POWER STEERING FAULT

[ayjvee]

(Have also posted this in 225 section, but imagine this could be a common fault?)


Hi, this adds to the continuing saga of the heap of @#/* I bought called a Renault Megane Mk11 225 Cup (2005) in Sept 2012.
Since i last wrote the passenger door tray has been filling up with water and the boot locking mechanism seized up with me eventually breaking the 'latch' trying to open it!! I've just paid almost £200 to have these fixed. Both doors and front windows rattle, but hey ho, I turn the music up loud!
But now.... the power steering is playing up! It's erratic, but on too many occasions I turn a corner at slowish speed and the steering still wants to be turning after the corner! The steering becomes incredibly heavy and it takes quite some effort to get the car back on track so as to speak. (I'm sure I felt a slight 'click' the other day - or could i have imagined it?) Other times, the steering is fine. There are no warning lights showing anywhere and 80% of the time the steering is fine.
Would anyone have any ideas please, or maybe had the same problem?
Many thanks.

(My old 172 Clio is still in my garage as I've been unable to sell it to date - looks as though I'll have this beautiful little car back on the road with my rolling heap of a Megane taking it's place soon enough!)

[AlexB]

It may be a known problem with Renault PerfoHub (independent steering-axis front suspension design), which gets mechanically seized. What do you expect from an 8 y.o. track car? Its springs, dampers and bushes are probably a bit tired as well. The hub might be not as expensive to fix as the steering column.

I hope you are using a high HTHS engine oil and a lim slip specific gear oil, both fresh...

[ayjvee]

Hmm, not sure how to take your comment "...what do you expect...etc.." I might be foolish, but I'm not an idiot.
That aside, I take on board your further comments regarding bushes etc, this will be worth speaking to the mechanic about.
As for your hopes pertaining to the type of engine oil I'm using.... the car was fully serviced, by Renault in October 2012, so one would assume they used .......

[AlexB]

Yes, it sounds patronising if read aloud... sorry. What I meant was that certain parts wear out, one of them being the hub. Someone wrote long ago that it includes a needle bearing and a seal. What gives up first is hard to tell, but eventually the whole thing seizes. I have the next generation of RS, but still yet to get to the manuals for this hub. Try to get it repaired under the Sales of Goods and Services Act.

The other mentioned parts may be intact, but they can be deteriorating over time. The most worrying are the shocks, which make the Cup so good. They change their properties very slowly, though. So, you will feel a difference only after getting a new car, and then you will not care. The bushes and the top engine mount, however, can and must be checked. They are critical for performance driving.

Now I am thinking about water ingress. Usually water comes either through the door speaker (flooding the door pocket first), or from the bulkhead due to drain blockage. Check if the previous owner had an aftermarket speaker installed and then removed. The drains are cleaned by poking them with a wire through the mesh.

Regarding the oil. Dealer often use minimum specification oil, one of such being the factory ELF, the other Castrol Magnatec C3. Ask the guys at opieoils for a performance option. Upon some research I chose Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 5W-40 Ester, which has a much higher HTHS compared to regular synthetic oils, while still satisfying ACEA standards for normal road use. "Ester" is the key word - read about it.