Whilst driving to work this morning, the pas light suddenly came on, and the steering went very heavy. On arriving at work, I turned the ignition off, then started the car again, and the steering was fine for a few seconds, then the problem reoccurred. I repeated this a few times, with the same result. However, on my journey home, the steering was fine. I called into a garage to book it in to be checked out, and when I explained what had happened, the bloke said the problem was the electrics box that controls the steering motor, and the problem will cost more than £700 to fix!! Is this true?!?!?!?

Hi mate,

I have seen very few steering ECUs fail. Have a read of THIS guide on electric power steering faults on the punto.

Alan

The majority of the time it's low voltage from battery and alternator. Looking at the guide, you will see that the power steering motor requires quite a lot of volts to power it.

Drop test the battery and alternator, if they check out make sure fuse is fine (big blue 60amp inside fuse box right hand side of air box)

Next thing from there is check earths from power steering motor to ECU. I had the same issue, and all I had to do was strip down steering column, took power steering motor out along with ECU. Clean and re soldered all the wires and now it works perfectly with no issues.

The bloke in the garage is just pulling a fast one mate, before I had the amazing help from the guys on this forum, I popped into a garage and had the same thing.

In the meantime just grow some muscles, the car is still very much driveable without the power steering, I done it for 3 months and you get used to it.

Good luck!

garages quoting that figure just give the trade a bad name
steer clear
why not get leads and multiscan to do your own fault code reading to lead you to the fault
all that garage wants to do is fit a recon system and make £500

Cheers! I'll see what the garage says tomoz, and if they say it will be expensive, I will take the car to my usual mechanic. If the worst does turn out to be true, then I will be looking for my next Punto!!

Something associated with that you guys may be able to shed light on: ever since I bought the car back in 2010, the power steering light has occasionally come on, but the steering itself has been fine. Something I noticed this morning was at the same time as the steering became heavy, I heard a faint click. Does that shed light on the problem?

Did you check the battery as per the guide in a1ant's post and skeogh's advice? I'm not talking a simple multimeter test, I mean a proper drop test that pulls shed loads of current. To me, the intermittent steering fault was indicative of a weakening battery, and as it has deteriorated further, revealing the more serious faults you are currently experiencing.

No, I haven't. I've had the battery replaced since I got the car, and there has been no other issues. A diagnostic test has been done on the car, and it came up with code 5005: steering column motor torque position sensors.

puntofan01 said:

No, I haven't. I've had the battery replaced since I got the car, and there has been no other issues. A diagnostic test has been done on the car, and it came up with code 5005: steering column motor torque position sensors.

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Based on what you said in your last post with the click and having very faint issues with the light coming on sounds more like volts having trouble reaching the power steering motor. When not enough power is reaching the motor, the ecu automatically disengages the motor to prevent damage. Although the code reads torque sensors, I would still recommend checking the relay points and ensuring all the connections are clean and solid. If one wire isn't in the greatest condition, it's enough to stop the motor working from lack of power.

Normally when a torque sensor fault code comes up, people tend to rush out and buy reconditioned steering columns only for it to work for a short time. Fiat charge £400 upwards. Do the easy checks first before rushing out.

There is a guide to stripping the column down and checking connections, it's a half hour job and requires very few tools.

I wouldn't want to repair it myself. I will be asking a third mechanic tomorrow, and if he says it will cost a large amount, I will start looking for a Grande Punto!!

puntofan01 said:

I wouldn't want to repair it myself. I will be asking a third mechanic tomorrow, and if he says it will cost a large amount, I will start looking for a Grande Punto!!

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punto grumpy also has power steering issues just like all modern cars so consider having fitted a bba recon as an example
takes less than an hour to fit too

s and b said:

punto grumpy also has power steering issues just like all modern cars so consider having fitted a bba recon as an example
takes less than an hour to fit too

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Maybe, but my mk2 is getting on now, it's rather tatty, and I was probably going to change it for a Grande within the next 2 years anyway, so if I do change it now, I'll just be getting a Grande sooner than intended!!

Good thing about the Grande puntos is they are relay-less which means any pas issues are a lot easier to fix

Don't get me wrong, I'll always have a huge soft spot for the mk2s: only on Tuesday, my parents finally parted with theirs after owning it for 8.5 years, and I've had this 1 for nearly 4 years, but this repair could possibly cost what the car is worth. If that is the case, I'd rather upgrade sooner than intended!

It sounds like you already have your heart set on the Grande, but for a cheap fix, check and clean up the battery terminals and the earth wire-to-body connection before condemning the car.

Like I say, the light has randomly come on occasionally even after having the battery changed in 2012.

I pick up a 2008 1.4 Eleganza 5dr tomoz!!

puntofan01 said:

I pick up a 2008 1.4 Eleganza 5dr tomoz!!

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wow how many weetabix did you eat this morning then

s and b said:

wow how many weetabix did you eat this morning then

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Why do you say that, lol?

puntofan01 said:

Why do you say that, lol?

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because your picking the car up tomoss
even if i ate 5 tins of spinach i couldn't lift a punto grande without mechanical aids