Bongo Fury

I pulled out of a parking space up Glencoe, and wellied it across the road to slot into traffic.

I was turning the steering wheel pretty hard at the time and really booted it, and it felt as if for a brief second the steering went really heavy, almost as if it stuck. I remember this because I cr@pped myself thinking that if it had been any worse, I'd have dropped off the verge on the other side! It was a real night/day moment - it suddenly went heavy and just as suddenly recovered.

One of my mates said that there can be pressure relief valves on power steering but I'm not sure if I was actually at full lock or not.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Driver+Passengers wrote:I pulled out of a parking space up Glencoe, and wellied it across the road to slot into traffic.

I was turning the steering wheel pretty hard at the time and really booted it, and it felt as if for a brief second the steering went really heavy, almost as if it stuck. I remember this because I cr@pped myself thinking that if it had been any worse, I'd have dropped off the verge on the other side! It was a real night/day moment - it suddenly went heavy and just as suddenly recovered.

One of my mates said that there can be pressure relief valves on power steering but I'm not sure if I was actually at full lock or not.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I recall reading of one (or was it two) power steering failures on here that sounded 'interesting' from the drivers point of view. I'm keeping a close eye on mine as there is a small amount of unexplained liquid on the kerb where I park (though others do too, so not sure its from my Bongo) and equating to it having dropped from the n/s front, behind the wheel arch. Probably nothing but I'll keep an eye on things as I reckon the p/s can get tired on these oldish Bongos.

mikeonb4c wrote:I recall reading of one (or was it two) power steering failures on here that sounded 'interesting' from the drivers point of view.

I should have looked harder - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=17976
While fluid and possibly belt change may be advised, it seems that this 'one second' fault is uncommon, intermittent, and happens when steering is under load.

I'm probably just going to forget about it for a while...

Did this incident/glitch happen shortly after starting the vehicle??

jaylee wrote:Did this incident/glitch happen shortly after starting the vehicle??

Yes. The whole thing was cold (other than a few minutes idling in order to get the roof down).

I have to admit, i had a similar thing happen to me about four years ago... only i was backing out a long drive & on hard left hand lock turning in reverse onto the road on an incline on full lock (or near full.).. Only happened once, never got to the bottom of it, & since been through 3 MOT's with no steering issues... In fact no real issue at all!! Never happened since... Almost like the system briefly thought the ignition was off?? I dunno.

I presume you have already checked the power steering res? Mine when stiff a while ago, and I noticed the res was low. topped up and all was well

dext924 wrote:I presume you have already checked the power steering res? Mine when stiff a while ago, and I noticed the res was low. topped up and all was well

In my case, (not knowing much about this sort of thing) it was the first place i looked...

I believe it's full, though he/she's away to get a new starter so I can't pop out and check - from memory, I can just see the liquid topping out above the bottom of the filter.

Possibly a loose/slipping belt, accelerating hard while cold will show up any problem there.

this sort of no steering usually follows when the steering has been put on full lock, or at least when the pressure relief valve in the pump has reacted to the high pressure in the system near to full lock, then removed quickly,the pressure relief valve sticks open until the pressure drops against it,(opposite lock applied) then steering is resumed. the changes of flow through the rotary valve is usually enough to sort things out.
but crud in the system, or valve, old oil, will slow this reaction time.

another reason this could happen is when the revs are low and a lot of lock is applied. the vanes of the pump are designed to slide in groves to contact the inner wall of the pump,if the oil is old or dirty,or the vanes are worn, this will impact on efficiency when a lot is asked of the system.

Driver+Passengers wrote:I pulled out of a parking space up Glencoe, and wellied it across the road to slot into traffic.

I was turning the steering wheel pretty hard at the time and really booted it, and it felt as if for a brief second the steering went really heavy, almost as if it stuck. I remember this because I cr@pped myself thinking that if it had been any worse, I'd have dropped off the verge on the other side! It was a real night/day moment - it suddenly went heavy and just as suddenly recovered.

One of my mates said that there can be pressure relief valves on power steering but I'm not sure if I was actually at full lock or not.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I've experienced this with my bongo VERY occasionally! On the odd occasion i've span the wheel whilst stationary very quickly... Like the power steering pump couldn't keep up It's happened maybe half a dozen times over seven years of ownership... I suppose the fluid could use a change now it's 16 years old.

Driver+Passengers wrote:I pulled out of a parking space up Glencoe, and wellied it across the road to slot into traffic.

I was turning the steering wheel pretty hard at the time and really booted it, and it felt as if for a brief second the steering went really heavy, almost as if it stuck. I remember this because I cr@pped myself thinking that if it had been any worse, I'd have dropped off the verge on the other side! It was a real night/day moment - it suddenly went heavy and just as suddenly recovered.

One of my mates said that there can be pressure relief valves on power steering but I'm not sure if I was actually at full lock or not.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Hi,
It would be worth checking and lubricating the 2 universal joints on the Steering Shaft.

Cheers.

That's a very good point... i know i've never done mine