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Technical HELP my Power Steering Light is ON! - Start here!

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Technical HELP my Power Steering Light is ON! - Start here!

Wolf5849 said:
Hi all. I'm looking for some advice regarding my daughter's 2003 Punto 1.2 active Sport, with 130k+ on the clock!

She had intermittent problems with the eps warning light coming on, sometimes with heavy steering, sometimes not. Sometimes the light would go off on it's own, more usually had to pull over, turn off the ignition for a few seconds, start the engine and all was good again.

About a month ago, the car was left standing for a couple of weeks while she was off work. As a result, the battery went flat (the battery is about 2 years old) and the engine wouldn't turn over. I took the battery off and charged it up overnight on trickle charge, refitted it and it started straight away.

A few days later she used the car to travel about 8 miles or so to work, and about 200 yards short of her destination, the eps light came on and the steering went very heavy. Nothing I've tried since (ignition on/off etc.) has made any difference. On first start up, the warning light, instead of coming on then going out after a few seconds, comes on and stays on.

I don't have access to any diagnostic equipment or software, so no idea of any fault codes., and the nearest Fiat dealer is nearly 30 miles away. I've accessed and removed the motor and it's of the later type, without the electro-mechanical relays mounted on the circuit board.

Anyone got any ideas as to how I can determine whether the fault is the motor, the eps ecu, torque sensors, supply voltage or something entirely different? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Battery did the trick when our panda did this :)
 
dtzgr said:
So, what's the prognosis of the resoldering fix, based on your experience.

I've recently resoldered mine (kept the original relays, though) and it's working fine, but I'm wondering if I should have changed the relays too.

From your experience, does the motor survive long after just resoldering the old relays? Or should I start looking for replacement relays?
Click to expand...

Answering my own question: the prognosis is bad. It only lasted 5 weeks or so, then the failure occurred again. This time I tested the connections with a multimeter and they were ok. Applied 9V to the relay's coil terminals and tested the switching operation with multimeter: both relays were faulty. I swapped them with two brand new 4117-u-z and it got alive again!

Also, here's my verdict: it only might make sense to resolder the coil's terminals (1st and 3rd pin on the 3-pin row; the two "small" connections) on each relay. These are the only terminals that actually connect to the printed circuit. The other three on each relay are the power switch terminals, which are corrected to the motor's power cabling; the relay's pins are fitted tightly into small holes on the cable's sheet metal connectors and they always make contact, even without solder. They are only soldered on the board on dead end points, just for mechanical stability.
 
Last edited:
Hi Guys - advice please. My Fiat has this Power steering problem - PS Light comes on when I start the engine, if I just turn the ignition on then the light goes out, and the City control doesn't have any effect. No other warnings are visible.
I have to make a long journey tomorrow, so is it safe to dive this car, I can cope with heavy steering as long as it's safe. Help please.
 
Hello
Not sure if this thread is still active but will try it anyway. I have FIAT 2002 Active 1.2 for a while steering red light comes on and goes off intermittently when car is restarted. I have changed battery recently and after reading this forum changed motor and ECU (bought second hand) but problem is still there. When this trouble started I noticed that whenever steering is moved there is a noise which comes from the steering column just around where the steering adjustment knob is. It sound like something is rubbing against each when steering rotates. Any advice will be appreciated.
first time posting please appologise if I break any rules.
thanks
 
Bicky said:
Hi Guys - advice please. My Fiat has this Power steering problem - PS Light comes on when I start the engine, if I just turn the ignition on then the light goes out, and the City control doesn't have any effect. No other warnings are visible.
I have to make a long journey tomorrow, so is it safe to dive this car, I can cope with heavy steering as long as it's safe. Help please.[/QUOTE

Hi Guys - have a look at this You Tube - worked for me:-
https://www.ask.com/youtube?q=fix fiat pas problem&v=hY7m5jjJ9mM&o=0&l=dir&qo=saLink

I used the first one " how to temporary fix "
Click to expand...
 
so i just got a punto mk2 2000 that darn light has come on now how many version are there of the motor and ecu as i have had 4 different people saying
i have to get it set to car
i have to find the same type
i have to buy as a pair
and
i have to buy a complete steering column



HELP PLEASE SOMEONE
 
Not sure if I'll get an answer but I'll try posting here first.

Just bought a 2nd hand Fiat Punto 1.2 V8. No problems yesterday, for the little amount of driving I did.

Today had the warning light come on.

Two things - firstly it got taken for a short, but through, test drive. No issues at that time as far as I know - it wasn't me who drove it to really see how it handled. Secondly, I hooked up a sat nav to it before taking it out to practice parking. I can't remember if the warning light was on before I connected it or not.

I don't have any spare cash to get it checked out (I just bought a car, insurance, and road tax so...yeah). Thoughts? I intend to see if the warning returns tomorrow, with and without the sat nav - but I'm going to need the sat nav at some point.

Also, steering didn't feel any heavier.
 
