Hi all. I'm looking for some advice regarding my daughter's 2003 Punto 1.2 active Sport, with 130k+ on the clock!
She had intermittent problems with the eps warning light coming on, sometimes with heavy steering, sometimes not. Sometimes the light would go off on it's own, more usually had to pull over, turn off the ignition for a few seconds, start the engine and all was good again.
About a month ago, the car was left standing for a couple of weeks while she was off work. As a result, the battery went flat (the battery is about 2 years old) and the engine wouldn't turn over. I took the battery off and charged it up overnight on trickle charge, refitted it and it started straight away.
A few days later she used the car to travel about 8 miles or so to work, and about 200 yards short of her destination, the eps light came on and the steering went very heavy. Nothing I've tried since (ignition on/off etc.) has made any difference. On first start up, the warning light, instead of coming on then going out after a few seconds, comes on and stays on.
I don't have access to any diagnostic equipment or software, so no idea of any fault codes., and the nearest Fiat dealer is nearly 30 miles away. I've accessed and removed the motor and it's of the later type, without the electro-mechanical relays mounted on the circuit board.
Anyone got any ideas as to how I can determine whether the fault is the motor, the eps ecu, torque sensors, supply voltage or something entirely different? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Battery did the trick when our panda did this