sandaru said:

Hi, I had the same problem, then I bought a used EPS ECU and a Motor from a breaker and did the calibration using MES. But when I turned right full lock sometimes it indicates red steering on dash and goes stiff. Even after switch off the engine and restarted it feel stiff and red steering indicates on dash. So I went to test the battery but the person checked and said battery is good and he mentioned if i can start the engine in a single attempt powering on all lights, aircon, heater, radio etc this should be another problem. May I know what to do now.?

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Yes ,try with another battery.Or try with another car and battery cables and see if the problem continues .

If the battery is weak then it can be checked in the night time by turning on the lights and then start moving the steering with the engine on. If the lights flicker then there is problem with the battery if not then most likely the battery in not the issue.

The power steering motor can use a very large amount of power so you need good electrical connections from the battery and alternator for best performance.

The battery can be healthy and well charged but if you use the vehicle for long journeys you can still have a low voltage produced by the alternator. The power steering system is vulnerable to low voltages.

If it were me I would be connecting up some test wiring to the power steering motor so I can check the voltage when the problem occurs and have a good idea of what is will be when there is no problem.

Had this problem with a few punto mk2 it is either battery not fully charged/alternator not charging correctly or the most popular fault is the power steering motor or it's ecu are starting to fail.


Get battery tested at a reputable company preferably with a bosch tester or similar not the old drop load tester which shorts the battery they are garbage and should be binned.. You can test the voltage output of the alternator with a volt meter on tickover no lights heated screens etc on it should be around 14.2-14.7 volts.


If all good then I would suspect motor and it's ecu. A inexpensive job motors and ecu can be bought from ebay with a guarantee just make sure you match the numbers on the ecu it will be a 4 digit number like 6670.
To fit the motor and ecu is easy very easy takes me now about 10 minutes to do. first time took me 20 minutes. few screws and a few connections that easy. It is located behind the plastic panel under the steering column about where your knees are when sitting in the car.
Make sure you have radio codes etc as I always disconnect the battery when changing electrical items.

sandaru said:

Hi, I had the same problem, then I bought a used EPS ECU and a Motor from a breaker and did the calibration using MES. But when I turned right full lock sometimes it indicates red steering on dash and goes stiff. Even after switch off the engine and restarted it feel stiff and red steering indicates on dash. So I went to test the battery but the person checked and said battery is good and he mentioned if i can start the engine in a single attempt powering on all lights, aircon, heater, radio etc this should be another problem. May I know what to do now.?

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So you clearly have MES, when the light comes on now, what fault is the steering ecu logging.
Having just swapped out the torque sensor on my mums punto and doing the reset of MES I can tell you the recalibration is a bit finicky. I had to do it several times to get the car steering wheel to stay in the middle. Even now having done it 3 times its not quite right - it turns left lighter than right but I ran out of time. Will be re-trying the calibration this weekend - I am happy everything is working as it should and the battery is good and its just hte calibration is off slightly. Make sure you did the reset and calibrations in the right order.

blu73 said:

So you clearly have MES, when the light comes on now, what fault is the steering ecu logging.
Having just swapped out the torque sensor on my mums punto and doing the reset of MES I can tell you the recalibration is a bit finicky. I had to do it several times to get the car steering wheel to stay in the middle. Even now having done it 3 times its not quite right - it turns left lighter than right but I ran out of time. Will be re-trying the calibration this weekend - I am happy everything is working as it should and the battery is good and its just hte calibration is off slightly. Make sure you did the reset and calibrations in the right order.

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Hi, I am getting the C1008 motor phases code. When turning the key to on position there is no red steering but after starting the engine it appears. This is the same as mine https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-ii/426067-power-steering-c1008-motor-phases.html . Followed the correct order for calibration in MES.

Mmmmm, well bit late now but i would have just changed the motor separately at first rather than swap both ecu and motor...

But I would first try measuring you battery voltage with engine off and then again with engine idling to check alternator is charging properly and not weak. Turn wheel all the way one way and check the voltage doesn't drop very much. That will eliminate the battery and charging system from being the problem.

Following that just check all the connectors are pushed home properly, i found a few of them on this one took a good wiggle to get them to click in properly.

Before you changed the bits over from the parts from the scrappies did you read codes? Are you having the exact same issue or has the code changed?