Akagi, if the red steering wheel symbol is permanently lighting on the dashboard, it surely shows a problem with the steering wheel unit. To find the issue, first you should read out the error codes from the EPS controller, it should have some trouble code.

If the warning light just comes on for a second during driving, it's a normal thing, it's even mentioned in the owner's manual. It's caused by the high amperage that the electric steering needs, this is the first thing that is turned off by the control units if the car is low on electric power.

I would check the traditional cable/ground/battery issue at first.

If your car was produced '99-2003.06, i would assume a relay issue, but deffinately a recalibration is needed for the position sensor.

You can find more about this here: (sorry for the google translated text anyway)
https://translate.google.hu/transla...8/09/16/az-elektromos-szervo-lehetseges-hibai
 
kido resuri said:
Akagi, if the red steering wheel symbol is permanently lighting on the dashboard, it surely shows a problem with the steering wheel unit. To find the issue, first you should read out the error codes from the EPS controller, it should have some trouble code.

If the warning light just comes on for a second during driving, it's a normal thing, it's even mentioned in the owner's manual. It's caused by the high amperage that the electric steering needs, this is the first thing that is turned off by the control units if the car is low on electric power.

I would check the traditional cable/ground/battery issue at first.

If your car was produced '99-2003.06, i would assume a relay issue, but deffinately a recalibration is needed for the position sensor.

You can find more about this here: (sorry for the google translated text anyway)
https://translate.google.hu/transla...8/09/16/az-elektromos-szervo-lehetseges-hibai
Click to expand...


On a similar issue, why would my Power Steering Light only come on after breaking hard?


Twice this has happened in the past month, and then it tends to stay on for short periods afterwards but intermittently until after a day or so it goes off.


I know ECUmultiscan will give me codes stating it is a Power Steering issue, but will it really diagnose the cause of the problem?


Why does it happen after sharp breaking?
 
The Electric Power Steering is one of the largest electric consumer.
If the car's electric system is not in the best condition, and other consumers drain energy, the EPS is the first to be shut down.
At excessive breaking, ABS system may use more energy, so EPS is turned off.

You better check your cable/grounding/battery system to cure the problem.
 
Thank you for your thoughts, much appreciated.
I had same problem last year, earth cables were changed etc, but still same problem occasionally.

I might ask for battery and alternator to be checked.
 
Hi All, first post!

I've got a 2001 Fiat Punto MKII 16V, and I'm running in to this issue. Specifically, EPS light comes on and I lose power steering when going full lock to the left, the car being on for a while seems to remedy this. I used the City mode for a few times when I first got the car, but I've not used it since.

This has been happening for a while, quite relieved to see it's a common fault and not something more terrifying!

I have a few questions, and if anyone could help I would be really grateful!

1 - I think the most risk-free method would be to replace the motor entirely, however as mine is the 16V variant, it has a slightly different part number. My motor is 26074600 (Rev 49), and all motors on Ebay seem to be 26087468. Does anyone know if these motors are interchangeable? Both have the troublesome relays, and have the same connectors (however I'm not sure of pin-out).

2 - The part numbers for the relays seem to differ on all pictures I've seen online. Mine are Tyco V23072-C1061-A308 LO04822/ V23072-C1061-A308 LO04812. The final number string differs between each relay, making me believe this is a serial number, however I thought it best to check before I get the soldering iron out and replace them. All pictures of the motor I've seen online has a different format for the final number string, including all replacement relays.

3 - If the entire steering rack is changed, does anybody know if it's possible to replace the ignition so I can retain my current keys?

4 - Does anyone have a working EPS motor, part number 26074600 for sale? ;)


Thanks in advance for any help!
 
The EPS consume high currents, something like 90 A or more when turned to as far as possible left or right.

If voltage drops below a certain point, the controller disables the EPS to save battery power for the more critical consumers - like the engine ignition system.

If this only happens to one direction, e.g. left as in your example, then this is also related to torque/position sensor miscalibration. If the EPS system is not properly calibrated, then more energy is needed when - in your situation - turning to left than right, especially when going full lock left than full lock right. Also, in the zero position (steering wheel and tyres straight) the EPS also consumes more energy than it should as it tries to help the steering when it shouldn't. This has the side-effect of consuming more fuel as the engine is on constant load.

Also, your negative battery terminal cables might be in poor condition, thus undercharging the battery and supplying lower power to the electric consumers - like the EPS - than it should be. Check your cables!

Get your wheels aligned then calibrate the EPS system.

I think you don't need a new EPS motor, nor replacing it's relays.
Check my post above yours.
 
I think you're right, thanks for the response!

I've used a friend's WIFI OBD2 reader along with the free MultiECUscan app and it's coming up with an error on the torque sensor.

I've also snugged up the battery connections, and it no longer causes the motor to lose power when steering hard. There's a definite dimming to interior lights when hard locked left or right, and you can hear the motor whining.

I think this weekend, I'll clean all of the battery connections and see how that goes.
 
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