Disco 1 Power steering intermittent?

Hi guys,

I've noticed a problem with the power steering my Discovery TDI.

Sometimes, when manoeuvring at low speed, the power steering assistance seems to abruptly stop which means you can hardly turn the wheel (I didn't drive before power steering so feel free to call me 'soft' etc!)

Also, I have noticed that when turning on roundabouts, occasionally the steering wheel will 'wobble' in your hands - perhaps losing and regaining power assistance.

The alternator belt isn't slipping from what I can tell (it's a recent belt too). I have tried bleeding it by taking the top off the reservoir and turning from lock to lock. The steering damper is around 6 months old. I'm also not losing any fluid.

The steering has always made a 'groan' noise which my dad's defender has always done, so I've never worried about it.


So, anyone got any ideas?

Also, is it ok to drive like this? If it is just pump related, then I can't imagine it's dangerous and I will get it sorted soon - but if you guys are going to tell me that the steering box is going to fall off then I won't drive it!


Thanks!

You need to turn it from lock to lock fairly slowly, to allow the rams on either side to fill .

To check the pump, remove pressure pipe from box, (the one from pump to box), and put the end in clean container see if pumps working, they will bleed themselves out

Speckydude said:

You need to turn it from lock to lock fairly slowly, to allow the rams on either side to fill .

To check the pump, remove pressure pipe from box, (the one from pump to box), and put the end in clean container see if pumps working, they will bleed themselves out

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply - sorry I'm a bit delayed but I wanted to wait until I'd had a look.

Just tried taking the top off the reservoir and turning the wheel from lock to lock very slowly - after a couple of turns, it began to become dodgy.

From full lock right, slowly turning back towards left it would be fine until The wheels were roughly straight and it would become suddenly lighter for maybe half a rotation, then as the wheels began to turn towards left, it went incredibly heavy (I.e no power assistance).

It did this exact thing for 4 more left-right cycles before I started to feel for my drive which was gradually being worn away.


In addition to this, I have noticed that twice today when turning fairly sharply right, it makes an awful noise on each rotation of the wheel. I'm not sure if we have two separate issues here? It has had new CV joints within the last year


Any more help appreciated!

Stick new pump on it easy job to do