2006 r53 checkmate...

i've had this for a few months and have been doing a lot of work on it, some upgrades and some deferred maintenance from the previous owner. i was fighting a little bit with it with a traction control issue, but i think i sorted that out. i had replaced a speed sensor with a cheapy b/c it was the part i could get fastest. later, i replaced it with a delphi and that seemed to fix that issue.

however, i've also had an issue lately where the tach and speedo needles don't move - even though the lights on the gauges light up. also, i had a deal where sometimes the car wouldn't react when i first turned the key. it would take a split second (of varying lengths) to actually fire up. that was odd, too. but i had bigger problems so i kinda let it go.

alright, so then a couple/few weeks ago i started the car. no tach or speedo. i backed out of my parking spot the traction control light flashed. the gauges fired up. and i lost power steering.

since then, i have repeatedly started the car over the course of the last couple weeks. tach and speedo fire up. no power steering. also, my key fob stopped working.

i'm at a bit of a loss here. my next steps are to test the PS pump and also make sure it's getting juice.

i am soliciting suggestions or comments on what else to check. also, i tried to get to the fuse under the hood but couldn't see an obvious way to disconnect and flip over that fuse box to check. any links or pictures of how to do that w/o breaking anything?

 

Check the cable that goes from the battery to the starter to the alt, it also comes of a wire set and goes to the P/S pump. If the grounding points are bad on the positive and not making contact/rusted. That's the problem.

 

Update: it was the pump. I ended up taking it to a shop and they have me the diagnosis. I replaced the pump and, trying to avoid jinxing myself, I'll say that my power steering worked great on the test drive.

I ended up doing the pump with a NOS Bosch reman off eBay, plus replacing exhaust heat cooked power steering reservoir hoses as well as a new reservoir to get a fresh power steering filter in there... Plus a couple unrelated things

 

thanks for the update.