Power Steering Fail

[jonnysouth]

Driving earlier and my power steering failed as went to make a turn pulled in a got a warning message instructing to restart power. Did this and warning disappeared but red battery light came on. Managed to drive short distance home without power steering. Have restarted engine a couple of times, battery light has gone off and can't see any other fault lights but still no power steering.
Anyone had anything like this? The way it failed doesn't seem like a mechanical/fluid issue to me and maybe more electrical but not much clue what it could be? Is there a fuse involved (wishful thinking maybe!)?
Thanks

 

[Dellmassive]

What spec van?

Assuming a T6.1 with electrical steering rack?

 

[jonnysouth]

What spec van?

Assuming a T6.1 with electrical steering rack?

2016 T6 T32 highline kombi.
I found the fuse board diagram in the members area after original post and located 2 fuses with ref to steering, unfortunately both seem fine.
Also found the tank for the steering fluid which looks like it might be a little low but not too far off where it should be, the pipe coming out of it does look dry at the top and damp further down so unsure now if there may be a leak, just seems odd to me if this was the case that it would go from working fine to nothing all at once.

 

[Perfectos]

Check the serpentine belt, if that has broken you’ll have no drive to the PS pump

 

[jonnysouth]

Check the serpentine belt, if that has broken you’ll have no drive to the PS pump

Ok thanks I'll have a look, is it easy to access?

 

[Perfectos]

Put your hand down the side of the engine (without it running )
left hand side (drivers side uk) plastic cam belt cover end
you should feel a ribbed belt below the end of the plastic cover ends.

alternatively remove the under trays and look up

 

[jonnysouth]

Put your hand down the side of the engine (without it running )
left hand side (drivers side uk) plastic cam belt cover end
you should feel a ribbed belt below the end of the plastic cover ends. (The ribs face upwards )

alternatively remove the under trays and look up

I'll check tomorrow, thanks

 

[Dellmassive]

Got a pic of the dash lights.

 

[Sackmycook]

Oh god, not another belt to worry about !

 

[jonnysouth]

Put your hand down the side of the engine (without it running )
left hand side (drivers side uk) plastic cam belt cover end
you should feel a ribbed belt below the end of the plastic cover ends.

alternatively remove the under trays and look up

Good call, the belt is loose and feels partly shredded.

Did some more online research and found description of the belt and tensioner and also a video and some threads about fitting it on a T5, supposed to be fairly straight forward apart from acces to the bolt that holds the tensioner in place.
Trying to decide whether to have a go at it or just drop it down the local garage.

Got a pic of the dash lights.

The fault warning came up temporarily but not showing any lights now.

 

[jonnysouth]

Oh god, not another belt to worry about !

Seems like it yes

 

[Grim Reaper]

Be aware that should you continue to drive with the belt in the state you suggest it is in, that it has been known for them to fail, snap and get caught up in the bottom pulley where it proceeds to take out the cam belt and even more (expensive) damage can occur.

 

[jonnysouth]

Be aware that should you continue to drive with the belt in the state you suggest it is in, that it has been known for them to fail, snap and get caught up in the bottom pulley where it proceeds to take out the cam belt and even more (expensive) damage can occur.

Thanks for the advice. It's just parked up at the minute until I figure out what to do.
If I do decide to take it in the garage I'd likely use is only a couple of miles away, was planning to drive it down there really early when it's quiet and I can take it steady whilst wrestling the steering wheel!
If I'm going to do this would it be better to remove the belt completely before taking it down there (assume I'd have no PS, alternator or Aircon) but would it still drive otherwise?

 

[Grim Reaper]

I changed my belt and tensioner last year, did it on the drive, the most difficult thing was tightening the bolt in the tensioner up, there's very little space for the required star/triple square bit and a bar substantial enough to get the required torque on it.
Latest version of the tensioner is an M as far as I know.
See Poly V belt running off to one side [Resolved]

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[DXX]

Thanks for the advice. It's just parked up at the minute until I figure out what to do.
If I do decide to take it in the garage I'd likely use is only a couple of miles away, was planning to drive it down there really early when it's quiet and I can take it steady whilst wrestling the steering wheel!
If I'm going to do this would it be better to remove the belt completely before taking it down there (assume I'd have no PS, alternator or Aircon) but would it still drive otherwise?

You might make it with the belt off. I certainly wouldn’t drive it with a shredded belt as you are risking the timing belt getting wrapped up.
Do you have breakdown cover that will cover it and get you to the garage?

 

[jonnysouth]

You might make it with the belt off. I certainly wouldn’t drive it with a shredded belt as you are risking the timing belt getting wrapped up.
Do you have breakdown cover that will cover it and get you to the garage?

Not sure exactly what my cover includes but good suggestion, will check that one out.

Definitely not going to drive it anywhere in current condition now.

 

[Perfectos]

Not sure exactly what my cover includes but good suggestion, will check that one out.

Definitely not going to drive it anywhere in current condition now.

glad you found the issue.

edit: put a new belt tensioner on when you replace the aux belt

The potential damage that can be caused if the aux belt shreds , snap and take out the timing belt will be about £10k to fix.

you should fully inspect the timing belt to determine if it has already been damaged, if there is even the slightest bit of damage to the timing belt replace it immediately.

report back to help others

certainly do not drive it anywhere

do you have AA etc, get it to a garage as suggested above ?


note main dealer will be extortionate in comparison to an Indi garage.

 

[jonnysouth]

Update...

Turns out I didn't have any cover so paid £50 to get it recovered to a local garage.
Had already found the belt to be completely shredded worse than I thought at first and the other end stuck below (panicking a bit at this point given some of previous comments!)



They called today and told be good news is that cam belt looks fine and have cleaned all debris out. Bad news is that belt didn't fail due to tensioner giving up as thought but due to air con pump pulley failure. As this comes as one part it's a £750 bill to fit a new one plus £60 - £140 ish to get it regassed depending on type of gas, they don't do this in house).
Called VW to have a moan and see if any chance of any good will, they didn't rule this out but would need it to be diagnosed by VW service centre. Called local service centre and got an idea of costs and I reckon including cost to move it there I'd not be far off £2k so any good will they did agree to would likely not get me anywhere near independent cost. Plus all the hassle of moving again etc.
The same local independent fitted a new intercooler about a month ago after this split, a mate who's much more experienced in this type of stuff told me the intercooler work shouldn't have any impact on the pump but interested to get others thoughts.

 

[Perfectos]

I reckon you should go buy a lottery ticket,
how that did not take out your cam belt ?

get it fixed & consider getting a new cam belt and water pump at the same time (it should be proportionately cheaper to do the cam belt & water pump now while they have to access that area to carry out the works you need doing)

 

[jonnysouth]

I reckon you should go buy a lottery ticket,
how that did not take out your cam belt ?

get it fixed & consider getting a new cam belt and water pump at the same time (it should be proportionately cheaper to do the cam belt & water pump now while they have to access that area to carry out the works you need doing)

I might need to win the lottery based on what this van is costing me recently!
Yeah should probably focus on the lucky escape rather than the current bill.
Did discuss the cam belt / pump but they think it's fine and the current one has at least 18months before it needs doing.