rigs are probably a little beyond my ability to produce.

I removed some of the PS fluid to see if the system was circulating which it seems to be. Initially it appeared that the fluid looked pretty filthy but after removing it it actually seemed in good condition. I may be wrong but my feeling is that the pump and all the pipe work seem to be OK. I’ve spoken to the garage where the rack was replaced (less than 7 months ago) and they’ve said that despite being extremely busy and having no bookings available until mid Dec to drop it off tomorrow morning and they’ll take a look, how nice of them . We shall await the outcome.

Think I would pursue the guarantee first. Then change the tank and fluid because that’s relatively easy. Good luck.