No power steering from cold

[jujututu]

Hi all

When it's very cold, my power steering fails to work. After a mile or so I can get it working by turning the ignition off and back on. After that, it works as usual until the next cold start...

Anyone experienced this or have heard of this issue before?

Thanks

Jules

[m5killer]

Have you checked power steering fluid level

[jujututu]

Yes, it was on the min mark and is now topped up to the max but it hasn't fixed it

I'm going to get it flushed as I know it can lose its properties over time. Perhaps in the cold weather it is too cold and the pump refuses to operate? I have no idea...

[m5killer]

Strange one was it definitely the proper fluid you used?

[jujututu]

So, turns out the fluid in the reservoir wasn't the correct fluid. When I topped it up and subsequently removed some as I overfilled it, I noticed the fluid was brown and not green!

Saying that, my garage flushed it out and replaced it on Monday. Tuesday morning it was fine but...this morning it was back to not working but after a few minutes of driving and turning the ignition off and on it was fine.

Help!!

[Rs4nah]

Have you ran a diagnostic on VCDS to see if something throws up on there?

[jujututu]

I haven't run VCD, will give that a go.

I bought some more fluid and flushed out another litre as, on inspection, the fluid was still brown and not the lovely clear green it should be. It's now more green but I think I still need to flush more. Good news is that it hasn't failed the last few mornings but it is a lot milder weather wise now...

Out of interest, does anyone know the full capacity of the power steering system as in reservoir, pump and rack?

[Vik87]

I had a similar issue on mine however flushing the system done the trick. I can't remember how much fluid it exactly took but my fluid looked contaminated and was bubbling out of the reservoir.