Technical Red steering wheel light

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Technical Red steering wheel light

hi, test is due in january. thats why i need to fix it;) brand new battery fitted. couple of months ago. nothing at all regarding dtc. :rolleyes: will have another look at the mj tomorrow. cheers, steve. (y)
 
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Damaged contacts won't be visible until you disconnect the plug and have a look. Check the whole line back to the fuse box and relay. But if they all look OK it's likely you'll need a reconditioned steering column.
 
hi, test is due in january. thats why i need to fix it;) brand new battery fitted. couple of months ago. nothing at all regarding dtc. :rolleyes: will have another look at the mj tomorrow. cheers, steve. (y)

hi, removed steering shroud. cant find any loose plugs/cables etc.:confused: tried lock to lock steering, revs at 2k. city mode light on dash comes on soon as button pushed. :rolleyes:.still only normal steering available. would be happy if i could just get the red light off dash . cheers guys.(y)

the connectors tend to oxidise. Its best to disconnect the battery and reseat the connector a few times. This scratches the contact and presents fresh metal for better conductivity


clean the battery tesminals at the same time. I find those green kitchen scouring pads do a Good job
 
Take the steering motor out, turn the shaft of the motor 180’ degrees, put the motor back in and bolt everything up. It has in the past worked for me, what you describe suggests the motor itself might be failing, drawing too much current when you put it in city mode. These motors work in a weird way for a motor as they don’t really spin there goal is just to move a couple of rotations either way. The focus of the electrical energy in the motor is always therefore in on spot and over time I thinks this takes its toll on the windings in the motor. I’m sure there is some science to this, I’m not inclined to be bothered to work it out.
 
hi thank you for the advice (y) i will try your advice 1st & have a look at the steering motor. i also received an email from steve rothwell ( car mechanics mag) saying, my steering angle sensor may need recalibrated :rolleyes: cheers, steve (y)
 
Issues with the steering angle (torque) sensor generally cause a pulsing of the steering wheel or a continuous power to one side. Nothing is 100% but your problem is more likely power or motor.
 
There's a lot more information about different things folks have tried (some of which have actually worked) in the Punto section; apparently there are various electrical parts inside the column (including some relays) which can wear/burn out, and are cheap to replace if you can source replacements (try Farnell or RS components).

Alternatively a remanufactured column will almost certainly fix this, at a price.

A licenced copy of MES is probably pretty much mandatory if you want to go deeper than swapping the column out for a correctly calibrated replacement.

If you can reset the light, and it works OK apart from City mode, you should be good for an MOT.
 
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hi, guys. yes, i think it is a power,motor ,or relay problem with city mode. as normal steering still working fine. i would be happy if i could just delete red fault light.as m.o.t. is due january. would like to sort mj without paying garages. ( the wife want her peugeot 107 back ):rolleyes: cheers, steve (y)
 
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About just over a month ago, I noticed that I had a red steering wheel light appear, the steering felt fine and the car had not long passed its MoT and service. Anyway, after a couple of days it went off and everything was fine. Then a week ago it came on, restarted the car and it disappeared, and then today it came on, and again restarted the car and it disappeared. The steering feels fine, so I’m confused
I’ve had this problem. Red steering wheel light would come on in my panda. Think it had something to do with lack of power to the power steering. Replaced the battery and it hasn’t done it since
 
Hi all

Me again - lol

Made it just over three weeks and then that good old steering wheel light came on again about three minutes into my journey. I needed fuel this morning so took a longer drive to the garage. Light remained on throughout the journey, and came on again after fuelling. It went off just as I turned into the car park at work.

Again, steering and car feels fine.

Admittedly, she has been sitting an idle quite a lot when delisting screen and defrosting etc and I haven’t been doing too many longer journeys because of bad road conditions.

Any thoughts/ideas?
 
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What have you actually done so far?

