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[jereboam]

I've been moaning about the ABS/ECU problems on my car, and occasionally mentioned that the power steering and gearbox have been playing up.

Could these problems all be related? And caused by some wiring problem?

The thing is that the power steering stopped for a while a couple of days ago at the same time as the speedo was out and the ABS and TC lights were on.  Then very suddenly it all came back at once. 

A few months ago I had to have the heater matrix replaced, which meant that the dashboard had to be dismounted.  I wasn't happy with the garage that did the job for a variety of reasons, and now I'm beginning to wonder whether they put the thing back together properly.  Could there be a multi-purpose connector not properly seated somewhere behind the dashboard making intermittent contact?

[tigers_gonads]

Possible 
At the end of the day, its all speed sensor related 

[Johnny English]

I've been moaning about the ABS/ECU problems on my car, and occasionally mentioned that the power steering and gearbox have been playing up.

Could these problems all be related? And caused by some wiring problem?

The thing is that the power steering stopped for a while a couple of days ago at the same time as the speedo was out and the ABS and TC lights were on.  Then very suddenly it all came back at once. 

A few months ago I had to have the heater matrix replaced, which meant that the dashboard had to be dismounted.  I wasn't happy with the garage that did the job for a variety of reasons, and now I'm beginning to wonder whether they put the thing back together properly.  Could there be a multi-purpose connector not properly seated somewhere behind the dashboard making intermittent contact?

Yes, something that common in all : either a multi-connector or the ground cable.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Yes as the ABS system provides the speed signal for many systems including the power steering

[jereboam]

Yes as the ABS system provides the speed signal for many systems including the power steering

Hope it's not a stupid question, but why does the power steering require a speed signal?  Presumably it needs to do less work at higher speeds, but since steering wheel movement significantly reduces with speed, I would have assumed it was self compensating, if you see what I mean.

The fault occurs most often when I've just started or re-started the engine.  As far as I can recall, it can occur when the ABS/TC lights aren't on.  Obviously, since the car is virtually stationary, I can't say whether it is associated with the speedo problem, but since that is definitely associated with the ABS/TC lights, it would be the same.

[Kevin Wood]

Power steering assistance is reduced with increasing speed. If you had the same level of assistance at motorway speeds as you have when parking it would be a bit twitchy.

When speed signal is lost, it defaults to a low level of assistance, I.E. steering becomes heavy.