Do these cars have variable steeing assitance that is light at low speed for easy parking and firms up at high speed for stable cruising? 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Should have….


 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

JayGee wrote:

I suspect the later cars drive differently from the earlier ones in areas of suspension compliance and steering to make them feel more like contempory SUV's which were more road orientated i.e firmer suspension and steering.

Thank you for the feedback all.

It'd great to know that I didn't imagine how the steering was on the first l322 I owned.

Obviously it hasn't been like that on the subsequent ones I've owned or the current one and I've never got to the bottom of it on any of them but believe me I'll keep trying!

Managed to get a few hours on the L322 today and do some investigation.

I bought a servotronic valve and checked its resistance. Approx 7.5 ohms.

Removed the front wheel and connected the replacement valve to the wiring leaving the original in the rack.

So with the car off I took a can off brake cleaner and sprayed it through the valve, it came shooting out of the little orifice on the side of the valve.

With the car running it's not possible to spray the brake cleaner through the valve.

Next I removed the original valve from the rack and checked its resistance:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Interesting thread. I'm looking at a L322 to run alongside my L663 Defender so this is all new to me although I've had many D3s and D4s. Current Car: L663 Defender known as Noddy.

Been thinking about this some more and decided none of this is can be some weird voodoo or virus that only affects cars I own.

Focusing on fixing one area of the current l322 is what I need to be doing.

So having replaced the pump with new, replaced the cooler, the fluid and having checked the servtronic valve that only leaves me with the hoses or the rack itself.

What's the thoughts on a hose issue?

Could the high pressure hose from pump to rack have an internal issue reducing either pressure or flow?

I ended up creating a pressure test kit for my PAS when it was playing up & was consistently heavier than tolerable & i'd eliminated the Servotronic & BCU.
The gauge showed I was only achieving full PAS pressure at 2500 rpm - rather than idle as it should be - confirming the PAS pump was very worn.

You shouldn't have the same problem as you've changed the PAS pump and presumably used a reputable brand of replacement (I only used a second hand pump from a newer & lower mileage example).

Have you tried another similar vehicle to see if your current car is the off-one out or your first car ?? Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 151,000 miles & now sold
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

I was thinking about making up test equipment to see I'd it could shed any light

The pump I fitted is a Meyle one, nothing changed afterwards so that tells me the original was probably okay as I saw no improvement.

The 2nd, 3rd and this l322 have all been heavy. The L405 was too heavy too but that's a totally different system as it was electric power assist.

This l322 feels more 'mechanically' heavy to my hands.

I've driven various other L322s belonging to friends or local used car dealers and they've all been like I remember/like the video examples I posted earlier in the thread.

Any further thoughts on this anyone?

Could it be a hose issue I.e enough pressure from the new pump but not enough flow volume?

The pump varies its displacement to maintain a constant pressure so a flow obstruction wouldn't cause a pressure increase. However I suspect that racks might not get set-up exactly the same all the time so rack/pinion preloading might be able to play a part.
Does your vehicle have a cooler installed in the line supplying the rack? My 4.4TDV8 doesn't have a cooler but IIRC a cooler was fitted to earlier models.

Sorry Graeme I'm not sure I follow you there, are you saying if there was an obstruction the pump wouldn't increase pressure to overcome it?

There is a power steering cooler yes but it's fitted in between the return from the rack and the reservoir. (It is also a good used replacement as the original was leaking slightly)

I would expect any restriction in pipework etc to only cause a flow problem as any fluid getting through will allow full pressure to be generated, but might take longer.
So a restriction might cause the effort to increase to go from full lock to lock very fast, but shouldn't effect the effort if the steering wheel is moved slowly.

Have you tried lifting the front wheels off the ground, then tried to turn the steering wheel with the engine off ?
Is it easy to do?
If not, maybe you have a problem with the steering rack pre-load being excessive or (much less likely) hub ball joints or strut top mounts being excessively 'tight' Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 151,000 miles & now sold
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

The pump is constant pressure, not constant flow.

I doubt there is a restriction that would be affecting slow steering wheel movements because the steering would be extremely heavy with faster movements. The valve in mine's pump got stuck open due to grit resulting in very little assistance which made the vehicle unsteerable, even on stands. The wheel could be moved slightly a couple of times until the pressure in the rack head was depleted, after which I had to wait several seconds until pressure built again inside the head before the wheel could be moved at all.

Turning the steering with front wheels off the ground and without the engine runing is almost impossible with mine, which I expect is due to having draw oil through the fine orifices in the head into the hydraulic ram and out into the reservoir by moving the rack itself.

Pre-load adjustment is done without hoses connected or oil in the ram other than a lubricating film.

Very interesting info, thanks Pawl & Graeme.

So maybe pipes are nothing to do with it then, I did find one post where pipes caused an issue but I was intermittent not constant heavy steering.

Would you both mind reviewing what I posted earlier about checking testing the servotronic valve?

In your opinion have I ruled it out or is there more to check regards servotronic?