'52 plate ibiza - charging problem?

[martink]

we've had the ibiza TDi sport for a little over a year now. when we test drove it prior to buying it i said the steering warnign light was on and the steering would barely move. turned car off, wouldnt start after that...they replaced the battery and alternator and the car was fine so we bought it.

recently ive noticed that when i start the car the little voltmeter on the right hand side of teh dash will not rise to 14v point unless i give the car a little blip on the gas....i need to blip it past about 1800 rpm just once and the volt meter rises to normal position. this doesnt seem right to me.

also while parking up on my drive i'll notice the headlights dim slightly as im turning the steering wheel. im guessing its an electric power steering pump drawing lot sof power from teh battery at that point in time.

anyway, yesterday the wife started the car and didnt blip the gas. she then loaded the car up with baby etc and went to drive away. steering was rock hard and light was on. she turned off ignition and went to restart but the car wouldnt start.

i checked power on battery when i got in it read 12.2v....and wouldnt start. i was suprised id expected the battery to read <10v.
disconnected and charged it for 2hrs, voltage read 12.95v and its fired up straight away.

do people think ive got a knacked battery or alternator?

[smiffy vw]

when my m8s steering went heavy it was the power steering pump thay changed, u battrey would be dead if the altanator wasent charging it ? get it to halfords dude that can check both battrey n altanttor