Hi

Power steering light has been coming on and the steering has been going stiff, on turning sharp rights, yesterday and the day before the car was fine no ps light even when hours upon hour of driving.But today it's been a pig and the light has been coming on the battery is new 40ah one.

I do not mind paying for a new column but as long as it does need one.One issue and fixing tomorrow is a cracked neg battery ring connector and was abit loose but manages to do a temp fix.

Would a normal mechanics snap on scan tool pick on the ps ecu error codes as they all seem to have snap on scan tools.

Revisit this when the battery terminal is fixed.
The p/s draws a lot of current and at parking speeds is heavily reliant on the supply from the battery to supplement the alternator output.
Don't know about Snap on
I use Fiat MES, free download for motor functions. Pay fifty Euro for access to SRS, P/S and so on.

I did get a battery test done underload measured 13.89v

Just to add drove home ps light came on a few times but the last hour and half the ps light never came back on always seems when the car has been running for quite the ps light does not come on , the battery is new & a good make but seems like the battery has to be fully charged up after a longer run in the car or something has warmed up enough and there is no problem after a longer run.

Our sporting had a dodgy output regulator on the alternator.

That gave PAS headaches.

varesecrazy said:

Our sporting had a dodgy output regulator on the alternator.

That gave PAS headaches.

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Was that easy to pickup the alternator fault , sorry to sound cheeky could have a look for me are you Brum way.

Same again today ps light on all the time to start with but when the car has been running 30+ mins fine no ps light on, One thing I have noticed the car idles funny at times like there is a lack of power?, noticed the temp gauge moved funny like an electrical change and courtesy light brightness altered abit when the cars was acting up could this be the alternator?

Went to a garage they had a quick look but just wanted to bang a column in without checking things over that well tbh.

As Brendan W pointed out the PS takes a huge amount of power 60amps at times, and this alone can easily dim lights and reduce engine power.

The steering can use even more power if the motor is weak or failing and depending what car you have sticking relays can also cause excessive power drain

paul36 said:

Went to a garage they had a quick look but just wanted to bang a column in without checking things over that well tbh.

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Ours had trouble. Battery sorted it the first time. Year or two later it was the connecting plugs to the column. Year or so after that it was the relays in the motor. Column is really a last resort.
Up to about '03 the motor had onboard relays that could fail. A tenner a pair and a bit of heavy duty soldering and you were good. After that the motors had solid state relays and this wasn't an issue.
Torque sensors can fail and whilst it is possible to replace them most sane people call time and get a column or scrap the car ( well ours is '01)

AndyRKett said:

As Brendan W pointed out the PS takes a huge amount of power 60amps at times, and this alone can easily dim lights and reduce engine power.

The steering can use even more power if the motor is weak or failing and depending what car you have sticking relays can also cause excessive power drain

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Thanks Andy but what I have read my punto is a 2005 mk2b and they do not have relays in the steering motor , just reading on this forum that it is uncommon for the mk2b motors to fail has anyone had one fail? please let me know.

Took the car out tonight and heard a grinding noise is the torque sensors?

paul36 said:

Thanks Andy but what I have read my punto is a 2005 mk2b and they do not have relays in the steering motor , just reading on this forum that it is uncommon for the mk2b motors to fail has anyone had one fail? please let me know.

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Yes you’re correct no relays in a 2005 model but still commonly fail

AndyRKett said:

Yes you’re correct no relays in a 2005 model but still commonly fail

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Thanks Andy it was a question I wanted to know about the ps motor on the mk2b, taking the car for a check over Sunday.

My recommendation is to take the motor out, turn the armature 180 degrees then put the motor back in place

Weakest electrical part in the PS electrics are the connectors at the power steering ECU, especially the power feed from the loom to the ECU and the power feed to the PS motor. My Mk2B always get sorted for a while after servicing these contacts. Recently done this for the second time in 3 years and is fine. Other electrics issues like battery, alternator and ground wiring will show other problems with the car as well and will not only affect EPS. My EPS ECU also had a movement as is not attached properly to the column, which means the contacts are not only stressed electrically (high currents up to 60A) but also mechanically due to permanent ECU movement that the contacts wiring try to stop. Last time I serviced the contacts I used a wire tie to secure the ECU so the loom is not stressed any further. Hope this will make it last longer before the EPS fails again. Also noticed that the car steering feels more solid once the electrics work. When EPS is in the mood of failing, the steering does not feel that solid, but this might be a placebo.

AndyRKett said:

My recommendation is to take the motor out, turn the armature 180 degrees then put the motor back in place

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Andy got a scan done and it pulled up a C1006 Torque steering sensor issue

i checked a full lock amps pull and posted it up at the time,something like 40 amps,this is why you can get sudden non power steering
i posted up the cheap fix to this a few weeks back,have a look in my posting history

s and b said:

i checked a full lock amps pull and posted it up at the time,something like 40 amps,this is why you can get sudden non power steering
i posted up the cheap fix to this a few weeks back,have a look in my posting history

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Thanks s and b that was brill , are they easy to split the down shaft what tools are needed please, would I need to buy just new a shaft or the whole column (& torque sensors etc) with shaft , is this the part I would need?

Would I need multiscan to fix the problem? or just the down shaft.