Hi im new here and would like a bit of advice or help, was waiting at work with engine running, battery warning light came on so turned engine off and on and it was gone, as i went to pull away my car wouldnt steer, steering was really stiff and wouldnt rotate either way, so i stopped turned engine off and on backed up back into safe spot then it miraculously worked, any help would be appreciated on what it could be and what i need to do. thank you

Your battery in good health?..check for any stored codes,check earth points and pray its NOT the electric steering motor..

Mark rooney said:

Hi im new here and would like a bit of advice or help, was waiting at work with engine running, battery warning light came on so turned engine off and on and it was gone, as i went to pull away my car wouldnt steer, steering was really stiff and wouldnt rotate either way, so i stopped turned engine off and on backed up back into safe spot then it miraculously worked, any help would be appreciated on what it could be and what i need to do. thank you

Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

The 'battery light' is really a check of alternator output

The steering needs LOTS of power.. more than just the battery

I had a punto sporting with a dodgy alternator..
no power steering until 3500 rpm.. then it was fine all day..

Get a meter on the battery terminals..

Should be approx.
12.5 volts engine off .. battery power
14.5 volts engine running ..alternator power

Charlie

Mark, welcome to the FIAT forums.

I'm sorry to hear of this (slightly alarming) problem. It's exactly this time of year after the warmer weather begins to end that batteries seem to begin to show their weaknesses if they are getting old.

I've always been an advocate of replacing batteries with an 'extra heavy-duty' version of the minimum type recommended. Particularly if you're doing lots of shorter journeys.

Hopefully Varesecrazy has identified the likely problems, but it would always be a good idea to also check the battery earthing point too, just in case that is getting a bit corroded.

I can only add that if you've got the meter out to check the battery and output, then also stress check the alternator output - you should be getting around 13.5-14.5 volts if the alternator is good. To do a "stress test" on the alternator - place a load on the alternator by turning on the headlights, the air conditioning, the radio, wipers etc. The voltage should remain high with all those on.

EDIT:
As a side, a neighbour's car had a shrieking alternator drive-belt, belt and tensioner were fixed and all seemed well

...Until a load was placed on the alternator and then the belt would scream like a banshee!

It turned out that the alternator didn't like being under load and would try to slow down. I think this was the bearings in the alternator giving up. With no load on the alternator the car was absolutely fine.
The alternator was replaced and the problem completely went away

A few questions:
1. what model of GP and engine size?
2. was it raining when this happened (or had it just before)
3. as above how's your battery
4. any squealing noises when this happened (except yours!)

DGPunto said:

4. any squealing noises when this happened (except yours!)

Click to expand...

Heheh - nice one

MaxHeadroom said:

Heheh - nice one

Click to expand...

No mate, the power steering went earlier today on my way to work, its going into the mechanic in a few days

Mark rooney said:

No mate, the power steering went earlier today on my way to work, its going into the mechanic in a few days

Click to expand...

See the posts of 3 weeks ago..

Is altermator charging..?
At what level ??

Welcome to the forum Mark. Although it could be the power steering unit itself it's much more likely, as everyone is saying above, to be either the battery itself, poor connection at the terminal posts (often due to crap under the clamps) bad body/engine earthing point contacts (maybe a corroded earth lead itself - our Panda 169s are bad for that) or something to do with the alternator. I know you say she's going to the mechanic in a few days but if you've got a voltmeter you might like to "amuse" yourself in the meantime?

So, as Charlie, Max and all above are saying, test your battery with a voltmeter applied across the terminals after the car has stood overnight. (so the cells can stabilize) You should see at least 12 to 12.5 volts. Somewhere around 11 to 11.5 volts is not good enough! Then start the engine and, even at tickover, you should be seeing 13.5, maybe 14.5 volts. Now, and you'll probably need a helper, try turning the steering with the voltmeter probes still on the battery terminals (not the clamps). If the power assistance isn't kicking in but he battery is still showing 13.5 to 14.5 then your battery is - probably - good but you've got a poor connection problem somewhere.

Once you've done this and got some results come back to us and we'll probably be able to make suggestions as to what to do next. The Power steering motor is brought into play when you put pressure on the steering to go either left or right and it pulls a whacking current. (Maybe as much as 80 amps I've seen people quote, I've never measured it but I know it's a big drain) unless the battery, alternator and all the wiring and connections are in really good order, it won't work properly!

I had a similar problem a year or so ago and was convinced it was a bad Electric Power Steering column. The symptoms for me were a 'battery' warning light, a 'steering wheel' warning light, and occassional complete loss of steering. The steering wheel became almost impossible to turn when this happened, really dangerous. You'd think if the PAS failed the wheel would operate like a non-PAS car - but no - the steering just gives up completely at low speeds.

Anyway, it wasn't the PAS motor, alternator or battery in my case. It was the earth lead. Same one as this chap: https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-pu...nto-engine-bay-earthing-points.html?p=4285190

This is the one which connects gearbox to chassis, and the cable is insulated. This hides the corrossion occuring beneath and mine was hanging on by a couple of strands of copper wire until I went to take it off and it snapped completely. New earth cable, problem solved.

It's worth checking this first, and hopefully a good garage would but I fear most 'fast fit' type places will stick a new battery and alternator on and send you on your way, and the problem will return.

Weather is getting worse in the UK now, so all these electrical related problems will be cropping up what with GPs having nice water exposed alternators.

What is it with people like us? You seem to be like me in that you assume the worst possible scenario? - I'm famous for it amongst my family and friends. I console myself that when it then turns out to be something simpler it's usually cheaper to sort out and so cheers me up! That earth lead seems to be a very common failure. Mine, on the Panda, is the exposed braided type and looks original. It's quite "green" with several severed strands and I've been meaning to replace it every time I see it - but then I forget! Which reminds me I must look at it again soon and also reminds me that my boy's is an insulated enclosed cable, like your's. So, as it's "Dad's Garage" which does the maintenance and most of the repairs to it, the proprietor (me) had better give it a good tug and wiggle.

Fortunately we haven't yet experienced power failure on either our Panda or my boy's Punto. I've read other's accounts of what it's like and it's obvious the steering becomes very heavy. I keep warning my boy, and Mrs J in particular, to be ready for it as, if it happens, they will need to get very "Physical" with the steering wheel. I'm hoping that if the car is moving at more than a crawl it will be lighter, like the old non powered steering systems, so she's less likely to crash it?

I think you're right about misdiagnosis. If you don't know about the earth cable being a common failure and especially if you are heavily into "upselling", a new battery and alternator on most vehicles would probably sort the problem even if all that was actually wrong was dirty clamps failing to make good connections to the battery lugs!

By the way, I think it's worth mentioning that, as a lot of us will be aware, there are a number of concerns which will rebuild your power steering unit for you, often with uprated parts where weaknesses are a known issue and I think they all give very good, maybe lifetime guarantees? I know I've seen ads for Western Power steering on the forum but there are other highly reputable companies out there (BBA remanufacturing and ECU testing being two I've heard good reports off) Of course you can go and pay a small fortune to have original Fiat parts fitted at your dealer but then you miss out on the improvements these specialists incorporate so I'd go this route for that reason alone - that and the fact the guarantee is, I think, better than the dealer will give? However, quite apart from the advantages I perceive by going this route I also like that your old unit is being returned to you (but all nice, shiny and with new parts) and this means it should be "plug and play" when refitting as the car's ECU will recognize the old unit's electronics without needing to be reprogrammed.