Technical Red steering wheel light

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Technical Red steering wheel light

Lorna87

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About just over a month ago, I noticed that I had a red steering wheel light appear, the steering felt fine and the car had not long passed its MoT and service. Anyway, after a couple of days it went off and everything was fine. Then a week ago it came on, restarted the car and it disappeared, and then today it came on, and again restarted the car and it disappeared. The steering feels fine, so I’m confused
 
Link to previous thread for reference - https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/463903-red-steering-wheel-light.html

In my opinion it's unlikely to be the battery again unless there is something else causing a parasitic drain in the system, as Charlie mentioned in the previous thread it's likely to be the torque angle sensor in the steering column, which is an easily replaceable part apparently.
 
If memory serves..

Lorna found the forum with issues related to 'duckbills'.. common panda thing :eek:

So..as usual.. Im not got going for the
'I'll buy lots of new parts..'

Its been a mega wet 5 months for most of the UK.

That means lights and wipers.. large electrical drains.

I would ..again.. doubt the fundamentals of the steerings power supply.

Cheap starting point:
I recently bought one of these.. it will tell you exactly how much power is in the electrical system.. as you drive

Any drops.. from a tired alternator.. to a hard.worked battery will be seen easily

Its around a fiver.. you dont get much 'garage time' for that ;)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voltmeter-Voltage-Battery-Monitor-LED-Display-Indicator-12V-24V-Car-Boat-UK/293251567665?hash=item444727d031:g:eJcAAOSwDIJdhWkA


There is of course the possibiltiy that the steering is failing..
But its really annoying spending to get something fixed
. ...But with no obvious result :(

Charlie
 
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I’m not getting any clock resetting though this time, like I was before. The only other thing that has happened is I have had a nail in my tyre (three in total in different wheels over the last twelve months) that have been plugged. Something tells me it’s a loose connection somewhere (but, as you all know too well, I am no mechanical expert). As I say, the steering feels fine, and normally after turning off and on the ignition the light goes away.
 
We randomly get this on two of our Pandas every winter, usually in the few weeks after the clocks change.
Both are 1.2s, used for relatively short journeys, mostly on country lanes, but have good batteries, alternators and earth leads.
Usually happens just after a cold start, when manoeuvring out of a tight parking space with lights, demister & wipers on.

My fix for the last couple of years had been to do a top-up battery charge using a smart (CTek) charger once or twice over the winter, just to keep the battery level up.
 
A cheap voltmeter wired to a fuse that's ON with the ignition will tell you if the system voltage is low. Basically watch the trend when you start the car and check the readings when any faults occur.

You can get one that plugs into the cigar lighter socket but on the Panda its awkward to read and when you really need to read it, the *** thing has shaken loose.


In my case the battery was replaced due to steering issues but the real problem was the alternator not making enough power. Unfortunately, "not enough power" will not show up when Halfords charge you £20 to plug in their tester. You will only know for sure with the voltmeter fitted.

If you have air-con, fitting a new alternator is expensive or a serious pain in the bits. If you don't have air con happy days.
 
A cheap voltmeter wired to a fuse that's ON with the ignition will tell you if the system voltage is low. Basically watch the trend when you start the car and check the readings when any faults occur.

You can get one that plugs into the cigar lighter socket but on the Panda its awkward to read and when you really need to read it, the *** thing has shaken loose.


In my case the battery was replaced due to steering issues but the real problem was the alternator not making enough power. Unfortunately, "not enough power" will not show up when Halfords charge you £20 to plug in their tester. You will only know for sure with the voltmeter fitted.

If you have air-con, fitting a new alternator is expensive or a serious pain in the bits. If you don't have air con happy days.

I have air con ?
 
Hopefully driving. To Weymouth Friday - about a three hour drive, that should get some charge in the battery.
 
Hi Lorna, maybe not relevant to your case but hopefully this might be of some help to you.

I've only had the red steering wheel light once, when I was parked in a tight parking spot with the front wheels at an angle. I manoeuvred out straight after starting the car and the power steering failed.

I read on here that (apart from weak battery/connections) this can be due to:

  • the steering drawing a lot of current, so letting the battery recover some charge after starting can help
  • the torque angle sensor misreading the straight ahead position if it's playing up
Now I try to always park with the wheels straight, avoid extra battery load (lights, wipers, heater) when starting, and let the battery recover from the shock of starting the car before setting off. I haven't had the problem again in over a year.

