Hi,

I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this in Bravo's or Fiat cars in general but the steering on my 1998 R reg Bravo 1.4 is very light - it could probably be steered without having to grasp the wheel.

I was told that some Fiat's have a city mode, my car doesn't appear to have this functionality. Does anyone know how to 'turn down' the power steering or at least make it less light?

Thanks,

i agree the steering is far too light on the lower spec models, its designed for girls when parking. you need to get a power steering pump from a 1.8 or 2.0 model, they have less assistance and feel much much better.

alternatively you can try my own approach to adjusting the assistance. the level of assistance is controlled by a valve, called a relief valve. this valve ensures a constant amount of pressure is given out by the power steering pump regardless of rpm. at higher rpm the pump will be turning much faster, creating more pressure, and this excess pressure is bled by the relief valve back into the fluid intake for the pump, maintaining a constant powersteering system pressure regardless of the speed the pump turns at.

less pressure will mean less assistance. so if you adjust the relief valve so it reduces the pressure output of the pump, you will have less assistance. to adjust the relief valve you need to take it apart and find the spring, chop one coil off the sping and it will reduce the assistance.

this pic shows how it works.

you can see how the relief valve is just a spring loaded pin that opens to allow fluid (and hence pressure) to go back into the pump's intake, effectively reducing the pumps output.

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

Where can I find the valve to adjust?

if you remove the pump the valve will be built into it. often you can remove it without taking the whole pump apart, but that depends on the pump, sometimes it cant be accessed without stripping the pump down completely. i havent tried this on a bravo/a yet so i dont know how easy it will be to get to the valve. if you look at the pump's output you should be able to see a smaller channel that goes back into the pump. the relief valve is in that channel. if you then look at the input side you should again see the same channel. you can poke pipecleaners down each side of the channel to get an idea of exactly where the valve is, closer to the output or input side, and from that you can work out if it is easily removable. stripping the pump down isnt usually a difficult job so if thats what it takes dont be afraid. if it all goes wrong you can always fit a 1.8 or 2.0 pump from a scrapyard car, the pump will cost about £10-20