Technical Electronic Power Steering Fault

[glen]

Well got my car back to day and alls well .the ony problem i had was when the warranty company tryed to tell me my car was in IMPORT .So i told them where to go and check again they tryed this 3 times .It turns out that when i put my personal plat on thay had not updated there records. So i have had a new steering column fitted under warranty and it turns out that i have a recall notice the steering rack so this was done but they wanted to charge me for tracking so i said no way as far as im concerned its fiat thats doing this so there should be no charge and that as my brother had is done there last wk [his is an 02 abath in yellow] but not charged him.YES SIR WE WILL SORT IT . Paddles i had to pay for reason why is WEAR AND TEAR. so my bill for padd/diog was £219.84.i Asked about 3rd yr service £378.95

 

[Rich]

Well it's back again! Had to drive for 2 mins from a friends house to mine (I had been elsewhere, I wasn't being lazy!) and when I got into the Stilo(mum's, mine's all sprayed up and waiting for me at home ), the fault was there. Came up straight after the "Checking" message went off. Tried to turn ignition off and on again, was still on; drove the car home (that was hard work!), left it for 5 mins, now all is OK.

I don't get it, I can't see why it should work 95% of the time but have times where it'll be on and off for days, then go away again.

Seeing as it's up here, I may take it to Gray's - they seem to know what they're doing. Had an engine fault the other day too (again, which went away after turning the engine off and on about 5 times) so it can all be looked at. Wonder if it's D4, or the fusebox (when we got the car the engine was steamcleaned, took it home and an hour later the main beam headlights were coming on by themselves, next day had an engine fault which read as Throttle Body; have had that replaced ages ago).

 

[Delboy73]

Hi, Latest fault on my stilo 2002 to add to the growing list is The Power Steering is totally gubbed, when i start the car i get the red steering wheel alarm lighting up and an alarm, power steering failure. It was working fine with no apparent problems then chucked it next time i started the car, its gubbed. Practicaly impossible to drive, infact its a no goer.

Any help advice as to possible causes greatfully recieved guys. :bang:

P.S.
Check out the Grande Punto I am selling ;-)

 

[Rich]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Hey

Got the same fault as my mum's; may have tracked it down to a wiring fault.

Best thing to do is start the car 3 times to cure the fault!

 

[T14086]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Get it to a garage to get it checked out properly.Seen a few columns changed but its likely to be a CAN related problem,another thing turn on ignition the wait 2-3 seconds before you turn the key to start posistion.

 

[Rich]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Ok after repeated occurances of this and my refusal to believe the column was faulty, my brother and I took the steering cowl off to investigate. We noticed that the wiring wasn't really secured down properly, and that movement of the steering wheel was causing minor movement of the steering column loom, putting added pressure onto the connectors. Also, moving the column to adjust it was causing this effect but to a more severe degree.

So, we took the side of the dash off, took the Body Computer out, re-routed the wiring and secured it all down in a way to ensure it was static and not causing any stresses on the wiring connectors.

So far . . . NOTHING (Just touched wood so no worries there )

Will let you know if it comes back.

P.S. Also just installed a new battery too.

 

[T14086]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Also just installed a new battery too.

Just in case eh

 

[PNL]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Ok after repeated occurances of this and my refusal to believe the column was faulty, my brother and I took the steering cowl off to investigate. We noticed that the wiring wasn't really secured down properly, and that movement of the steering wheel was causing minor movement of the steering column loom, putting added pressure onto the connectors. Also, moving the column to adjust it was causing this effect but to a more severe degree.

So, we took the side of the dash off, took the Body Computer out, re-routed the wiring and secured it all down in a way to ensure it was static and not causing any stresses on the wiring connectors.

So far . . . NOTHING (Just touched wood so no worries there )

Will let you know if it comes back.

P.S. Also just installed a new battery too.

OK guys everone get to Rroopes for a little bit of wire rerouting

 

[Morritt]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

sounds good, can you fix my passenger seat, it stopped moving a couple of weeks ago (for the second time!)

i had this electric steering failure weeks ago, gave me a bad elbow trying to drive it to the garage and back, it is possible but i didnt feel at all safe! they changed my steering column/rack - i cant remember which as they didnt give me any paperwork or anything as it was done under warranty and i picked it up without seeing them (they left it on the forecourt and i used the spare key as it was after their close and i needed the car back).

phone fiat and check if it has been replaced already under this recall as you may be entitled to it FOC

 

[Morritt]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

ah and they couldnt turn the light off so i get the warning when i start up, need to take it to fiat (tuesday) to get it fixed ... grr but the garage is paying for it

 

[Rich]

Re: Power Steering Faulty

Just in case eh

Yeah . . . ironically the battery in the car died the next day

 

[Rich]

Ha, a new battery and wiring rerouting, it's back again!!!

Just taken it into dealer, they said there were no faults on the system but cleared it all, reset parameters and sent me on my way. Went to get into it, "Electronic Power Steering Fault". So, they took it back down, and 25 mins came back; there are NO fault codes!

Mechanic said it might be bad earth, so he checked them all and all seemed ok. I mentioned I had taken the grey fusebox off (ontop of battery) to clean up D4; took fusebox apart to have a look, and all tracks are corroded with white/green.blue corrosion. Cleaned it up, hope it would have solved it but obviously not.

So then Tecchie's, any ideas??

 

[Insane]

Eventualy they changed the power steering unit (located under the steering wheel) and its been fine since. errr fine with power steering that is

 

[Rich]

At a £800 non-Warranty charge for a car that is most likely worth £4000 we don't want to spend £800 on a intermittent fault that might not be the steering column at all!!!

 

[Rich]

Right, well more updates.

Happened again on Friday, so I took it in today to book in the recalls booked in for both Stilos. They took the 5dr down to look at the power steering, and this is what we got:

Control unit tests
TRW Electric Drive​

Error

C1008 : EEPROM-EPROM memory; Present

Probable causes:

Delete the errors, and if the error reoccurs replace the control unit


Don't look good does it?

 

[T14086]

Why delete if present....better than average chance of finding fault if present!

 

[Rich]

Why delete if present....better than average chance of finding fault if present!

Don't get what you mean?? This was the error on the system, they deleted the error as it said to do so? Help me!

 

[T14086]

Is this first time you have had this error? thought you were having this problem for months/longer?

 

[Rich]

The steering issue has been going on for a while, but it's getting worse (once/twice a month). This is the first time I've seen this fault though, usually there is no fault or I get told "column is buggered".

 

[Lesbquick]

Not sure about the steering fault message but someone else had problems with lack of power steering but also had Alternator warning which matched my problems about 10 minutes before the Belt Tensioner fell off and roled down the road leaving the remains of the bolt stuck in the casting.

As you're all having apparent problems with both power sterring and electrical power might I suggest you all take a look at the tensioner to see if it's looking tyred or siezed up thus not charging properly thus leaving you with no stearing. Bottom off side of engine.

Mine went after I went over a half speed bump and bottomed out but the other chap said that Fiat blamed it on vibration and fatigue I think but if you're all having same problem then it sounds like the tensioners are failing first followed by the bolt. Not a big job if the bolts not sheared yet!

Let us know if anyone finds problem with tensioner.