ford fiesta st150, very heavy steering!!!! help

[jgavin1]

hi all. purchased my lovely little 2005 fiesta st with only 44k on the clock a couple of months ago

power steering felt a little heavier than usual after i bought the car but thought nothing of it it just recently has felt extremely heavy compared to normal it is very heavy on startup so the its heavy before the fluids had time to heat up

i had it put into a garage where the changed the ps fluid but made no difference
they checked the rack itself and found no leaks or damage
said the pump is fine
tyres are at correct pressures

one thing is the previous owner had 2 new front springs fitted prior to purchase so not sure if fitting these incorrectly could cause heavy steering ??

any other ideas would be greatly appreciated

[LuS1fer]

The steering is quite heavy on these anyway. Mine is reasonably heavy for a small car.

Different springs shouldn't make any difference but check the front springs as they tend to snap. The only other thing I can think of is that the strut top mounts and bearings may be knackered/dry.

[jgavin1]

Thanks for the reply.

Checked the springs and theres no obvious damage and no spring related knocks of clangs when turning the wheel

The steering pump belt is turning when on so i know the pump works and you can hear it on full lock

Will check my strut bearings and post the results

[jgavin1]

Also noticed when the cars been sitting unsused i look in the ps fluid reservoir only the tube coming up the middle is full of fluid and the rest of the tank is empty :/ when warm the tank if full to the max level

[Bradd3rs]

My ST has heavy steering, its normal on the ST's, even when you change the fluid it will jsut get boiled again straight away unless you get a PAS relocation kit