I have purchased a 2004 punto, thankfully with warranty so am going to call the garage tomorrow but in the meantime...

The red steering wheel light has come on twice, but in both occasions the power steering was fine and completely unaffected.

Both times it happened when the car was stationary and the engine was running, once in a queue and once stopped to chat to a friend.

Ignition off, keys out, back in again and all sorted.

Having read all the threads, am concerned about this.

I will be contacting the garage, but anyone has similar and what was the outcome?

Is it major? Could it simply be electrical?

Thanks

Melanie

any ideas anyone?

Low system voltage will do it. Get the battery stress tested and the make sure the alternator is charging properly. The chances are one cell cell in the battery is failing.

There are many thread explaining the need to check the battery whenever the steering appears to be faulty.

I have 2005 16V punto, and i had this problem , it dissappered completely after changing to anew battery , so it might be the reason....

ive had a few 2b puntos do this
never found a solution im afraid other than key off on
it normally happened coming back from an mot when car had been ticking over for over half an hour
anyway i usually blame low battery as said

The latest....

Phoned the mechanic from where I bought the car, 40 miles away, and he was happy for me to go to my local garage and get battery checked.

The local garage did a diagnsotic and it is apparently the torque sensors.

What I have read so far, I assume this means the whole column needs replacing.

Just seems funny that I have only seen the light but had no side effects of steering, unless its just the start and I have the rest to come.

Will be calling garage from where it came from tomorrow and booking it back in!

S and b, did you get it fixed or just leave it?

i disagree by the way
torque sensors make noises when failed as far as im aware
you are looking at a big bill if you give the go ahead
confirm a drop test on the battery shows it as good and also on top of the job especially if you say use aircon in the car a lot

melwhitters said:

S and b, did you get it fixed or just leave it?

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they would have come back under warranty if the battery charge or battery change hadnt cured them im quite sure

Thanks S and B. Are you disagreeing with the diagnosis I was given?

Am sending the car back to where I bought it as it has a warrenty and maybe they will find a much simpler problem.

which torque sensor fault as I believe theres a few, including motor torque sensor.

I did not get the fault code, just a verbal message from mechanic.

I will take it back to the garage I got it from last week, tell them what I have been told and let them do their own assessments anyway. It has a warranty, so should all be covered.

When the system voltage is low the steering electronics will raise all sorts of faults. It might be torque sensors but more likely its a spurious fault caused by low voltage.

Dont assume a symptom is the actually the cause of the problem.

Battery earths must be clean and the battery must be giving full voltage. It must be properly tested under load to prove its ability to hold the voltage.

If the battery proves to be ok then start looking at the steering. £180 exchange from BBA-Reman. Much less for a used motor unit.

Thanks Whitesei

making lots of sense

okay, so today has been a bad day for the appearance of the red light!!

Went out to shop, red light on from start up. Drove to shop with red light, but steering fine.

Stopped at shop, keys out etc for ten minutes, get back in car, start driving, again on pops redlight and no steering worries.

Drop kids off at playscheme and same thing.....

but steering completely perfect.....

ideas please!!

Get the Actual Fault Code

it could be anything - its rained alot recently - heat the Motor and ECU (mostly motor btw) with a hairdrier - and see what happens then

Does the City Function light come on still when the red steering light is on?

another thing that could explain it is the Speedo Sensor (only Diagnosable with a fault code tho)
it could explain the warning light and the steering still working

however tho i can clearly feel when the difference between
Light on - PS not working at all (no city)
Light on - PS Working at half power (city lights up - Has no effect)
Light on - PS working fine (city lights up - has no effect)

Fiat Ecu Scan picked up that my speedo sensor is blinking but dont have that many problems now

Motors are a common thing as well - Pre 2003 i think it was has the Relayed Motor internally
after 2003 they became relay-less motors, and proved abit better

Ziggy

Thanks. will investigate further.

I had the same problem last year. The steering light came on, but went off when i started the car again. Didn't think anything of it until last week. Reversing into a tight space and the power steering went all together. when i came to start the car a couple of hours later it was fine, but went again after a mile or so. The light has been on since.

The garage have tested the battery and says its most likely to be the power steering unit.

I have found a reconditioned one for £74 with a 3 yr guarantee, but do i have to reprogram the ECU?

If it is a sensor, how much roughly is this please? Would i be better changing the column all together? The car is a 2001.:bang:

Sandii said:

I had the same problem last year. The steering light came on, but went off when i started the car again. Didn't think anything of it until last week. Reversing into a tight space and the power steering went all together. when i came to start the car a couple of hours later it was fine, but went again after a mile or so. The light has been on since.

The garage have tested the battery and says its most likely to be the power steering unit.

I have found a reconditioned one for £74 with a 3 yr guarantee, but do i have to reprogram the ECU?

If it is a sensor, how much roughly is this please? Would i be better changing the column all together? The car is a 2001.:bang:

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if your power steering goes off in tight spaces full lock then its the torque sensers in the downshaft
not the motor
even i couldnt repair and give a 3 year guarantee for $74

ecu on a punto mk2 does not need reprogramming for power steering ecu's they are plug and play

mine is on permanently but all seems to be fine do i need to get this looked at hope i,m not driving a death trap !! havent had the money to take it in to a garage but abit concerned about it