Technical Fiat 500 - Battery/Steering Issue

[sthomson]

Hello all!

Looking for some help/assistance with this one. About a month ago my battery light came on while driving and steering started to get really heavy. Took it to the garage who tested new battery, new alternator, among other things with no success. I then took it to Fiat Garage, paid over £400 for a ‘diagnostic test’ and battery replacement (even though I told them it wouldn’t work), and again they cannot find the fault. They want to charge me a further £280 for more testing.

Car is only 3 years old and at 30,000 miles. What do you think this can be?

 

[steveras57]

One of the first things to check is the infamous "earth strap" to ensure all the correct signals are getting through!.
Also worth checking if anyone close to you has multi- E C U scan to read the logs and fault codes if the earth strap proves ok? at least then you start to narrow things down a bit!.

 

[sthomson]

One of the first things to check is the infamous "earth strap" to ensure all the correct signals are getting through!.
Also worth checking if anyone close to you has multi- E C U scan to read the logs and fault codes if the earth strap proves ok? at least then you start to narrow things down a bit!.

Thank you! Had not heard of earth strap but after googling symptoms seem the same, will definitely investigate!

 

[steveras57]

Lets hope its nice and simple and solved easy! .

Unfortunately if a garage has checked the battery and alternator and they are ok things get more involved!.

If there is anyone near you with MULTI ECU Scan its worth checking for error codes to steer you in the right direction
It is possible and intermittent fault or loss of comunicatons between the body computer and the steering E C E caused the warning!
Can i ask has the car returned to "normal "operation or is the battery warning light now on all the time and the steering still "wrong"?

 

[Barney Rubble]

Did you get this sorted? If not as the car is just over 3 years old it would be worth trying to get a good will gesture from your local dealer. It goes without saying that that these cars should last more than 3 years without issues. Last year my daughter had a rear subframe replaced free of charge on an 11 year old Mercedes C class so its worth a shot if you haven’t got it sorted.

 

[Neil McDonald]

Hello all!

Looking for some help/assistance with this one. About a month ago my battery light came on while driving and steering started to get really heavy. Took it to the garage who tested new battery, new alternator, among other things with no success. I then took it to Fiat Garage, paid over £400 for a ‘diagnostic test’ and battery replacement (even though I told them it wouldn’t work), and again they cannot find the fault. They want to charge me a further £280 for more testing.

Car is only 3 years old and at 30,000 miles. What do you think this can be?

Have you got this issue resolved yet ?
I have the same issue with a 2020 1.2 with start/stop. After first starting the car all is fine then after 2 minutes exactly the battery light comes on and I loose power steering.
I’ve checked battery and connections, checked the earth straps. I was only getting about 13.5 volts from the alternator so fitted a replacement alternator, now getting 14.2 volts but the problem still persists.

 

[John202020]

Battery