Yes I will do the battery test as you mentioned. But also I checked the codes before do the swap. before it was C1007 and now it is C1008. Before C1008 occurred, the new ecu and motor worked for few days for normal and for city mode. Also have to mention that just after installing and after the calibration I noticed it was very hot.

well its not the same exact issue, thats a start i guess lol

The c1007 is actually code for failed motor so changing the motor was prob the right move.. c1008 is motor phase error which tends to imply one of the phases in the motor isn't working correctly which could be a burnt out inductor in the motor (would explain the thing getting super hot quickly). Do you remember what year the punto you got the motor out of was, the earlier ones ('99-'03 iirc) had issues with the relays inside the motor itself. There is a guide on here somewhere about opening up and soldering the relays - I'm inclined at this point to say you may have just got a dud motor, always a risk when getting one 2nd hand...

I think you should just check the battery and alternator first and that the connectors are fully pushed in to the ecu. If they are ok I'd just go grab another motor. Its only 3 bolts once you got the plastic cover off.

Hi Thanks, I got the motor from 2001 punto as I can see in MES. It has relays as in my previous motor and the ecu is 6670. A little difference noticed my old EPS ECU is 6670 and another number was there 26076670 028. But in new EPS ECU it is 26076670 027. Motor is same rev049 26074600. Do I need to order another motor from UK or can I just replace the relays to rectify C1008?

And additionally, Can we add the 2003 punto (non relay motor EPS ECU and non relay motor) to the 2000 punto? or can we just add the non relay motor to the relay motor EPS ECU?

as far as i know you can swap the motor for the new one but i have never tried so wouldn't like to say for sure.

resoldering relays info is here https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-mk2-2b-guides/266588-resoldering-power-steering-motor-relays.html

Just an off question:
If the motor is removed will the steering be lighter then if the motor left in but not working?

yes totally, when the pas fails or turns off for whatever reason the only reason the steering is super heavy is because you are having ot manually turn a hefty electric motor too.. I was really tempted to take my mums car out for a spin without the motor when i was fixing but time constraints didn't allow. how heavy it will actually be is dependant how how quick the rack is and suspension geometry. If you look at slightly older cars that came with both PAS and not (PAS seems to be pretty much standard on all new cars now) they usually have different top mounts which sets the caster different as that has a massive effect on how heavy/light the steering is - as such i imagine it will still be pretty damn heavy without the motor attached but i suspect perfectly drive-able once moving, just an arse to do slow speed manoeuvres like parking etc.

sandaru said:

And additionally, Can we add the 2003 punto (non relay motor EPS ECU and non relay motor) to the 2000 punto? or can we just add the non relay motor to the relay motor EPS ECU?

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it wont work

Ill check with motor removing and let you guys know the result. This is the code I am getting C1008 motor phases https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-ii/343008-steering-ecu-low-voltage.html . See his attachment also same as mine. When key is on I can see the both voltages nearly same but after starting the engine the red steering light comes and voltage drops at ECU supply pins. What is this ECU supply pin? I guess not the high gauge white/red and black supply wires/pins. My garage said need to replace the torque sensor or the complete column. They have a common every car scanner and showed the code DTC 5008 (As I know this is same as C1008). This is the first time I was unsuccessful troubleshooting my punto

dumbledore said:

Just an off question:
If the motor is removed will the steering be lighter then if the motor left in but not working?

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it wont be any lighter cuz you can spin pas motor with two fingers

On this punto is super hard to turn to turn wheel with motor attached - i could turn the wheel while stationary without the motor on (i took it off first and put it on last for access reasons) really quite easily - much much much easier than with it fitted. Or to come at that from another angle - If its not the motor that makes it super heavy when the PAS turns off then what is it?

sandaru - i don't think it will be the torque sensor with that code - like i said thats a code to do with the motor itself. The torque sensor giving no signal or out of range is C1009 which you haven't had once. A whole new column is just silly - it states this all over the forum and garages still tell people this but really the thing comes apart easy and there is only a few components to it. I genuinely think you have got a dud motor if the battery is strong and alternator is working. You could try swapping the ecu back to the original and see if that makes any difference although i doubt it will. Suggest you open the motor and check the relays. Do the calibration again too. But if we review whats happened with your car - first it gave you a failed motor code, you have swapped it and now you have a different motor code. Properly sounds like its the motor does it not? Perhaps buy a reconditioned motor rather than just 2nd hand?

Sound intriging. But can someone confirm if the motor is removed the wheels are turning when the steering wheel is moved? It may be that the motor is needed being part of a gearing mechanism that allows the transfer or torque from the steering wheel to the steering column. If this is the case this is the reason why the steering wheel is easy to turn without the motor installed.

no no, the motor is attached to a screw gear, so the motor turns the screw gear, that turns a normal gear on the shaft of the column to provide assistance to steering. My basic point was that the only thing that can make the steering heavy when the PAS turns off is the motor.. Without the motor the car would steer fine, due to suspension geometry it may still be pretty heavy but it would be drive-able for sure.