Potential Power Steering Woes...

[GingerMagic]

The steering on my car seems heavy at times, and does grumble a bit through the steering wheel when slow speed turning. The fluid level is fine, although pump may be a bit noisy, no obvious leaks or my mechanic would have mentioned it when doing my sump.
I plugged into PP2000 earlier and there is a listing for' Variable Power Steering' under the 'Test by ECU' function.
Apparently the ECU is missing, and PP2000 can't talk to it, but it is there in the list...?
Why would this ECU be missing? Is it possible that it has been removed by a previous owner to activate some sort of 'default' setting - and would fitting one cause more problems..?? Maybe there is a missing relay too...?
Any ideas?
Cheers, Kelv.

[rwb]

You could check your VIN in ServiceBox to see if it left the factory with variable steering.

[GingerMagic]

Oh, I have ' Unvariable Power Steering '. I assumed my as my car is a 2004 Executive it would have it - silly me.

I guess this means I have a bog standard steering rack, apart from the ESP.

Hmmm, I best get my PAS pump checked out then either that or change the fluid.

[Doggy]

Neither of mine had variable, (girly mode), PAS. Reckon it's a v6 thang.

No chance your aux belt's slipping, is there Kelv?

[GingerMagic]

Its a brand-new belt fitted on Tuesday following the sump and A/C pump removal. I did think maybe something was disturbed but the steering abnormalities started about a month ago.

[mjb]

What about the crankshaft pulley? Get a bit of tippex or a marker or something and mark a radial line across it and a few days later see if the line's still unbroken

[Welly]

Sticky top mounts?

[Doggy]

Sticky top mounts?

Could be, mine went slightly heavy and lost a bit of self-centeringness. Definitely worth jacking it up and having a listen*.

* refers to lifting the front wheels off the road, no interaction with ICE required *

[GingerMagic]

One strut-top bearing was replaced last year for the MOT, the other was fine ( at the time )

As for Jacking it up, ICE isn't my thing really. I keep Slipknot , Elbow and Girls Aloud CDs in the car and that gets me through my journeys.....