Hello, I am new to forums. I have an R50 2003 build.I have a problem with my power steering. Intermittently the power steering stops working while I am driving. when I turn off the car and then restart, the power steering is fine. Where do I find the fuse/relay/power wires that run this unit?
I have a Haynes manual but it is very vague about this.
Thanks heaps

 

This may be the place to start getting all the info you need on this common problem.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...p-failure.html

 

Pump is pretty much selfcontainted...the pump, motor, and computer controling it is ONE unit.
As long as your alternator is good ( the pump monitors its voltage, and shuts off if the alternator stops), the next step after checking the fluid level of the ps pump is to decide new or rebuilt...
My take...the rebuilt unit MAY be ok, esp if you diy it, but it may take 2 different ones....so if you are paying $$ for labour, just buy new....shop around, tye dealer is the most $$ place to get it. Various places sell them at a decent discount to dealer new.

 

Same thing happened on my 04. For the past 2 years, especially summers when unit would get hot it would shut down frequently. Would turn car off and restart. Pump finally died at 86,500 miles. I too was told to stay away from refurbished. Bought new unit. All good now. Yours is on the way out. Only a matter of time until it dies. Was worse when I would be stuck in traffic when pump would get hotter especially during summer months. Seems to be pretty common problem. They had a recall in Canada. Not in the states though.

 

Is the fan working? Lift the car and start the ac, The fan should kick on. If I doesn't, start there, it will have to be replaced either way.

 

My car has done 167k km (just over 100k miles). Thanks for the heads up every one. Been under and fan works fine, quieter than the heater blower! Still looking for the power supply source/fuse/relay. Want to test and check those B 4 I rush out and buy a new unit. Alt volts fine - 14.2 loaded and battery does not go flat. BTW I might be starting a thread on heater motor whine - any existing thread on that here?

 

A fuse burns out ONCE...is not reset by restarting the car...no relay for it. Fuse (if i remember right) is UNDER the other fuses in the engine bay fusebox.....
sounds like the electronics are going bad...keep a wrench handy to disconnect the battery if they go bad keeping the pump on after you shut off the car..a common issue...listen for it...it will kill the battery VERY fast....the electronics contols both on/off, but also hispeed/lowspeed on the pump for situations where more/less pumpling is needed. A person or two have opened up the pump to clean the dc motor, and blow off the dust from the brushes....cleaned up the electronics too. Helped for some....might render your pump zero valur for a core if you go rebuilt...decide carefully.

 

As for fan whine....
Remove the cabin filter...and if you are a bit of a contortionist, you can put a dab of grease on you finger, and reach wayup inside, feel for the fan, and lube the ends where the bearings are. Did that a few years ago....fixed mine.

 

This, unfortunately, is spot-on. We do replace the pump with rebuilds occasionally, but the failure rate is higher than it should be, and is a PITA when it does. It's kind of a gamble--you save a ton of cash if you get a good rebuild, if not, you maybe break even money-wise, but lose time in dealing with a broken car.

 

Guess what I'm doing next days off??

 

Intermittent P/S is a pretty common failure of the pump. We also have installed the rebuilt pumps and everyone of them we installed failed so we don't use or recommend them, get a new one and save the hassle.