Calais Power Steering Troubles?!?!

[Troyziee]

ok VP calais has tha power assit steering,

and for a while now if i rip it around a round-a-bout or sumthing the power steering will turn off for a while then cum bak on, a mate said this means tha seals or pump is on its way out, it went offline bout a week ago and hasnt cum bak on yet, so im assumin its finally given up??

how much is it guna cost 2 fix? and where can i go 2 get it fixed? any mechanic or specialty 1s? cause they need 2 replace it with tha Calais' power assit steering not jus normal power steering

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Have you checked the fluid level? If that is low it will lose assist. Does the pump make a whining noise? You need to determine whether it is the rack or the pump that has crapped out.

[Boonz]

i think its name is "varitronic" or something similar, and they are pretty expensive to overhaul or buy.... if your keen on spending the money to have lighter steering then yeh i would get it overhauled but if your not fussed then id just put on a standard pump

[Troyziee]

fluid looks about half, always been around that level, and ye if im reversing n on full lock n that it squels, not as bad as sum iv heard, but from tha cabin u can hear a small squell

[MasterOfReality]

Mate,

You have exactly the same problem I did about 2 months ago.

My power steering cut out everytime I booted it out of roundabouts. Mine eventually cut out for good and i left if for about 6 months, but the steering was terrible - really sluggish.

My pump was fine, so were all the power steering lines.

I took it to Holden (I wish I didnt because now the alternator light keeps coming on, and they insisted that it was like that when I brought it in ) and they reset the BCM which cured the problem.

I have the receipt next to me right now, it reads:

*Rectify steering, goes from heavy to soft all the time
*Checked for steering sensitive and not working
*Checked speed sensor switch operation
*Checked harness for short
*Reset BCM and checked operation
*Found to be working ok

This cost me a total of $185.25

They told me that the next thing they would have done was replace the valve/solenoid in the rack, and that would have been around $400.

So reset the BCM first and see what that does.

[Troyziee]

ok, im far from a mechanic, so any chance u can give me an idea of wat tha BCM is and how u reset it?

[MasterOfReality]

I am not too sure, but i think the BCM is the box that sits under the left hand side of the steering column, has all the stuff in there for power windows as well.

Dont know how you reset it, maybe you pull a fuse or something.

Just ring up holden and ask them how you do it, but they will probably be tight and tell you to book it in.

After i had mine fixed, I drove 1000km to Brisbane and the car hasnt played up since.

[AirStrike]

Replace it with a standard power rack and pump and piss that girly variatronic **** off! They are much more expensive to repair and are only made to stop grandpa fish tailing it up the road when he ****s himself at 100km/h.

[Troyziee]

nahhhhhhhhhhh, its a calais, its gota have tha smooth steering i luv it :P

and masterofreality im hoping its just tha same thing that was wrong with urs, looks to b if u had tha exact same symptons, i bloody hope so cause as airstrike pointed out, i was assuming they would b alot more 2 repair and replace than normal power steering pumps n racks

[AirStrike]

nahhhhhhhhhhh, its a calais, its gota have tha smooth steering i luv it :P

and masterofreality im hoping its just tha same thing that was wrong with urs, looks to b if u had tha exact same symptons, i bloody hope so cause as airstrike pointed out, i was assuming they would b alot more 2 repair and replace than normal power steering pumps n racks

What's smooth about it? All it does is increase fluid pressure with speed to make it harder to turn at high speeds.

[calais_cruzin]

My Racks and pump craped it self bout 3months ago , still yet to be fixed.

The racks have a teflon seal in it, once that goes it goes into the pump n wrecks that.

I got quoted 750 to fix my pwr steer.

Goin to do it myself for 320 for racks 60 for pump n all the hose's

Varialtronic is a pain in the back side, but is good on the road.
100km n it tight, better than a VN who is light as n one slight bump n off she goes to the right.

Got any leaks near ya racks or hose's the will drop the boost

[AirStrike]

My Racks and pump craped it self bout 3months ago , still yet to be fixed.

The racks have a teflon seal in it, once that goes it goes into the pump n wrecks that.

I got quoted 750 to fix my pwr steer.

Goin to do it myself for 320 for racks 60 for pump n all the hose's

Varialtronic is a pain in the back side, but is good on the road.
100km n it tight, better than a VN who is light as n one slight bump n off she goes to the right.

Got any leaks near ya racks or hose's the will drop the boost

You must drive some shagged VN's if they go off to the right on a bump.

[calais_cruzin]

Nah that was just a example.

What i was gettin at is there alot more floatier on the road at 100km then what it is with variatronic.

I do admit that u cant turn into a corner as good as u have to put alot more effort in to get it to turn but i would rather that then have it just be really light at high speed.

[MasterOfReality]

Yeah, hopefully its just your bcm that needs resetting.

I went to one power steering place that wanted to replace the rack and pump and stuff, $900. Told me that if the plastic seals let go, it takes out the pump.

Don't bag the variotronic, its much better than the crappy power steering my VS S pac had.

[Troyziee]

knowing my luck i reakon its tha seals, thats wat i initially thought it was, when i get a chance 2 get under tha front end properly ill have a good inspection n c

[V85000i]

pull out the fuel pump fuse and put it back, you will hear the BCM click and i think the indicators flash, and the BCM will be reset.

[Troyziee]

can i ask wat is tha BCM? cause wen i was doin my fuel filter, i was spose 2 take my fuel pump fuse out, n i took out tha relay (big bosch 1?) but i dont think thats tha fuse? but cant find any other pump fuses.............?

[V85000i]

it's a blade fuse, one right near the guard, there's 6 fuses there, one is for the fuel pump, and the BCM is Body Control Module, which controls everything like central locking, speed Variable steering, courtesy lamps, and alarm i think, plus heaps of other stuff i can't remember.

[Troyziee]

ok theres a slight squealll from tha steering when im reversing outa a car park n that n on hard steer, so will that mean pump or rack....?

[V85000i]

that would just be the belt slipping

[Troyziee]

fair enough, so that doesnt give u any hint of whether its tha pump or rack?

[fnlow1]

Yeah normally there is a bit of a groan whenever your on full lock, i was lead to believe it has to do with the amount of pressure in the power steer system at full lock.

[fnlow1]

Hey did you fix this problem mate?

[Troyziee]

nah, hasnt done it for ages now, probably cause i dont do skids anymore, but its all good, no groaning

[fnlow1]

I don't do skids either. Did you try resetting the BCM at all?