Doesn't sound normal to me, the PAS is electric, could be failing.

Indeed the behaviour sounds more like non-PAS. If other readers remembers what that was like! :d

EDIT: if you're saying it's more stiff than your other non-PAS car(s) then definitely summat up wiv it. Without PAS the extra effort required would be compounded by small steering wheel diameter of course.

 

all our other cars have PAS, but conventional fluid based systems, none of this electric malarky.

The steering doesnt feel overly heavy, as you would get with no PAS, although does require a bit more of a push, its more the feel that it wants to push you back to the center (no turning action) postion a bit too eagerly

Al

 

all our other cars have PAS, but conventional fluid based systems, none of this electric malarky.

Oh sorry you wrote "not driven a car with electric power steering before" (should've gone to specsavers! )

I didn't know it was electric until I tried to find the hydraulics and pump, and couldn't :crazy:

So no difference for me.

The steering doesnt feel overly heavy, as you would get with no PAS, although does require a bit more of a push, its more the feel that it wants to push you back to the center (no turning action) postion a bit too eagerly
Al

Deffo not right, what Batfink5 said, normally very light. I get enough feedback tho, for me anyway.

 

Doesn't seem to match description of my Clio ..I find steering far to light on it ..no feel to the road ..put it down to Continental tyres which were new on the car the day i got it

 

Mine was also light but and my Sandero stepway is even lighter which took me by surprise with it being a tonka toy type vehicle..

 

I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I bought a 2006 clio mk3 last year and it behaves exactly like that. The auto-centre is way too strong, but I haven't found much discussion online about it and haven't found any obvious adjustment options in service manuals. I was (vaguely) considering taking it to a dealer for some input but I suspect from other friends experience the costs of any repair is likely to outweigh the value of the car by a fair margin now



The steering itself is pretty much perfect other than the strong auto-return pressure (ie too much of a pull back to center in both directions)



I've replaced a tailgate which had an almost entirely scrubbed rear heater, sorted a fault with dead blower resistor pack and blower position '4' (where the plastic connector basically melts due to the current) and replaced a couple of faulty coils. Now almost at the point of everything working, apart from the steering ...



If anyone has any ideas I'd be grateful.

 

Castor angle is the normal return to "0" or centering force .................. the steering pump (either electric or hydraulic) will not contribute to this force by design .............. on most cars these angles are fixed



If you want a less "centering" feel to the steering you need to decrease the (positive) castor angle ....................... do note that if you do this you will in effect be creating a less stable/safe steering setup ................... if you go nuts and approach 0 degrees or even a negative value, you may end up with the typical fixed axle steering shimmy of days gone past.



If you dont like the electric pump's feel remove the powers steering pump's fuse and go for a spin to confirm what I said

 

Thanks LvR, I don't think this is due to issues with incorrect castor angle. The actual steering feel and accuracy is spot on, and as far as I know it is fixed as you say.



I've driven various other Meganes and Clios and none of them have been anything like this. It feels like an active pull back to centre rather than just a natural return, so my assumption was that the EPS was kicking in and probably shouldn't be.



I was looking for some tech specs on the Renault EPS in the clio mk3 but haven't found anything so far... I may pull the fuse just to check anyway - thanks.

 

After a bit of digging it appears that the Clio mk3 EPS does in fact have an assisted return to centre but is only meant to be at low speeds to cope with the steering design.



I'm guessing that either the steering ECU setup is wrong or that the input sensor/data for roadspeed is duff and causing it to operate at all speeds.


Onward...