the steering-wheel and it never returns back to the center

[TermHD]

Hello Fellow C3 Owners

Exactly a year ago (Nov 12, 2017) I purchased a 05 C3 1.4L and I fell in love, after a year of issues I don't regret it but I'm in a bit of a pickle and don't really know where to start off with this. as a 20-year-old student, my first corner to take is too try and diagnose something on my own and fix it, having a car enabled me to learn about mechanics and really go deep in how cars function and work...

2 weeks ago I was driving in this shitty road in my country (Malta) just before want to visit my mate in the hospital, i saw a patch of water coming down from this hill about 100m away and started to break going from 100kmph - to 80 to about 60, and had to break further because a roundabout was leading ahead, as soon as I started to break further my wheels locked and I skid into a roundabout at around 30/40kmph - didn't hit the body but the hit went straight on the drivers wheel..


lucky me this was less than 100m from my personal mechanic. so after a week we replaced the right lower control arm, tie rod and shocks. as soon as I got it from him he told me the steering wheel hardened.

Now at first I noticed the side that got hit, my tire was quite low, so I gave it some more pressure up to 32 - did a wheel alignment (toe in) and still, the wheel is quite hard.

Now, this is where the annoying part begins,

It is not my power steering, because it works - so when the car is completely idle or going under 10kmph - the steering wheel is soft, can turn it normally and when I start to move with just my clutch the wheel even returns about halfway, but not more, the higher the speed, the harder the wheel and it never returns back to the center. now I can drive the car, it's not to a point where I cannot control it, but I can't seem to find anything to relate to this, my mech told me, the power steering is working but when driving it's not functioning well, I checked my steering rack and ball joints and both should be fine..

since the power steering on my C3 Is electric, I was told to go to an electrician - and to even replace my whole steering wheel

now I'm not sure what to do or where to even begin, any ideas are much appreciated!

Cheers
Mark

[C3driver52]

I checked my steering rack

Hi TermHD

The steering rack is electric, how did you test it?

my wheels locked and I skid

Does the car have ABS braking?

[TermHD]

I checked my steering rack

Hi TermHD

The steering rack is electric, how did you test it?

my wheels locked and I skid

Does the car have ABS braking?

Hey bud, Cheers for the replies, i went online to see when to know your steering rack is soon to break, so i saw mechanics try and diagnose and wrote down a list of problems, some were if you move the steering wheel an inch and the wheels do not move then that could be an issue, also if you turn the steering wheel around whilst the car is idle a screeching noise would happen, my car did none of those as well as i asked my mech if he took a look and he said it should be good, i also do believe my car does have ABS!

Cheers

[C3driver52]

Hey bud, Cheers for the replies, i went online to see when to know your steering rack is soon to break, so i saw mechanics try and diagnose and wrote down a list of problems, some were if you move the steering wheel an inch and the wheels do not move then that could be an issue, also if you turn the steering wheel around whilst the car is idle a screeching noise would happen, my car did none of those as well as i asked my mech if he took a look and he said it should be good, i also do believe my car does have ABS!

You will find the C3 steering rack power assistance is not the same as many other on the internet because it is electrical and not a fluid and pump system. The internet will probably be wrong for the C3 with steering rack issues.

If your C3 has ABS, you should be able to brake and steer around a roundabout without crashing into it. It sounds like your ABS is not actually working, leading to the crash. The ABS ECU takes each wheel sensor reading for rotation and uses this for its own calculations, but, its also sends the road speed signal to the power steering ECU that can vary the power assistance depending on the speed.

Your power steering seems to have a speed related fault and you also may have an ABS fault and these could very well be connected.



Do you ever see this on the dashboard when you first turn the key in the ignition?

Citroen C3 ABS indicator

ABS-indicator-C3-2002-to-2005-orange-.jpg (4.5 KiB) Viewed 637 times

This is where you should see it

Citroen C3 ABS indicator

This light can call you the ABS is working or not working.

[TermHD]

Hey bud, Cheers for the replies, i went online to see when to know your steering rack is soon to break, so i saw mechanics try and diagnose and wrote down a list of problems, some were if you move the steering wheel an inch and the wheels do not move then that could be an issue, also if you turn the steering wheel around whilst the car is idle a screeching noise would happen, my car did none of those as well as i asked my mech if he took a look and he said it should be good, i also do believe my car does have ABS!

You will find the C3 steering rack power assistance is not the same as many other on the internet because it is electrical and not a fluid and pump system. The internet will probably be wrong for the C3 with steering rack issues.

If your C3 has ABS, you should be able to brake and steer around a roundabout without crashing into it. It sounds like your ABS is not actually working, leading to the crash. The ABS ECU takes each wheel sensor reading for rotation and uses this for its own calculations, but, its also sends the road speed signal to the power steering ECU that can vary the power assistance depending on the speed.

Your power steering seems to have a speed related fault and you also may have an ABS fault and these could very well be connected.



Do you ever see this on the dashboard when you first turn the key in the ignition?

ABS-indicator-C3-2002-to-2005-orange-.jpg

This is where you should see it

ABS-indicator-C3.jpg

This light can call you the ABS is working or not working.

Hello again, right I checked if I have ABS and apparently I do not. I did not see that symbol anywhere, furthermore, I went to an electrician and he tested my power steering and he confirmed that it is not from the power steering, nor the pump or the rack. I also did a professional alignment and it did not fix the problem at all. what I noticed, however, is that when I turn the steering wheel - facing the side where I did not crash A.K.A Replace anything, the steering does return about halfway from the center. doing this facing the direction I did crash / replace the witch bone (control arm + ball joint), tie rod and shock absorber it does not return at all and stops.

I Scheduled another appointment with the mech and I can only assume it's from the parts he replaced, but lifted the car up and checked and it's literally identical part wise, also the parts were all new so I'm lost as too what the solution could be. even the mech doesn't have a clue.