yes its got a cross pattern on the top

spoke to Oscar - he said get it down to Audi - which ive already arranged for tommorow.

Not sure about the A8s, but I had the same problem a few years back on an A4 2.5 TDi. Could barely budge the steering wheel. Belts looked OK visually, but turned out to be one of the tensioners had gone.

Power steering pump is one of very few things without any sensors. Vcds wont pick it up.

makes sense

just happens i did a scan this afternoon a couple of hours before it went , the one after shows no difference

Good luck with driving it to Audi! I tried to drive my bosses CL63 without power steering and gave up. Just remember to let it start rolling before putting in any steering input!

getting it recovered to audi

im not even going to try driving

When trying to steer does it make any strange noises?
Any fluid on the floor?

Best if you can get the cap off to check the level.

no noises, cant tell if there was fluid it was raining quite heavily

as for the cap, i would like to know too but..
it wouldnt budge, if this is the problem audi can sort it and make sure thers no leaks etc.

i dont have time to try it again before they pick it up

The power steering pump is not driven by belt. Belt only drives alternator and a/c compressor on 4.2tdi. It's driven by rear chain/gears. Might be the pump I see the part number has been replaced/superseded 3 times.

I presume Oscar has agreed to pay for it ? Direct hopefully ?

Stupid question I know, but a forum member some time ago suggested they had a lot of grief getting Oscar to compensate for issues post sale.

I've never had issues personally, as I bought a car and drove off trouble free.

Your case does seem clear cut, but would always recommend anyone apply caution when booking anything in for work at a 3rd party where there's a claim involved on a different 3rd party.

Hope it does get sorted easily for you.