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XV intermitant power steering fault/fail


peterapps
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Has anyone had issues with the power steering failing on XV? Early 12 plate  - happens on cold start up but seems that it is maybe only when the steering needs bigger input. Will usually clear if I turn off and re-start and make sure I only need to put minimal steering in until we get moving. Very strange. Shows on diagnostics at garage as having failed but it resets fine and last visit to garage it had reset by the time they came to look at it. Getting a little annoying as I'm often parked overnight in the street and need to turn the wheel to get out of parking slot. It makes quite a loud clunk when it fails - resets on restart but fails again if you have to turn the steering more than a minimal amount. 

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When you say fail, do you mean all the warning lights coming on the dash, but steering still working?

We have had this problem on our 11 plate and 13 plate XVs.

As you state, it appears to be most common when you start the car then immediately turn the wheel, certainly I seem to think that starting the car then waiting until all the warning lights (the 3 orange ones) on the dash clear before making any steering input helps.

Hopefully taking an extra 3-5 seconds after starting the car will help solve the issue.

Sent from my COR-L29 using Tapatalk

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No. It fails completely with a clunk. Re-sets on restart and if i am able to only turn very slightly it stays on but when moving out of a parking space the steering input often needs to be more firm and it immediately fails fully again. I always wait until all warning lights are out before moving off. Its fine if I can get away with very little steering input and stays fine even when turning sharply after it's got moving. Very strange.

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Has your XV got electric power steering? (Our 17-reg has, but I don't know about the earlier models as the manual has details for both electric and hydraulic.)

If your Battery is getting on a bit then it may be struggling to turn the wheels to full-lock just after turning it over. The manual has some bold print about the electric steering shutting down if overloaded, so it may be worth getting your Battery (and / or charging system) checked out before looking down the steering column / rack routes.

Hope it is as simple as this!

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37 minutes ago, SebP10 said:

Has your XV got electric power steering? (Our 17-reg has, but I don't know about the earlier models as the manual has details for both electric and hydraulic.)

If your battery is getting on a bit then it may be struggling to turn the wheels to full-lock just after turning it over. The manual has some bold print about the electric steering shutting down if overloaded, so it may be worth getting your battery (and / or charging system) checked out before looking down the steering column / rack routes.

Hope it is as simple as this!

 

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Brilliant! It is electric power steering and the Battery idea makes sense. As far as I know it's the original Battery so it may be tired. I don't seem to have the issue once it's been started and run even if I've not used it all day and come back to it later.  I will look into this but it seems a most plausible reason. Thank you. Will post back when I find out more.

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  • 3 months later...

Mine was clearly a low Battery issue, especially in cold weather but it clears as soon as the engine has recharged a bit and doesn't reoccur during the day. I will have to replace the 7yr old Battery before winter.

A more concerning thing happened with another local XV. They need to access across muddy lanes and the power steering motor is low down and vulnerable to getting a load of crud around it. This guy has had to have the whole rack replaced and Subaru only part was £1200!

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That’s one of the downsides of Subaru ownership, not alone in that, is the cost of servicing and spare parts. I briefly owne d anew first generation Freelander, very expensive cost of ownership.

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  • 1 year later...

I've just had the same problem, 12 plate Xv, power steering light came on, but with no need to turn as I was reversing straight out of the garage. Light did not clear an power steering didn't work on the driveway, so I abandoned the journey. Car was left out overnight, it snowed, but this morning, no problem, car started, light cleared and steering worked fine. Battery shouldn't be a problem as was replaced last year. So puzzled what to do, if anything.

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I had an issue with my Levorg with the power steering stopping working with a clunk. Turned out to be a loose connection to the Battery. On the positive connection there is the main post connector with thick cable and then a smaller cable coming off via a 10mm stud and nut. My fault as I was wiring up my tow bar and was going to use the 10mm stud to connect my 12v supply, but then saw it was protected by a built in fuse (so changed my mind as I didn't want to risk blowing this fuse). After fitting the tow bar wiring my power steering kept cutting out. That is when I found I had left the connection to the smaller wire loose and it was making and breaking. Hence I found that this wire from the Battery is for the power steering supply. It must take a fair bit of power if they have given it its own power direct from the Battery terminal. 

