Hi,

Just a rant about problems with my Fiat Grande Punto 06 really. I bought the car privately in October 09 with 37k miles on the clock after getting it checked with no problems. I'm just under 40k miles now and I’ve already had 3 major problems.

1. Heater / Blower pump completely failed after switching on and off randomly for a few months - £270 for a new unit and fixing
2. Mapping Sensor failed causing the car to stall continuously at low revs - £80 for a new unit and fixing
3. Power Steering failed and now the car continuously grind. I've been quoted over £1000 to fix - what a joke

The power steering just went off completely when driving with no warning whatsoever and I almost went off the side of the road into a house. After leaving the car switched off the steering works again but it feels very loose and grinds when you turn. If that is not worth a recall i don't know what is! I guess we can wait for a few more to go and maybe something bad has to happen before they acknowledge it. A quick google shows that a lot of power steering units for the model started going in '10.

smax

Does this mean '11 is the year for the 07 models?

Over a grand seems quite pricey though, I'm sure people on here have had it done for about £850.

EDIT: Although if I was hit with a bill like that with no warranty I'd be straight down to Uncle Arnolds to trade it in and get something else.

Yeah i'm considering trading it in. Just trying to weigh up my options at the moment. Seeing if there is a cheaper work around for the steering problem etc.

hi,
iv just recently had a problem with my steering too. when i turn it itgrinds very little , then after running it for a tiny bit it stops. after a few weeks it stopped just like u said and i couldnt steer it. switched off the engine then started it but no good. waited for a long time and restarted it so it feels ok but i dont know if the problem is still there waiting to attack sometime soon or its gone lol.
i dunno what to do either. cant afford to take it to the garage.

Poor battery performance / battery charging issues can cause Power Steering failure so check the charging system out & the battery condition.

However, electric Power Steering does fail, on all car makes that have it fitted sadly... it has been chosen as it is "greener" than hydraulic Power Steering & saps less energy form small capacity engines.

Ffoxy said:

Poor battery performance / battery charging issues can cause Power Steering failure so check the charging system out & the battery condition.

However, electric Power Steering does fail, on all car makes that have it fitted sadly... it has been chosen as it is "greener" than hydraulic Power Steering & saps less energy form small capacity engines.

Click to expand...

Ffoxy, im gana sound stupid but thats something new i`v heard (electric steering) , i thought its still all hydraulic but with a better system lol.
you learn something new everyday )
thanks.
ps. good point though , ill check the battery properly soon .