In all honesty many people have been on the forum many times in the past, changed the battery, changed the alternator, changed wiring, earths, paid out hundreds in diagnostic fees to someone but ultimately still ended up stumping up for a new electric power steering unit, these days they are not that expensive.

£50 on a registered copy of MultiECUScan could quickly give you the cause of the light and pin point you to what needs doing rather than a bits swapping approach.

A multimeter will only tell you how many volts the alternator is producing it won’t tell you if you’re getting the right current and to be fair with a new battery you shouldn’t get power problems anyway as when the steering wants more power than the battery can provide then the battery will take over. If it were doing that all the time the battery would become quickly depleted, you’d have problems starting the car. The lights would dim if turning the steering lock to lock and the power steering would cut out eventually.

Don’t waste time hoping for a lesser problem that likely isn’t there. Also don’t mess about with the steering, at least one member on here had the steering cut out while driving resulting in a nasty accident and a written off car.
 
What have you actually done so far?

In all honesty many people have been on the forum many times in the past, changed the battery, changed the alternator, changed wiring, earths, paid out hundreds in diagnostic fees to someone but ultimately still ended up stumping up for a new electric power steering unit, these days they are not that expensive.

£50 on a registered copy of MultiECUScan could quickly give you the cause of the light and pin point you to what needs doing rather than a bits swapping approach.

A multimeter will only tell you how many volts the alternator is producing it won’t tell you if you’re getting the right current and to be fair with a new battery you shouldn’t get power problems anyway as when the steering wants more power than the battery can provide then the battery will take over. If it were doing that all the time the battery would become quickly depleted, you’d have problems starting the car. The lights would dim if turning the steering lock to lock and the power steering would cut out eventually.

Don’t waste time hoping for a lesser problem that likely isn’t there. Also don’t mess about with the steering, at least one member on here had the steering cut out while driving resulting in a nasty accident and a written off car.

You will see from the thread the issues I’ve had and the solutions that have been posed.
 
My wife's 1.2 always started fine but the steering would trip on cold mornings then wake up a mile or so down the road or sometime not work at all until she restarted after dropped the kids at school. Battery was replaced no real difference so we were resigned to getting a new steering motor.
The multimeter hinted at low system voltage with engine running, so I stuck on a cheap voltmeter to judge the charge trends and found the system voltage was lower than it should be and it dropped further when steering was worked. The car never failed to fail to start and she was never stuck with a flat battery.

I fitted a new alternator (horrible job on a Panda with Air conditioning) and the problem was solved.

The test cost £5 for a stick on LED voltmeter and some wire to connect it to an ignition controlled fuse. The best £5 spent for a long time.
 
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£50 on a registered copy of MultiECUScan could quickly give you the cause of the light and pin point you to what needs doing rather than a bits swapping approach.

:yeahthat:

A good way to spend money unnecessarily is to go onto a forum, find a post along the lines of 'I had something similar happen and I changed the whatever', have a new whatever fitted and find out the problem is still there.

In the OP's case, if I remember correctly they only need this car for another few months, and it might just get there as is. Just be aware that if the power assistance actually does cut out at low speed, the steering will be much heavier, and be prepared mentally for that possibility.
 
:yeahthat:

A good way to spend money unnecessarily is to go onto a forum, find a post along the lines of 'I had something similar happen and I changed the whatever', have a new whatever fitted and find out the problem is still there.

In the OP's case, if I remember correctly they only need this car for another few months, and it might just get there as is. Just be aware that if the power assistance actually does cut out at low speed, the steering will be much heavier, and be prepared mentally for that possibility.

Thank you. I just would want to get the car through to March, by which time I’d have built more cash up ready for a new car. I know that temperatures are crazy right now in the U.K., and given this problem only really surfaces at these times, I do feel that it is more of a battery related issue with all the extras we have on during this season I.e. heaters, fans, air con etc. I am trying to use only the most necessary electrical things, but it’s hard when you have to spend 15 minutes sitting there while the screen clears!
 
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