Micra power steering fault

bouicca21

I have had my 2004 Micra since new. It has very, very low mileage. Yesterday the power steering suddenly went. I can tell from searches on the internet that this is a common fault.

A new unit fitted by a Nissan garage will cost c. £1600 inc labour, and will come with a one year guarantee. You will appreciate that a ten year old car, even with low mileage, isn't worth much more than that. A repair would still be cheaper than buying a new car though (I have no knowledge of cars and wouldn't know how to buy a reliable second hand one).

A web search turns up a company called ecutesting.com who offer to rebuild the unit and give it a lifetime guarantee for £320 (with a rider about possibly needing to load new software).

Does anyone know anything about them?

Netwizard

Are you certain this is the fault before you get anything rebuilt?

I'm assuming you have checked things like the PAS fluid first? Has the fluid ever been changed? Have you spoke to Nissan or had any diagnostics done at a garage? If you have owned the car from new and it has full nissan service history, maybe worth seeing if you could get something from Nissan, or "goodwill" as its called

bouicca21

Gosh, I wouldn't even know what PAS fluid is

Diagnostics so far by RAC and over the phone from Nissan dealer. Will take it to a garage but need to have some idea of how to cut through the gobbledygook. Car has been serviced regularly, all but three times at a Nissan dealer, but they never stamp the book thingy, so would have no way of proving it.

Netwizard

bouicca21 wrote: »

but they never stamp the book thingy, so would have no way of proving it.

What is their excuse for that? they should stamp it, but if its always been done at a Nissan Dealer, they should be able to print the service history off their computers anyway.

In terms of the power steering, after a quick look around, £320 is a good price for the rebuild, especially if its gauranteed for life.

if you are sure that is the problem, then I'd go for it

colino

Some Micra steering "faults" are cleared simply by hooking up to a decent diagnostic tester and wiping the codes. The p/s has just been switched off as a protective measure, reacting to an oversensitive sensor. Unfortunately others do have the built in obsolescence and while there are companies that rebuild the steering column (very well), it doesn't sound like you will be stripping your old one out, sending it off for refurb and reinstalling on return yourself. The garage labour plus the rebuild will mount up to the realistic trade in value of a 10 year old Micra so you may want to consider a replacement before committing to this fix.