I lost power steering in my Ford Mondeo but it's working again now - what happened?

I have a 2009 Ford Mondeo TDCi X Sport that's done 95,000 miles. I was driving at appox 40mph when I suddenly lost my power steering. The engine management light came on and there was a rasping noise from the front end. I tried to drive the car to a safe location but the noise got very loud, so I stopped to call the AA. Suddenly the noise stopped, the engine management light went out and I got my power steering back. I managed to drive the few miles back home. The steering was fine. I have not lost any power steering fluid. Have you any idea what may have happened?
I think so. I've had a few reports of electromechanical clutch failure on the a/c pumps of Mondeo and Focus models. In one car it seized completely then, after parking the car for a while, it freed up again and. Since the same aux belt drives the PAS pump I think that's what was responsible.
Answered by Honest John on

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