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It doesn’t happen every time but sometimes when I start my car the power steering light comes up saying it has failed and then all I do it turn it off and turn it back on and the power steering works again, does anyone have any idea why it’s happening? And is it a long term problem? And how can I fix it? Thanks.

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  • Welcome to the site.. what year and model is your Ibiza? Mar 18, 2019 at 13:04
  • Hi, it’s a 2003 5 door petrol seat ibiza Mar 18, 2019 at 14:51
  • Slight googling reveals it's an electro-hydraulic power steering system.
    – juhist
    Mar 18, 2019 at 20:52
  • First thing to check would be the power steering fluid. It should be in a separate reservoir on the front left (underneath the battery, may need to remove it).
    – Daniel
    Mar 19, 2019 at 1:02
  • @Daniel Unlikely to be fluid-related - the light doesn't come on for fluid level Mar 19, 2019 at 9:30

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Typically the first port of call for this on the Mk3 Ibiza is actually the battery - the Power Assisted Steering (PAS) pump is quite a big draw on these and they can throw the light for this. If you battery is old or otherwise showing signs of weakness that would be a good place to start.

The fact that it seems to clear on a quick restart leans me against this in your case though - the battery is going to be weaker the second time around as unless you've driven it a bit the alternator won't have had time to replenish the initial effort of starting.

A known fault on these that causes the PAS light to be lit is the 50A fuse for the PAS pump - they have a tendency to crack which causes an intermittent connection and this leads to the light.

If neither of these things then it might be the pump itself - they are electric and sometimes suffer from water ingress at the connectors causing intermittent electrical faults.

Another possibility is the steering angle sensor, an outside bet though.

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  • Perhaps with this in mind, a good first step would be to put the battery on charge overnight to see if that stops the fault at first startup in the morning. Mar 19, 2019 at 9:47
  • @SteveMatthews Agreed! Mar 19, 2019 at 9:51
  • Okie dokie, thank you all for your advise, I’ll put my battery on charge tomorrow day when I get home from work and will see how out goes after re-connecting that night 🤞 will update with result 😁 Mar 19, 2019 at 19:32
  • Nope the battery didn’t work so I’ll try changing the fuse yes? 😅 Mar 21, 2019 at 7:30
  • @CharlotteHardy Yeah fuse would probably be my next step. Mar 21, 2019 at 13:45

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