Technical Power Steering failure - Grande Punto

[lennie93]

My 2006 Grande Punto 1.9Multijet stopped completely the other day while driving.
has anyone had this problem before?
Obviously very damgerous and once i had pulled over it started again fine.
Im really nervous about this happening again especially if someone else is driving this.
Its a low mileage (27000) 2006 model and i have had the car about 4 weeks.
The week after i brought the car i started the vehicle and the poewer steering warning light came on with no poewer steering but after i had switched the car off and on again it worked perfectly and continued to do so for the last 4 weeks until this happened.

Should i ask for a refund as steering stopping working is not good at any speed.
I took the car to the loacal garge who have looked at everythingg mechanically and said its fine and reset all the settings by computer on the steering.
Appreciate any feed back from anyone with simular problem or how to rectify this. I brought the car from a dealer 130 miles away so its not as if i can just pop it back to them.
Lennie.

 

[Ziggy122]

its the same for just the punto's mate

2006 is a little early for a battery failure, but with the winter demand on atm, the battery could be showing as been weak

the EPS uses quiet abit of juice, and when driving at slower speeds, the demand is on the battery more then the alternator, as the alternator isn't turning very much

Switching off and back on make the EPS ECU re-read the voltage and hence the system comes back on

Failing that - its a fault code read, to see what the culpret is at the time, but as i understand the steering column is just a pain like in the punto

Ziggy

 

[lennie93]

Cheers Ziggy,
i had heard it could be low battery power so i will get the battery checked.
Upon reflection both times it has happened have been when the doors and radio have been lefty on while the car is being cleaned etc so this may also have drained the battery?

Appreciate the info.
Lennie.

 

[Andy Monty]

yes if its 2006 the battery is nearly 5 years old (well mine is sure theres a date on mine got me thinking now)


had the odd electrical gremalin on mine too recently so got a tester and it just passes the load test by the skin of its teeth for the rating of battery my 1.2 has on it)

also get the alternator tested a few have failed due to the alignment of the scuttle panel water drain on the drivers side constantly dropping water on top of the alternator :nutter:

 

[JTD_Liam]

With such low mileage i'd guess the car has been used infrequently or on very short journeys, therefore the battery couldve worn out quicker than it would usually.

Definately get that checked out first but i'd warn the garage about what's happened, so that if the battery is fine & it turns out to be the power steering motor, you stand more chance to get that fixed without paying the Earth, as they can be damned expensive

 

[TJ07]

Happened to my parents Grande Sporting when it was only 2 months old, turned out to be a faulty alternator! Gave my mum a real fright thought as the steering died on a sharp corner.

 

[Andrew56]

also get the alternator tested a few have failed due to the alignment of the scuttle panel water drain on the drivers side constantly dropping water on top of the alternator :nutter:

Andy,

Are there any sucessful modifications which have altered the alignment of the scuttle panel water drain to mitigate this risk? (My 1.2 Dynamic will in future be spending more time out of the garage - and therefore be at greater risk from water draining onto the alternator.

Andrew

 

[Andrew56]

Andy,

Are there any sucessful modifications which have altered the alignment of the scuttle panel water drain to mitigate this risk? (My 1.2 Dynamic will in future be spending more time out of the garage - and therefore be at greater risk from water draining onto the alternator.

Andrew

Just seen that someone else asked the same question a few hours ago!!