Might be worth carrying out the same precautions and see if it makes any difference. Good luck:)
 
I had the dreaded red steering light come on a couple of years ago. I was doing 70MPH down the outside lane of a dual carriageway at the time, so it wasn't a low battery. It's also not the time you want a light to come on to tell you your steering has failed!

It went off when I stopped and restarted the car at the next layby, but subsequently came on again at the end of the journey.


After some pondering at the local franchised Fiat servicing agent, they decided it was an intermittent fault in the power steering sensor, and the whole steering column had to be replaced. :mad:
 
Lorna..

Csn you please explain a litte further.. what the sequence of the light coming on?

Manouvreing at its 1st start.

Low speed sharp turns.. or completely random??

Start the car and sometimes within a few minutes it comes on, then restart the car and it doesn’t. The fact that it came up before and this led to the battery being changed and then it went off, perhaps it is the battery. My car does lots of small journeys and with these dark mornings and early starts, lights have been on pretty much all the time. Hopefully a drive to Weymouth will help. Could really do without there being another issue with my car ?. It’s causing me so much stress and anxiety. Wish one of you guys lived near me so that someone could actually take a look.
 
I had the dreaded red steering light come on a couple of years ago. I was doing 70MPH down the outside lane of a dual carriageway at the time, so it wasn't a low battery. It's also not the time you want a light to come on to tell you your steering has failed!

It went off when I stopped and restarted the car at the next layby, but subsequently came on again at the end of the journey.


After some pondering at the local franchised Fiat servicing agent, they decided it was an intermittent fault in the power steering sensor, and the whole steering column had to be replaced. :mad:

How much did that cost?
 
Probably battery charge..

Where are you based..? Been a while..

I’m in the Midlands - can give more accurate location via messaging. I just really really can’t afford to change my car, nor do I want to spend a lot on it. I just know that the garage will tempt me into have expensive work done, and I’m not mechanically knowledgable enough to challenge them on it.
 
Just need Poppy the Panda to last u til the end of this year.

What you risk losing is power assistance to the steering, not the steering itself - the car will still be perfectly driveable if it fails completely, though the steering will be a lot heavier. It may (or may not) pull to one side, but you will always be able to overcome this manually. Just be ready for it if the light comes on.

The power assistance is progressive, in that you get most assistance at parking speeds, and almost no assitance at motorway speeds, so if it does fail at 70mph, you'll still have full control of the car.

In the worst case scenario, you can remove the power steering fuse, disabling assistance completely. The car will be heavy to steer, but you'll be certain nothing unpredictable can happen. The biggest downside is that you won't get an MOT with the power assistance disabled, but if your MOT doesn't run out until you can afford to replace the car, at least you can stop stressing about being faced with an unaffordable bill.

Until not so long ago, most small cars didn't have power assistance to the steering anyway; it was 2002 before I first had power steering on an A-segment car.

If it turns out not to be the battery and you do want it fixed, give these guys a call. If you can drive it to Bristol, they may even be able to repair it for you while you wait (or at least the same day).
 
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unless you plug in scanner and use the full version of MultiecuScan diagnosing it can be hit and miss with power steering issues.

I have had this error several times two old cars

First off its almost impossible to test with a volt meter.

even when the battery is the fault they still measure 14.1 volts when running

One car has had a dead cells and only measured just over 11 volts at rest yet didn't cause the steering light to come on. But did cause other faults including idle and clock issues. Yet a car with 12.4v at rest and 14.1V running did require a battery.


Battery issues normally only happen at slow speed. Normally worse the First couple of turns. If you reversing into a space and the steering fails exactly as you hit the brakes is a dead give away the battery is at fault as is worse the colder the temperature is.


I have had randomly coming on without the steering going heavy due to a slipping auxiliary belt. Mine was slightly worse in wet weather.


juddering, buzzing noise or only failing on full lock is normally not the battery. The First port of call is to disconnect the battery and reseat the steering connector.

For me having two cars makes life easy for me as its just a quick swap of the battery is enough to confirm if its the battery. But reading the code would also confirm a power issue
 
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