Catastrophic power steering failure

[D9406]

Driving my car yesterday all was good until i entered a roundabout and car didn't want to turn, steering was fairly heavy. next roundabout it was heavier and next roundabout it was obvious I had no power steering left.
Checked fluid resevoir and found it empty, lots of fluid along bottom of car back of front subfr4ame very wet and dripping.
What could have caused this failure in such a short space of road, prior to this there had been no warnings or any heaviness in steering. If seals had gone I'd have thought a gradual loss of fluid so possibly ruptured pipes to the rack?
It's too wet this weekend to get out underneath the car so it can wait, how hard is it to replace the rack? some say drop the subframe and others have wiggled it out so maybe try both methods.
Andy

[steve_earwig]

Yes, more likely to be a ruptured line. Not cheap at all from the dealer's so you'd probably be better off at the breaker's.

[D9406]

Thanks Steve,
Has anyone got a picture from the parts software showing pipes etc?
Andy

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Unfortunately the rules on servicebox have changed.

Your best bet is trawling through old post's that have servicebox diagrams linked.

[D9406]

as an update, the part that failed was the return pipe from the steering box. Steering rack heatshield had worked loose and cut through the metal pipe causing the fluid to escape.
Part required is now unobtanium from Peugeot.
Andy

[Sage103]

Here today as my 406's power steering is showing signs of a faulty pump and this was the first post I came across. But here to say that I managed to put an angle grinder through my Boxer main feed pipe (won't happen again!) but I got a replacement made up for £32 at my local hydraulic engineering shop. Worked perfectly after bleeding. Robbie Fluid Engineering of Bathgate get my recommendation. They did similar work about 8 years ago to allow me to bridge a burst on my Discovery 2 ACE steel pipe.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Here today as my 406's power steering is showing signs of a faulty pump and this was the first post I came across. But here to say that I managed to put an angle grinder through my Boxer main feed pipe (won't happen again!) but I got a replacement made up for £32 at my local hydraulic engineering shop. Worked perfectly after bleeding. Robbie Fluid Engineering of Bathgate get my recommendation. They did similar work about 8 years ago to allow me to bridge a burst on my Discovery 2 ACE steel pipe.

Some of us did advise D9406 to go to Pirtek Uk for a custom pipe
See his other post's on the subject.