car electrics cutting out? alternator or power steering pump?

[boxednfresh]

ok guys, iv recently been having issues with my power steering pump: that being its cutting out now and then so generally all i got to do is turn the car off and back on and that dus the trick. however recently after driving to work and leaving the car in the car park for 12 hrs, i came back to notice that i cudnlt unlock my car via central locking, so opened it up manually, key in ignition and to my shock: nothing, no electriical activity. This has happened 3 times now. So initally thinking it was the battery, which i have now replaced. Then the other day i was driving forward at a junction and then again: power steering failure, but this time when i turned the car off i cudnt turn it back on again. The other day, tried to turn on car and then: i got a small amount of electrical activity but then it went dead.

Has this happened to ne1 whilst having the power steering pump issue and once replaced did it fix the problem? or this merely the alternator? ( ps i accept that my power steering pump is going to die soon)


your help appreciated once again

[XRV848]

I had the same problem when my power steering pump failed, intermittent cutting out of the pump while driving and then the pump would come on while the car was turned off (usually overnight) and drain the battery. It doesn't explain the failure when you turned the car off but couldn't turn it back on again as, even with the pump running, the battery should remain charged.

[Sejanus]

I haven't had any trouble with the pump failing while driving, but it did manage to drain the battery completely (to the not being able to unlock the car point) in just 2.5 hours (I assume it had already drained the battery to a low point before hand).