Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[dtnorth]

Any thoughts on this.

Once the car has warmed up, I get a squealing noise every time I turn either left or right.

It doesn't sound mechanical.  More like hydraulics going wrong.....

It only started aftet "I thought" I should "Top Up" the power steering fluid.

Could I have over filled and blown someting with the extra pressure.

[Markjay]

It does sound like PAS related.

But if you are unsure if the noise is actually from the PAS, take-out the PAS fuse and see what happens - you can do this by turning the steering wheel while stationery, but if the test is not conclusive then drive the car over a short distance very slowly and carefully as turning the steering wheel will be (very) difficult...

The dipstick is incorporated in the filler cap - check to see if it you over-filled, and if so then take some out using a syringe then see what happens?

Also, the correct fluid is ATF Dexron II (not Dexron III).

And last, try moving the steering from full lock to full lock a few times - this 'bleeding' should normally only be needed if changing the fluid, not when topping-up, but in this case it is not clear how much was actually missing?

[dtnorth]

Thanks.  I'll give it a try.

Anything to stop the racket will be lovely and less embarrasing.

[dtnorth]

I'm also a severe victim of VX dealers.

My last visit cost £1200, in order to repair that which they broke.

On an MOT they decided to remove the CAMShaft cover and duly broke 2
bolts in the engine.   Lo and behold the engine came out and was sent to a
specialist to drill out there F up.  Why did they take off the camshaft cover?

The engine was fine..............

Cost @780

After that obscenity I never went back to VX again, however recently Having had very
severe shaking from the front of the car, I took it to a friend of friend.

It took him 5 days to get the front wheels off.  Drilling out the locking wheel nuts as
apparently VX mechanic drones think that Torque is some kind of cheap Margarine and
had used their pneumatic at every opportunity stripping the paint off of the alloys
in the process.

I think that there is a case to answer here.    

1) VX is a product

2) VX staff are trained in the maintenance of that product.

3) VX staff damaged the product by not following procedure as outlined
    in VX maintenace procedures.   ( From VX Omega CD )

Not a bloody leg to stand on......  

Oh well...    

[Markjay]

Cam covers tend to leak on these engines, usually due to blocked breather box, which is why 3-5k oil changes are important (forget Vx 10k and 20k schedules). So they may have spotted a leak and tried to fix it - but still they should have advised you about it and quoted you in advance before tackling the job.

Also, I am surprised that the garage made you pay the full cost of their mishap..

The good thing about main dealers as opposed to back-street garages is that they usually belong to trade associations such as http://www.rmif.co.uk/ , so depending on how long ago this was you could make a complain and potentially even use their arbitration service, see http://www.rmif.co.uk/Images/Uploaded/Download_108.pdf .

[Kevin Wood]

If it was in for an MOT why were they working on it at all? MOT testers are not permitted to dismantle anything during a test, even if it is necessary to reach an item they need to inspect.

If they managed to shear off bolts removing the cam cover they're incompetent. I can understand a decent mechanic sometimes shearing an exhaust manifold stud, for example, because they're liable to sieze, but a cam cover bolt?

Edited to say:

Before I started ranting about incompetent mechanics I meant to ask if the noise you're getting is the aux drive belt? Maybe the load from the PAS pump is causing it to slip and squeal?

Kevin

[dtnorth]

Before I started ranting about incompetent mechanics I meant to ask if the noise you're getting is the aux drive belt? Maybe the load from the PAS pump is causing it to slip and squeal?

Kevin.    That sounds like the problem......      A new pump needed perhaps?

[Kevin Wood]

A new pump needed perhaps?

Not necessarily. Could just be a worn or loose belt. It's normal for the load on the belt to increase due to steering input and it may just be slipping because its worn.

Is there any sign of fluid leakage from the pump? Another possibility is that fluid has leaked and contaminated the belt. Often you can see a trail of fluid on the surrounding components at a tangent to the pump shaft where it has been "thrown off" the rotating pulley.

Kevin