Hi there, I recently bought a 54 reg 8v Active. It had been standing for a few weeks before I got it.

For the first few days the power steering (EPS) cut out once a day, usually with lights and fan on and while using full lock. Once I got the warning light without the steering cutting out. This prompted me to buy the FiatECUscan software and licence and an ELM327 interface.

I ran the scan and got errors 1005 and 1006, torque and position sensors, which indicate a replacement column is needed. I have no problem with this as the car was suspisciously cheap, so I suspected something like this. £160 for a recon unit from several respected sources, and a day or less to change it is ok with me.

Having read cases on this forum though, I now have some doubts. I have since driven 600 odd miles, mainly motorway, and the problem hasn't recurred. I don't want to go to all the trouble of changing the column only for the fault to recurr.

Sorry for the long build-up, my actual question is this - has anyone had a torque/position sensor error which has been solved by a new battery or alternator? I could test them both this week at work, but they may turn out to be ok as they are now back in use.

Has anyone experienced getting the torque/ position sensor fault code which wasn't the torque sensor?

Thanks, Darren.

Just to add, I got a bunch of receipts with the car. A few months ago a previous owner paid for an investigation into power steering fault, and a new battery at the same time (presumably for the same reason), although I don't know where the battery was made.

Hello, just 5 days before I had that problem with my steering wheel. because I make a lot km avery day I went it for service. They said it was the torque sensor. They replaced the steering wheel and after 3 hours the problem reappeared. The technician said that there must be a bad battery too. I think that if the battery is bad you may have this error. I now know better. In your place I would check the battery first (which is much much cheaper). If the problem appeared again I would then change the torque sensor.
I hope that helps


Fiat punto 10 years old.

In the deepest darkest depths of winter I started getting problems with the eps, took battery out of car topped up the water gave it a 6 hr charge and have had no problems since.

If it can be cured by battery then there are some checks you can do, when eps light comes on stop car turn ignition off wait a min restart car light should now be off.

Swap your battery with another car temporarily, or a good battery service.

Nobody normally bothers to fault find the eps with fiat ecu scan because if a new battery doesn't cure it then it will need a new column, however any problems with the torque sensors is usually a good indication to replace the column.

Amen. Thing that gets forgotten is that sensors are mainly electrical devices with max and min supply voltage operating ranges. If the charging system is straying outside these limits all bets are off on sensor indications and/or logged 'faults'.

Get something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-24V-Dig...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4ab3b745bf

or a normal multimeter.

My punto has a bad battery too (11,1V this morning, 14,1V charging) but no steering servo problems.

If you take your car for a service, they will want to take your $$$ (more=better). That is why they start with the most expensive option (in case you don't come back).

GranDuke said:

Get something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-24V-Dig...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4ab3b745bf

or a normal multimeter.

My punto has a bad battery too (11,1V this morning, 14,1V charging) but no steering servo problems.

If you take your car for a service, they will want to take your $$$ (more=better). That is why they start with the most expensive option (in case you don't come back).

Click to expand...

got to disagree with this
if you take it into a garage that doesnt have experience of battery problems on the punto then they would go for the steering setup because on every other make of car ive worked on its never been a battery giving problems to the eps
so they would be trying to fix the problem with the facts they have

And yet he paid $$$ and it wasn't fixed nor was he refunded?

GranDuke said:

And yet he paid $$$ and it wasn't fixed nor was he refunded?

Click to expand...

if you read dentalan's post and mine i gave the reason
car goes to garage
garage checks car out
steering fault
get customers permission to change downshaft
problem cured but comes back
they do more investigation like say coming on this site and find a battery can be the cause
and you want then to take the downshaft off
and do what with it? exactly

Hi,
I have got same problem with my 53 plate punto.
Power steering goes off, I read errors and I have got both c1005 & c1006, delete them and recalibrate angle sensor but problem appears again.
Car have got new battery and alternator is charging 14V even with main beam on.
Anything I should check before replacing steering angle sensor?
tia