My daughters punto has developed stiff steering and the little red light is on all the time on the dash. I have spent today stripping the steering column off the car to inspect the motor ecu etc. all look ok to me. my question is where is the best place to buy a new unit or shall i get a reconditioned one. I read somewhere that some one working with Fiats for 10 years has never known the ecu to cause this problem, which I find hard to beleive. Thanks in advance for any information on this subject Trev Walton

Is the steering stiff permanantly or every now and then? Such as when on full lock? If it's not permanant simply replace the battery and all fixed!

bredsticz - It is permanently off I found a couple of dry joints on steering motor printed circuit board hoping this will cure problem

I was about to post a question about this.

Mine has (just today) had the steering go heavy in a car park on full lock. There was a click (relay maybe) and the steering went heavy. The steering was OK when I restarted the car.

The battery is new and a good quality one too (Bosch Silver). I doubt its under charged because the generator tested out ok and the car was used for 150 miles/three hours on Friday evening. No lights were left on and it started fine. It also has a standard Fiat stereo.

Hi whitesei thats how my daughters car started first it was intermittent but now permanently off - stiff steering. Until i get it refitted later today i wont know whether i have succesfully repaired it or not. If not will just have to buy a full unit and fit that , by the way the battery is fully charged so I can rule that one out. trev

Oh Poo.

Mine has been a bit of a PIA. Cam belt failed just after I bought the car (though I take the blame because I knew its was overdue). Battery was shot and clutch stuffed.

I'm happy to have a go with an electronics soldering iron so if its sorted do let us know the repair details.

Does anyone know what causes that click? Is it a relay dropping out?

WhiteSei said:

Oh Poo.

Mine has been a bit of a PIA. Cam belt failed just after I bought the car (though I take the blame because I knew its was overdue). Battery was shot and clutch stuffed.

I'm happy to have a go with an electronics soldering iron so if its sorted do let us know the repair details.

Does anyone know what causes that click? Is it a relay dropping out?

Click to expand...

Yes, its a relay dropping out due to low voltage. If you are manoevering at slow engine speed with lots of electrical stuff on, the alternator output can drop below the critical level fort the steering.

Quick rev of the engine will bring it back.

Cheers

SPD

Hope that's all it is. I went for a top battery knowing they get clobbered at low speed.

HI there whitesei, great news the sodered joints had cracked on the printed circuit board on the motor all I did was resoldered the joints and when I refitted it all, it was back to normal, power steering working again and the little steering wheel has gone.

Top stuff. I'll have to check mine out (though its behaving for now). I wonder how many supposed steering sensor faults are actually duff PCB soldering.

Do please post a guide. Even if its just a simple write-up. These things get lost in the main discussion threads.