Corsa 1.3 CDTi advice please

[Doggy]

My lad's 06 Poxhall went wrong this morning. He started it from cold and set about scraping windows, (-5 hereabouts when I left home this morning).
When he got in, he noticed the ABS/Brake fail light on, but tried moving off and discovered he had no PAS and no brakes, (had to use the handbrake to stop).
I was trying to think of a single failure that might give these issues, & wondered if an aux drive belt could do it, (if the vacuum pump was driven off it), but it doesn't seem to fit. He doesn't think the battery w/l was on and didn't run it long enough to know if the heater was warming up normally.

Could these have some sort of common brakes/steering hydraulic system?

Any other ideas?

He's still got a bit of his 3-month's warranty left, but we haven't read the small print.......

[lozz]

its the same set up as the fiat punto
if im correct the modern corsa is electric steering No power steering pump,

a iffy battery can cause these problems with cars fitted with the crappy electronic steering


see ebay link for use of pictures http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vauxhall-cors ... 416f118520

[Doggy]

You could well be right there, lozz - I bin a-googling, much talk of iffy abs sensors/connectors leading to it not knowing the speed and setting the assistance wrongly. But no brakes?

After talking to him a bit more it seems there's a steering w/l and that's on too.

[steve_earwig]

Is the braking vacuum provided by a cam driven pump or something electric?

Or a gerbil running in a little wheel...

[lozz]

Steering w/l

you mean the steering lock wont come off ? (sorry lost ya there,)

[steve_earwig]

I guessed warning light

[lozz]

Ibet the frost as killed off the battery,

not sure about the poxhall but the fiat kintos with the electric steering Have a Bsi unit like pugs wasp hive

[Doggy]

Seems to be working again.

Steering's back to normal and TBH I couldn't follow what he was saying about the brakes - OK, but had to press the pedal a few times first

Seems the steering is electric and can overload/lock out if held against a lock-stop. They even do an uprated one for driving schools.......

Other common trait is doing odd things if the battery voltage is low, (which seems more plausible, given the -5C temp this morning and the strain of starting even a toy diesel.

My money's on it needing a battery before the winter's out.

[Welly]

It might pay you (I say 'you' because you'll end up paying for it no doubt) to change the battery in any case? if there's no evidence to suggest its had a battery before then its probably due one.

I've heard these PAS pump need a good Woltage because they consume a lot of Hamps.

Don't know about the brakes?

[lozz]

Seems to be working again.

Steering's back to normal and TBH I couldn't follow what he was saying about the brakes - OK, but had to press the pedal a few times first

Seems the steering is electric and can overload/lock out if held against a lock-stop. They even do an uprated one for driving schools.......

Other common trait is doing odd things if the battery voltage is low, (which seems more plausible, given the -5C temp this morning and the strain of starting even a toy diesel.

My money's on it needing a battery before the winter's out.

if its the Battery thats causing the fault, he shouid notice a clicking noise, (like relay chatter)
the steering ecu shuts down if the battery is down on volts,

when they lock off, the steering is light on left turns and Megga heavy on right turns, (stupid desighn)
gets me why these little cars need elecy-steering anyway there light enough withought it if the tyres are pumped up to the correct psi

[Welly]

The electric motor only provides the Hydraulic pumping action of a traditional PAS pump only it is taken away from the Auxillary parts of the engine (to save fuel). For all intents and purposes an 'electric' PS system is the same as any other.

If they ever produce a steer-by-wire PAS system I will walk off into the sunset and throw my keys in the bin.

(awaits someone to tell me that this kinda system is actually available).

[lozz]

the only thing ifound good about the elecy steering is the Parking, very handy if your in a rush

[Doggy]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CDsQ9QEwCQ

Might I suggest a compass or GPS to determine where the sunset actually is?

[lozz]

heres the punto set up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn-zjIWI3dY

you will notice the relays are in the motor

[Welly]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CDsQ9QEwCQ

Might I suggest a compass or GPS to determine where the sunset actually is?

Holy sh*t, are you saying that you turn the Steering Wheel......electricity happens.....and that 'thing' pushes/pulls on the track rods for you? or is the steering wheel actually connected, by column, to that thing?