S212 power steering fault?

[ChrisHGTV]

Hello all, I have a bit of a puzzling steering issue with my 2011 S212 E250. I wonder if anyone has any ideas before I take it my Indy?

Basically I have noticed that if I drive through a puddle (not talking about wading through a deep puddle but one say 3” deep) occasionally the steering goes heavy and then returns to normal after a short while. I thought this could be due to water getting on the aux belt causing slipping and loss of pump pressure? Though the belt seems to be quite out of the way. The belt seems pretty well tensioned and in good shape from what I can see.

But now I’m sure the steering feels heavier all the time, but it’s difficult to gauge. I have read that steering pumps are known to failure so maybe the pump is on its way out. Fluid level is fine.

Any other ideas or anything more I can check? I’m more concerned that if the pump is failing I don’t want it to knacker the steering rack before I can get it looked at.

Cheers!

 

[b21playa]

Hi

Did you ever get to the bottom on this as mine has done this before.

 

[ChrisHGTV]

No but I’m actually booking it in for a service next week so will ask them to check it. From what I can see there might be a couple of possibilities. Apparently there’s a valve on the steering rack that adjusts the speed sensitive bit, so it could be that. Or it might be the electrical connection to this valve in the same area on the rack. This might be the issue when I’ve lost power steering when going through a puddle, so maybe there’s a bad connection there. I’ll report back after next week!