jayst3

Hi all thought I'd say hello. I've recently brought a 2006 st3 overall I'm happy with the car. When buying I knew it had a alternator, battery, steering rack and pump last year. Any way yesterday after starting the car and driving for about a minute the steering went tight when coming off a island then went back to normal almost instantly it also done it again this morning. It only does it when first started and driven? I've checked the power steering fluid level and that's fine. There also seems to be a faint knock when sitting with the car running and rocking the wheel to left to right? Any suggestions? Cheers Jay

Rowe

sounds like a power related problem to me. I'd get the battery load tested and get someone to check that the alternaotr is charging properly when it's first started in a morning, and then again once it's been ran for a while.

jayst3

cheers for the reply I'll be able to check these myself. I'll do it tonight when I'm home. It doesn't seem to have any other symptoms of low battery ect it starts fine and no lights on the dash.

Rowe

Pumps are a very uncommon failure on them. Although I do know a few people who have had to replace the rack assembly.
You could try adjusting the steering settings in the menu too. Might be set on sport mode

jayst3

it had a new pump, rack, alternator, battery and steering angle sensor last year and it's done less than 3000 miles since. I've tried it in all 3 settings and does do it more in sport. It's like for a split second the steering locked. The cars has been stood for 2 months before I got it. So I'll check battery ect tonight and scan for codes.

Rowe

the fact that it's all been replaced recently makes me think that maybe this is an issue the previous owner was also trying to fix.

jayst3

It could possibly. It didn't do it though for the first week of me having it. The cars only done 55000 miles and has only done 3-5k a year. It doesn't make any odd noises when it does it. I thought they had all been replaced as I was on the understanding that a bad alternator on these can cause steering rack/pump problems and alternators tend to be a common problem