Hey there everybody,

I stumbled across this forum while Googling for the many problems I seem to be having with my '03 Punto (Facelift). And I can't seem to find a proper answer online. I'm from the Netherlands but usually the English forums seem to be more populated so I thought I'd try here.

Anyways, first problem I am having is that the PAS light comes on every time I take the car out for a drive. Most of the times when I steer out of my parking space. The PAS does keep working however!

Second problem is that the car seems a bit sluggish, it will accelerate a bit jerkish at times and does not feel snappy. Also, the tachometer goes up in a jerkish movement, not smooth as one would think. Like it'll be at 2000rpm and when accelerating slowly it will 'snap' to 2050 instead of a smooth movement. (This is my first Fiat however, so I don't know if that's normal?)

Sorry for the long story

Greetings,

Mafs

Hej and welkom

OK, bear in mind that the PAS is electric (rather than hydraulic), so have you had the battery checked or replaced?

The sluggish acceleration/snappy tacho are probably related to each other, and poor battery voltage has been known to cause all sorts of issues with these cars, so I'd get the first issue looked at initially and see if it magically solves the 2nd!

Out of interest, what engine is in your Punto?

Hello!

I knew it was electric yes, and I checked the battery (quickly, mind you, it's raining cats and dogs here). Not under load it read 12.8 volts. With engine running around 14v, with engine running and lights, and blower on it still read 14v.

The engine is the 1.4 16V with 95hp.

Thanks in advance

next thing the power steering will start cutting out
its given you warning
be aware going round a sharp bend at 30mph and it cuts out is a real trouser moment
you really need mes to read the power steering fault codes before spending any euros mind
in relation to engine these engines eat ht leads because of the environment they sit in
if car a keeper consider quality plugs and leads no internet posty rubbish mind

Hey,
Been driving with the light on for a few months now. No sign of power steering loss thus far. Plugs have just been changed for NGK's and leads seem to be proper. As Ezklipse suggested I also suspect the battery, however 14 volts is good right?
Also dealer here charges around 60 euros for a simple read-out also if nothing is found, so I'd rather wait that one out if possible.
I've tried my own ELM327 Bluetooth dongle which worked fine on my Suzuki but not on this car.
Any suggestions?

ok
for me is how you say no problerm

Good morning,
Of course or remains a problem haha.
But I've checked the HT leads with a multimeter for resistance with a guide I found online, and all 4 were within specs. So that would rule out them out right?

Mafs said:

Good morning,
Of course or remains a problem haha.
But I've checked the HT leads with a multimeter for resistance with a guide I found online, and all 4 were within specs. So that would rule out them out right?

Click to expand...

You haven't checked the insulation of the HT leads

14v engine running indicates alternator is ok, nothing about battery condition.

The battery needs to be load tested.

Alright, how do I go about testing the insulation if I may ask?
Battery load testing, just put car on contact then turn everything on see how much the voltage drops?

Find a battery supplier local to you and ask them if they have a battery tester , if yes ask them to test your battery.

HT lead insulation test.
You can run engine and spray a light mist of water (house plant sprayer good for this) over the whole length of HT leads, if the engine runs rough misfiring or if you hear cracking noise or see sparks the HT insulation has failed.

You have multimeter why not measure the resistance of the secondary windings?

That's gonna be out of the question, atleast for this weekend, everything is closed now.
I'll try the spray tonight when it's dark, might see the sparks better imo.

And secondary windings? Never heard of that, sorry.

you will have to wait then.

Okay, so I tried the spray, no change in idling, no crackling noises or sparks. Did this in pitch darkness, with the air filter completely off of course.

Whilst in the car idling I also noticed a small vibration which seems to happen randomly. Just for half a second or so, no change in revs though. Only thing I noticed is when the fan turns on the revs drop to about 500 for a second then back up to about 900. Wondering if there's any correlation to the 2 though. Problem does seem to be electric but the battery hold out OK. Just a quick test in the car with everything on except the engine the voltage drops to 11.5 but slowly climbs back up to about 11.7. No problems with starting however, always in less than 2 seconds.
Hope to get the battery checked monday if there's a garage here that does it, might roll by the Kwikfit.

Any suggestions however are welcome, got all day tomorrow

Hey there,

Had Kwikfit test the battery and alternator for me.
Both were within the expected range. The battery is not 100% as expected for a battery that is 4 years old, but still functions like it should. Also the alternator is fine and provided a good current.

They didn't have a clue about why the steering wheel light comes on, or why the car has
a power loss, but they were of course very eager to check for me, which would probably take a few hours according to one of the mechanics. Which would mean a large bill for only attempting to find the problem, not fixing it.

Anyone got any ideas on what I could do to try and fix this issue myself?

Check the resistance where the HT leads connect to coil between leads 1 and 4
Then check resistance where leads 2 and 3 connect.

It will be several kohms.
Report back.

Alright, will probably do that tomorrow after work if the weather cooperates, haha

Could be a bad earth or connection somewhere. Remove and clean any and all earth straps battery to chassis, chassis to engine / gearbox and so on. Then heavier looking wires especially those towards the steering rack. When 12v motors pull current you get all sorts of voltage dips unless connections are good and a dodgy connection might still check good using a multimeter. Open and clean them!

andydiver said:

Could be a bad earth or connection somewhere. Remove and clean any and all earth straps battery to chassis, chassis to engine / gearbox and so on. Then heavier looking wires especially those towards the steering rack. When 12v motors pull current you get all sorts of voltage dips unless connections are good and a dodgy connection might still check good using a multimeter. Open and clean them!

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the advice!

Spend 2 hours to find all earths and cleaning them. Unfortunately no such luck the PAS problem is still there. However, the power loss seems to have been reduced significantly, just a small hold back near 3000 RPM but I can live with that, as it's hardly noticable.

PAS light still burns, but keeps working nonetheless. Only happens on almost full lock, I can steer a little left and right when stationary, nothing happens. But when backing out a parking lot or such, there it is again.
Could it possibly be a sensor or something?

Hello!
Been a while and have been trying to sort out the problems still. Only to have found more, of course.

PAS light is still on, but steering assistance keeps working nonetheless, so really a non-issue.
However, I have two ELM327 bluetooth dongles and have connected them both. However when my phone connects the boardcomputer completely resets, as if you've detached the battery. Anybody have any idea?

Another small issue is that when I've been driving for a while the clutch goes a little ' lumpy' when changing gear (when I put the clutch back up) which makes for a very rough gear change. I've read that this could be the slave clutch cylinder?

Would like to hear your advises, thank you

I had this issue on both my puntos. On the Sporting it turned out to be the power steering motor (first of all the light comes on periodically, then it'll start to fail and the steering will go heavy).

I managed to get a cheap replacement which fixed it and didn't cost much from the scrap yard.. really easy to replace too.

My HGT took a little more work. On that it turned out the be the whole steering column that needed replacing... Luckily there is a firm in Birmingham that sell them refurbed for £150 (on the condition that you send back your faulty one within two weeks). For this you get a refurbed motor, steering column and ECU... they are nice and shiny too!

I got a friend to fit it for me as it was a more involved job (he did it for £60 although a garage will charge more) and i've done about 25k since without an issue.