Loss of Power Steering
 

Have just checked out a nice XC70 - 2008 - 200k plus on the clock. However when turning the steering wheel when stationery it loses it's power steering & this only recovers when pressing the accelarator & starting to move.
Is this likely to be just a faulty power steering pump or something more sinister perhaps ?

I've got an '08 XC70 which just had a new p/s pump and it still quite heavy compared to the P2's I've owned before. The slightly later versions had a setting in one of the menus to adjust the sensitivity of the steering, but unfortunately mine must be a bit too old. Not sure about the D5, but the pump on the 3.2 petrol engine is a bit of a pig to get to so I left it to the garage to replace.

Would a slipping power steering belt behave like that?

This is a known issue, the power steering fluid reacts with the alloy pipes. This causes swarf to block the filter which in turn kills the pump. The fix is new pipes and pump.

Just for information Kenny, can you say if Volvo introduced design changes to eliminate this fault and if so from which year. I'm hoping my 2012 will not suffer from this fault. Am I safe?

I am sure they did something but not sure when, this happened to my 2008 phase 3 and the various threads I read were all early phase 3 cars.

I change the power steering fluid every 2 years in the hope it will prevent the problem.

I believe like the factory coolant turning brown as the inhibitors fail the powers steering fluid also looses its corrosion inhibitors with age. Hopefully changing the fluid regularly will keep the inhibitors fresh and prevent the corrosion.

Paul.

xc70 power steering pump leak
 

Hi, I have an 02 plate xc70, last night the power steering failed and when I was investigating the cause, I found the fluid was all over the alternator and surrounding area, I checked all the rubber pipes and their connections couldn't find why it had leaked so dried it off, partially topped up the reservoir and started the engine.
Whilst the steering was in the straight ahead position nothing happened but as soon as I turned the steering wheel from side to side fluid started to spurt out of the nut connecting the metal pipe to the power steering pump, even though it was tight.
I undone the nut and checked the seal and for me it looked okay, has anyone had this happen to them before, is it just a case of the seal failing and needing to be replaced if so is it a standard size and where is the best place to get them from or is this likely to be something inside the pump itself has failed and a pressure build up blew the seal, meaning I need a new pump, not something I wanted to happen on new years eve but hey ho,
help please

I would look for a hairline fracture in the pipe first.

Hi, thanks for this info, I was talking to the tech at the local volvo garage he said that the pipes sometimes are the things that go for no apparent reason, I bought a new seal and tried that but it was still leaking from the back of the nut, the fact that fluid is coming out under pressure makes me think that the pump is working fine, so I think the hairline crack in the pipe is the most likely cause of the problem, looking at that though it looks like quite a big job to replace, is it something I could tackle myself or is it better to get it to the garage