Power Steering Pump Issue

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

The power steering on my 2 recently became really heavy. No P/S warning light and now it drives like a tank. I took the 2 to a local garage who said that they couldn't find the problem but had noted that the ECU was spitting out error codes C1521 and C1522. The garage cleaned up the electrical contacts to the unit, reset the error codes and charged me £60 for the privilege.  After a bit of digging, I found that the code faults relate to the following:

********
Condition 1., 2. or 3. continues:
1. Motor temp. 200°C (390°F) or more for 0.1 sec. or more
2. Motor average current for 96 sec. is 40 A or more
3. Motor average current for 248 sec. is 33 A or more
*********

After a bit more digging (this forum is a Godsend!) I've read that the motor that runs the pump can accumulate copper dust that can cause shorts that lead to the motor drawing too much current. I'm really hoping that this is the fault! I'm going to take the plunge and dismantle the unit at some point this week and give the motor a good clean with a paint brush or something similar   s:? :? s:?  

I was wondering if anyone had attempted this in the past and if anyone had any tips for me!


Cheers,

Jay

[graham read]

Also check the steering shaft lower uj it also makes the steering very heavy.

[Rinzleristron]

As 'graham read' rightly points out check the lower UJ first, I had the same issue. You can usually tell with a liberal spray of WD40, see here:-

 l viewtopic.php?f=47&t=32611 l