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MG MGF Technical - power steering - help required

My power steering is playing up and was wondering if anyone had any ideas?

Symptoms:-

Turn the ignition and I hear click, click, click (upto 6 times), which seems to be a relay type noise. Turn ignition further to start the engine and power steering light does not go out and no power steering. Stop engine and start it again, still no power steering and no clicks this time either. The next day the power steering may work okay - that's what I love about my MG, never quite know what to expect!

Stupid Questions:-

Is the Power Steering relay that Yellow 1 inch cube near the battery? Is it worth replacing it?

Is the power steering fuse the 70A one near the battery with the opaque plastic cover?

Any other ideas to avoid a trip to my 'not so friendly' dealer?


Thank you in advance

John

PS

I don't mind the problem too much as having manual steering is fun, but I need to sort it out very quickly as someone else also drives the car as well!
John

>Any other ideas to avoid a trip to my 'not so friendly' dealer?

Other than try a more friendly dealer I can't help....

http://www.dotcomoff.demon.co.uk

Home of the MG Dealer Guide, F'ers Gallery and new MGF FAQ. :)
Paul Lathwell

John,

I had the same problem on my 1999 MGF. The power steering just failed altogether in between journeys.

Take a look at the front off-side wing under the bonnet. You'll see a large cable connector box with two thick brown wires connected (lucas type connectors). Unplug the wires and clean the spade terminals in the box as best you can with light emery paper. Replug the cables and then coat the gaps where the connectors enter the terminal box with a thick silicon grease (as you would a battery terminal).

The problem is that water corrodes the spade terminals and causes intermittent connection.
KENNETH JAMES MATTHEWS

John, when I first picked up The Little Red Rocket, none of the electrics or Power steering worked. I took out all the fuses under the bonnet (Including the 40amp one) cleaned them all up and - BINGO everything came back. some silicone sealant seems to help prevent this happening as water can't enter as easily. There is an article on this somewhere. I'll dig it out and mail it to you if ya like.

Cheers

Kieren
Kieren Gibson

A-ha, found the article quicker than I thought...HTH
Technical Tip - Total and sudden loss of the power steering on my F. Ken Matthews

Coming of a motorway (where you don't notice there's no power steering) and trying to negotiate a roundabout without it can be mighty unnerving!!!
This occurred because the main fuse located under the bonnet on the near side, over the wheel arch had got corroded from the normal water ingress through the front of the car. The fuse is part of a plastic terminal box with a clear plastic cover (removable by sliding it back towards the windscreen) and two thick brown cables with spade connectors on the ends. The fuse plugs into these connectors and the cables needed to be unplugged and removed from the box itself (they just pull out) and cleaned up. On reassembly it pays to put silicon grease over the front of the box where the cables enter it to prevent water being driven up there in future.
Incidentally this fuse can also cause complete failure of all sorts of other things since it feeds the main electronics module.
I hope this may be of use to other drivers who may save themselves a large "so-called" repair bill for a few minutes of their own time.
I also solved the problem of water coming into the car via the mirror cheater plates, and didn't need to remove interior door trims. Get hold of some rubber tubing (75mm was what I used) and cut it to length to fit inside the existing rubber seals that follow the line of the front edge of the window. The guttering that is part of the door seal will accommodate this extra piece of rubber quite easily and basically makes for a closer seal against the window when the door is closed. Seems to be working just fine on my car with no "side-effects" that I've noticed.
One other little tweak which has improved gear shifting is that I've taken a hacksaw to the gearshift itself and lopped 2.5" off the top of it before fitting an nice steel gear knob. This makes gearshifts a lot quicker and with a lot less backlash and free play and seems to help with those grinding problems all MGF's suffer from when trying to select 1st and reverse.


Kieren Gibson


Archive post is slightly wrong.
This fuse(I have an orange 70A one) *only* affects the power steering.
It does not "cause complete failure of all sorts of other things since it feeds the main electronics module".

In fact, I take mine out most of the time. :-)

Cheers,
Paul.
Paul Nothard

Wouldn't it be nice to put a relay in this circuit so you could turn the EPAS off at will... :o)

What rating of relay would be required? Finding a 70 or 80 A relay is proving somewhat difficult :o(
Rob Bell

The use of silicon grease in electrical contacts is not advisable. The grease creeps into contacts, relays etc and becomes an insulator, stopping circuits from working. Silicone SEALANT however is different. Don't confuse the two. Ask any British Telecomm worker. He will tell you that silicon grease is totally forbidden in telephone exchanges for this very reason.
Bruce Caldwell

Rob

Back to the cartoon pages and our (now missing) Turk.

Ted
Ted Newman

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/robmidgleybell/ted1.gif


;o)
Rob Bell

Cleaned the contacts and it's seems to have done the trick.

Thanks to everyone who replied.
John

RE: Silicone grease
Mike is right, it is an excellent insulator and is best used as such. You can however buy aerosol contact cleaner which is slightly conductive and great for cleaning rusty fuses and dodgy plugs and sockets.

Incidentally WD40 is as bad as silicone grease.


brianh

Mike?
Bruce Caldwell

As a visitor from the mgb topics it is interesting to note these electrical problems, something which is not unknown on 25+ year old MGBs but which is by no means universal even on cars that live outside and are used daily in all weathers. Methinks the F is going to have major problems in future years at this rate.

Also as an outcast from BT I do seem to recall something about silicone contamination of contacts (but my exchange days were long ago), but these would more likely be open relay contacts rather than push-fit connectors. I wouldn't like to use silicone *sealant* on connectors as it would make them difficult to get apart. I use Vaseline (pause for sniggers) on bullet and spade (and battery) connectors but have heard North American MGB'ers refer to 'dielectric grease' which allegedly aids conductivity as well as protecting against corrosion. Whether this is available in the UK and what it is called I don't know.

PaulH.
Paul Hunt


Try Copperslip maybe ?

ie. Grease with copper in it ?
Paul Nothard

Go to Maplin.co.uk and buy a can of contact cleaner. It dries to a light grease and, as I said earlier, is conductive.

brianh

This thread was discussed between 27/06/2001 and 29/06/2001

MG MGF Technical index

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