l20kev

My friend has a 2000 KA 1.1 with power steering and recently her steering has become very stiff. There is plenty of power steering fluid in.

The power steering hasn't completely packed up but if you rotate the steering wheel around there are light parts and stiff parts.

Is this a common problem.

What is it likely to be?

Is it dangerous to still drive?

Any help appreciated

backlash1

Hi kev
Assuming there are no problems with your drivebelt and tensioner? Increase the RPMs of the car while stationary, say, to 1500-2000 and try to turn the steering from full lock left to right and back a couple of times. If the problem is not there at a higher rpm then it could be a faulty pump, if it's still there or if it feels hard going only one way then the fault lies with the valves inside the steering rack. As far as I know none of these are a common problem down here, but I don't know in Europe. cheers
Marc

l20kev

Thanks, Does anyone also recommend looking at the universal joint?

Fiesta125

This isn’t going to be a great deal of help, but I thought I’d tell you anyway…

Previously I had a Fiesta 1.6 16v Si (You know the one with the rounded bumpers and circular fog lights), and that had the same problem.

It would suddenly go quite stiff as you were turning, and then light again. Sometimes if you let the steering wheel spin back to centre after doing a sharp turn the wheel would stop turning and the car would continue cornering!

I don’t know what the problem was, because after 90,000 miles of (ab)use it was fit for the scrappy as it had many other problems – I assume this was where it went when I p/x’d it!

Fordtech.

Most likely the u/j where the column meets the rack, some have fixed this by a simple lube of the joint with WD40 or similar.

l20kev

update - since putting greace & WD40 on its been fine now for nearly a year