Hello there everyone!

I own a 2004 Fiat Punto and sadly it's electronic power steering has decided to give up on me. It had been intermittently turning off for a time but now it has fully gone.

I have tried several things to try and fix it including:

• Getting the Battery and Alternator currents checked at a local Halfords, they are both fine.
• Replacing the Electronic Power Steering motor in the steering column, this made it work for about 20 mins.
• Running on-board diagnostics via two different OBDII readers, both of which produced no error codes.

I have read that it could either be the PAS ECU in the steering column or that the Torque sensors have gone, but the lack of error codes has me a bit unsure.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be and/or why there are no error codes? What would be the best thing to do next? I love this car and I would hate to get rid of it.

Thank you,
-Stevie

Have you got somebody to check it with multiecuscan?
Should give you a clue why it's cutting out such as low voltage or torque sensor

Thank you for replying!

No I have not. I have a wireless ELM OBD2 reader, will that be able to connect to the software on a laptop or will I need new connectors? Just in case this is something I can do.

Thanks,
-Stevie

Stevie1605 said:

Thank you for replying!

No I have not. I have a wireless ELM OBD2 reader, will that be able to connect to the software on a laptop or will I need new connectors? Just in case this is something I can do.

Thanks,
-Stevie

Click to expand...

I think you also need a adapter to connect direct to the steering ECU a normal code reader only gets engine codes

EPS is such a common issue there many threads covering this.
I am replying here as I did my own work on EPS this weekend as my 2005 punto started having problems again.
1. Started initially to remove and clean the contacts of F3 60A fuse and F35 10A fuses, drove around the block but sure before parking the EPS failed again.
2. Then started getting under the steering wheel removed trim and then decided to remove motor. Removed the motor, and had a drive around the block to see if steering acceptable. No steering is still very heavy and not any lighter then when the motor is in, so put it back. Note the motor is fiddly to remove/put back, but a 8mm spanner is the tool that can do this without having to lower the steering to get to the rear bolt.
3. Decided to repeat the fix I did in the past in cleaning contacts of the wires that get to the EPS ECU. This includes the motor power feed and control wires as well as the main power feed to the ECU.
During my work, I noticed that the EPS ECU has a movement and is not secured very well in place. This means that this movement puts permanent mechanical pressure on the blade spring loaded connectors causing in time a weak electrical connection. This to me seems to be consistent to the way the EPS is reported to fail. I decided this time to secure the ECU with a wire tie so the movement is stopped. Hope this time the fix will last longer.

I've just found some of the cables online and ordered them in, when they turn up I will try getting some codes again and post back with the results.

Thank you!
-Stevie

dumbledore said:

EPS is such a common issue there many threads covering this.
I am replying here as I did my own work on EPS this weekend as my 2005 punto started having problems again.
1. Started initially to remove and clean the contacts of F3 60A fuse and F35 10A fuses, drove around the block but sure before parking the EPS failed again.
2. Then started getting under the steering wheel removed trim and then decided to remove motor. Removed the motor, and had a drive around the block to see if steering acceptable. No steering is still very heavy and not any lighter then when the motor is in, so put it back. Note the motor is fiddly to remove/put back, but a 8mm spanner is the tool that can do this without having to lower the steering to get to the rear bolt.
3. Decided to repeat the fix I did in the past in cleaning contacts of the wires that get to the EPS ECU. This includes the motor power feed and control wires as well as the main power feed to the ECU.
During my work, I noticed that the EPS ECU has a movement and is not secured very well in place. This means that this movement puts permanent mechanical pressure on the blade spring loaded connectors causing in time a weak electrical connection. This to me seems to be consistent to the way the EPS is reported to fail. I decided this time to secure the ECU with a wire tie so the movement is stopped. Hope this time the fix will last longer.

Click to expand...

Thank you for this, when I get the cables and I go back into the steering column I will make sure to give the wires a clear and double check the movement of the ecu!

On another note if the fix I done this weekend fails then I am not excluding a mechanical fault. The steering does seem to be very heavy when stationary (when EPS not working) so wonder if the EPS has to do more then expected work hence throwing out the error. I always getting the fault at almost stationary speeds. When I removed the motor I noticed the spindle was greased, but not sure if the mechanism behind it that is used to assist the steering can be greased though the spindle hole the motor is removed. The EPS ECU error might give a clue.

early punto up to 2003 always gave motor problems because the relays in the top of the motor burnt out##the torque steer switch which is basically a piece of plastic with metal tracks and copper arms were well made and never gave trouble
from 2003 ie the big headlight model but also the run out slitty headlight model used a better motor and no internal relays to burn out so motors never went faulty
their downfall was a poorer torque steer quality that fails due to cutting back on quality of the materials,even i nearly hit a wall once as it packed up on me in a punto i was running as i turned a sharp bend as it took me completely by surprise and i had to fight the wheel to maintain control
the steering rack is designed for the motor but the manufacturers said you could drive safely without the motor working ,well you cant but it might suffice to let you drive it to the nearest garage to get it fixed (the handbook says return to dealer ifsteering goes heavy)
so
what i used to do was get an early complete scrappy downshaft remove the lower steering joint and replace it in exactly the same place with the later one so it fitted to the fiat later modified steering rack fit the later motor and then refit to car(read this carefully)
plug in multiscan as i knew it back then (4 years ago?) and resett it with the brilliant programme yani? had
so everything was as factory ie the wheels were straight ahead so no steering yaw
i probably did 20 like this and cured every customers problem not one ever returned with a fault and these were all local customers

Hello again!

So I have run the car through Multiecuscan and it's given me some error codes! Thank you for telling me about this software.

I ran 2 scans on the electric steering, with a code clear in between.

The first scan gave me the following codes:
C1005
C1006
C1012
C1013

After that I cleared the codes from the ECU, triggered the power steering fault and did another scan, this time I only got one code:
C1005

My first searches online have pulled up that it's the angle sensors that are causing the problems. Is that the case and if so, is that a whole steering column replacement?

Thank you.

Stevie1605 said:

My first searches online have pulled up that it's the angle sensors that are causing the problems. Is that the case and if so, is that a whole steering column replacement?

Click to expand...

Most likely the sensors are OK. I assume these sensors are there to allow the EPS ECU to work out how much assist to use during steering. If the EPS motor is not performing as expected the control program gives up and throws this error. My opinion is that the problem is still related to poor wiring in these cars.

dumbledore said:

Most likely the sensors are OK. I assume these sensors are there to allow the EPS ECU to work out how much assist to use during steering. If the EPS motor is not performing as expected the control program gives up and throws this error. My opinion is that the problem is still related to poor wiring in these cars.

Click to expand...

I see, so is this a problem I can fix? Is there a way to test if it is the wiring?

Stevie1605 said:

I see, so is this a problem I can fix? Is there a way to test if it is the wiring?

Click to expand...

Don't thinks there is any way to test other then a visual inspection. In my opinion the most likely point is the loom at the EPS ECU as mentioned in early part of this thread. After attempting a clean and the problem disappears then you know that the sensors are not the cause. Unfortunately a wiring problem like this cannot permanently be fixed as it will reoccur.