hi, i have recently bought a 1999 xj8 3.2 sport and the steering is very heavy, ive driven xj's before and know the steering is light when manoeuvring and tight when upto speed. my steering is very heavy and sometimes difficult to park with. now tonight i got in after not using the car all day and the steering was lovely and light and was spot on. i then turned the car off and left it for about half an hour, came back and the steering went light then heavy then it decided to go light and heavy at the same time and was difficult to drive, by the time i got home the steering had gone back to heavy again.
what the hell is wrong with my steering??
please help someone!

mike

 

Have you tried topping up the power steering fluid? The reservoir is located on the left side of the engine bay bolted to the wheel arch. It is black with ZF embossed on the top, which is also the dip stick when removed.

Hope this helps.

S.

 

Is there any noise coming from the steering while moving the wheels left and right? Does it appear when you turn the steering up to it's end on one of the directions?

Is a noise appears - the hydraulic fluid is low (the container is where Stu 1986 describes it).

If not - probably the quality of the fluid has dropped in time... This fluids are very susceptible to water (they absorb moisture) and because of this they are losing viscosity (the fluids is getting more dense). I suggest you flush and change the steering fluid - in 99% cases this should fix your problem.

Maybe the problem has appeared now because of the low temperature as the hydraulic fluids, like the engine oil, changes its density with the temp (more dense when cold).

 

Ok thanks, I've got my mechanic to do a fluid flush out and change so that should do it fingers crossed!! Thanks for helping!!

 

Sorry, no there's no noise from the steering, it steers the car really well with no problems just the heaviness that's all. A fluid change should cure it!

 

The X300 uses the same PAS Steering Control Module so the diagnostic TSB for the X300 can be used as a guide.

The fast easy way to take the SCM out of the equation is to substitute a known good part from another car (5 minutes to swap them)

I have never seen one fail but there is always the possibility.

bob gauff