So I think previous comments on low Battery power could be the right direction for you.

Hope you get sorted soon.

Andy

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  • 10 months later...

how can you find out if its electric power steering thats installed?

my 2012 XV had the "Check Power Steering" warning this morning. It came on before i reversed out, so no turning had been tried. I got it out, but had to put it back again, as the steering was impossibly heavy and not safe to drive.

i'll check out the fault codes tonight....

 

 

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To add to the previous post…its an electrical power steering, and the code reader is showing no fault codes, even though starting the engine causes the steering to give a loud clunk, go very heavy and show a warning on the lcd to check the power steering.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/20/2022 at 7:47 PM, Lightningad said:

To add to the previous post…its an electrical power steering, and the code reader is showing no fault codes, even though starting the engine causes the steering to give a loud clunk, go very heavy and show a warning on the lcd to check the power steering.

 

Did you have any luck sorting this out. Mine did the same on my 14 XV diesel back in January but after restarting it was fine. However over the last couple of weeks it has done the same as yours regularly and today I have tried to restart about a dozen times and its not resetting at all. Every time after about 5 seconds i get the 'clunk' and the warning light and no power steering. Hoping that there is an easy fix to this as I'm thinking otherwise it sounds expensive 😞

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry …only just seen your reply.

it went to a garage and they put the diagnostics on it, but for whatever reason, the code got cleared before anyone took note of it! They checked the Battery, said it’s working fine, and the cars has not had an issue since.

the mechanic seemed v knowledgeable and suggested that what might be the issue is the car had been unused for a week, and when starting it up, things like the auto lights, heaters etc all started to draw on the Battery as soon as the key was turned. The electric steering is very power intensive, and if it detects slightly less current than it requires, it shuts the steering off to prevent the Battery draining.

we had only had the car 6 weeks and not been using it 3very day…don’t know how long its been stood on the forecourt either, so its quite feasible the Battery wasn’t as topped up as it could be. I’ve stopped using the lazy auto light setting and the car has had a few good runs and all seems well now.

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The current sensing is for motor circuit protection, as voltage drops amps increase so things can get damaged  or fires could start if running fully with lower voltage input .
Battery health and power circuit to the steering motor good area inspect .
Electric powered steering is another quality example of garbage idea and junky component engineering/quality .
In such an important system the old hydraulic was far safer and far better for environment, it generally could last 2 to 3 decades, electric systems have issues in well under 10 years, are expensive diagnose and repair to good standard, a safety/reliability concern and more trash for landfill/recycle ...
electric motor faults are fairly common possible cause, code reading diagnostics is not going pinpoint/verify the fault, at best it give some direction for doing tests/inspections on components/circuits but you got test components and collect data to fully diagnose .
There is a very good reason all vehicle all my family members own are old models lol, I ain't got time repair there junk and they don't want waste good money and hassle on the newer vehicle garbage 🙂
 

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  • 10 months later...

Recently had the problem crop up again. Six months ago it happened on a trip out. Got back in the car, started it up and the warninh kicked in, so i unconnected the Battery for a minute, then retried and all was well…until this week. 
On a week in the wilderness of Scotland its happened countless times. The car always starts without a problem, but then its pot luck if touching the steering wheel will trigger the fault or not.

i think i will replace the Battery but was wondering if anyone can recommend whether i’m better off using a Battery with a slightly higher capacity. The current one is a Yausa 3030 with 72ah …but i have seen a different one with 80ah…would this be okay to use or would it cause an issue?

The car is a 2012 XV diesel with the 147bhp engine.

thanks

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  • 3 months later...

I had this problem all winter of 22/23. The car took several start attempts from cold before the steering worked. Early this winter 23/24 I had the same problem. Then one day I was distracted for about 5 seconds after turning on the ignition and before starting the engine and no problem. Since then, I have waited 5 seconds every time when starting from cold and the problem has not recurred. I am not technically minded, so cannot offer an explanation other than the car's electronics seem to take longer to do pre-start checks when the weather is cold.

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