Help please my daughters punto developed a high pitched squeal ,she took it to a garage who said it was a faulty alternator and replaced it my daughter happily left in her car with no squeal. The next day as she went to drive off,car started but no power steering ignition off then back on power steering working its becoming very intermittent but the percentage of not working is becoming greater . I'm just hoping to god it doesn't fail on her whilst driving . She has returned to the garage twice they've changed the alternator again saying first replacement was possibly faulty but still the saga continues. Please somebody give me a simple answer as I'm not greatly mechanically minded but neither my daughter nor I can afford to keep throwing money at an 07 punto nor replace the car. I'm aware this question may have been asked before but to be honest the answers I found very confusing .

Hi

The power steering NEEDS a strong and reliable electrical supply

A battery and alternator are the main ingredients.. but there are other potential niggles..

Tip:

When you stop the car.. turn off all the lights..radio etc

Then when you want to start the engine.. turn the key to the 1st position

Listen to the fuel pump run.. watch the dashboard do its 'selftest'

Then move the key to the start position.

This will give the electrical circuits an easy time

Charlie

Battej said:

I'm aware this question may have been asked before but to be honest the answers I found very confusing.

Click to expand...

What (which part) exactly is "very confusing" to you? Give us an example. Seriously.
"Sticky" thread: https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/424410-grande-punto-faqs.html
Which points to this one: https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/318839-electrical-gremlin-thread.html
Plus Guides section: https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto-guides/169204-grande-punto-engine-bay-earthing-points.html

Conclusion. If you have good alternator and battery (mind, it may be a bit trashed after alternator failure), next thing is a wiring (for 99% sure it's a main "ground/earth", positive leads don't fail that often). Very last thing is a power steering position sensor or motor itself. Worth checking the error codes (but note, that you can get "steering wheel position sensor" code because of bad "earth" or battery or both). So, power first (whole system, immaculate condition). Then steering itself.

If you are not able to handle it DIY, go to garage, but maybe different one. Current one can't handle it properly (they keep swapping alternators, but can't check the battery and "ground" cables?).

varesecrazy said:

Then when you want to start the engine.. turn the key to the 1st position
Listen to the fuel pump run.. watch the dashboard do its 'selftest'
Then move the key to the start position.
This will give the electrical circuits an easy time.

Click to expand...

No. In a healthy car that's not needed ("The Starting Procedure" - no such thing really).
I start my car as fast as I can, intentionally, without waiting for dash lights to go on/off (I don't care). Result: no problems whatsoever, no errors etc.

I remember reading about non-oem alternators causing issues with PAS. Only the ones supplied by Fiat worked without issues.

Like others have suggested, a bad battery after faulty alternator is very likely with bad earth cable.

It is a warranty case with the garage now. What caused the noise in the alternator. There is a freewheel clutch which fails and can be replaced individually without changing the whole alternator. Knowing the quality of aftermarket parts, it is a very wise decision to keep the original alternator.

Check which alternator has been recently fitted. If it’s not a genuine Fiat part then it will cause this issue. It’s the voltage regulator that is the issue which causes the power steering to not work as it should. The electric power steering is very fussy.

I found that out via a YouTube video I watched to pass time and the bloke mentioned aftermarket alternators will give problems.

At least this is what I understand to be true so I always fit a genuine item when it comes to Fiat.