Hi all.. new to the forum

My girlfriend bought a Y Punto 1.2 8v ELX (all I know as there is no handbook). Since then the car has developed a few problems.

1. after driving the car home the speedo stopped registering speed.. The dash has power and all the dials and gauges work. I dont believe the speedo itself to be the problem as the needle lifts from its rest when the ignition is turned. Also the digital display in the centre flashes repeatedly with ignition on and does not register mileage... am I right to assume a "Speed Sensor" is the problem.

2. Today after driving maybe 40 miles and using a tomtom for a speedo the power steering packed up. The red light on the dash came on and obviously the steering is very heavy.

3. There is a fairly quiet but very high pitched "squealing" type noise coming from somewhere under the bonnet only when the engine is running.. I was thinking water pump alternator.... maybe a bearing on one of those.. just a guess

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Getting work done would not be a problem as a school friend is a ford technician.. just looking for some guidance as he is not too familiar with fiats

P.S. I have checked all fuses and unplugged and re-seated the plugs on the fuseboard

EDIT - Could the first two problems be related as i'm guessing the power steering system works differently depending what speed you're travelling at

The dash is flashing because it needs proxy alignment at fiat. Only fiat can do this im afraid.

If the speed sensor is at fault it would cause the power steering to go as it is speed dependant. If the car has got ABS the speed is read from the ABS sensor. Without ABS there is a sensor on the gearbox.

When did she buy it?

Bought it this friday (24th april)

I presume it has ABS as the light lights up on the dash as normal when it is started up

How much does proxy alignment cost.. roughly

ok so the good news is the light has gone off and the EPAS is now working again fine... but the speedo is still dead

After quite alot of reading both on here and other sources i now understand the CAN system and "proxy alignment" or syncronisting/re-calibrating.

It does seem that this could be the case and would coincide with the speedo not working the digital oddometer flashing and the power steering working/notworking.

I just hope that this unreliable wiring/electrics has not caused itself damage in the process... handing it over to fiat on thursday so they can plug it into their diagnostics.. fingers crossed its nothing major..

Well it just gets better...

The car went to the dealers this morning for diagnostics and they have just foned and blamed the fact that it has a jvc head unit instead of a factory standard

Ive never heard anything so stupid in my life!!!

The funny thing is we bought the car without a radio and it was fine..
Still with no radio installed the problems start...
and putting a JVC in hasnt made it better or worse....

Really need some advice, going down in half an hour to get the car.. and I wont be paying the bill

Aparently they cant diagnose the car further because the diagnostic software errors and reports "missing receiver error" which relates to the fact it has no factory fit radio..

Does any know or has any ever put a second hand radio in or are they coded to the car

I really dont want to spend hundreds getting a new one just to clear the error codes

A different radio shoouldnt affect anything. Many people change thier head units with no problems.

The problems may be if the CAN wires behind the radio (these would of connected the origional radio to the car ecu and fiat diag software) are being shorted out and have been connected together.

Other than that fiat should be able to say what the problems is, faulty ecu, dash unit . . .