About five mins or so possible, anywhere from 5-10 minutes I guess.
Confused me now .. it doesnt take much..
Right.. so on a typical journey..
Its fine for 10 mins..
Then light comes on.. you carry on driving
Then the light tends to go off as you are ending your journey
How long has engine been running :
A : total
B : with the steering light on
Thanks
This probably wont affect the steering, but do check your air intake for the heater.
If you open the bonnet and is a flashlight to look below the wipers you will see an air space. Water can collect in there and leak into the car. At the bottom there are two split rubber bungs (aka "duck bills") that should let water drain out. They do get clogged with dirt so check they are clear.
I think at this point I'd be checking the main earth cable before doing anything else.
would the fact it failed on the two days we had frost and only on the way to to work after the car had been sitting overnight but not the return journey hint otherwise ?
started after the car hadn't been used much
the earth for the power steering is internal in the footwell ?
all we can do is an educate guess. For this type of problem substitution is the only sure method
although the battery earth strap that attaches to the gearbox was a common fail point on the Puntos which stop the cranking or cranks slowly I have yet to see one fail after Fiat fixed the problem around 2005. Time will tell how the latter ones without insulation hold up as Fiat has changed the design again.
But then again its free to check
As is the tightness of the alternator belt assuming the car not got aircon
I also noticed the other evening that my back window was ever so slightly left open
I think the plan of attack is:
1. Wait and see when/if light comes on again.
2. Take to garage and let them do diagnostics.
3. Of fault code comes back, ask them to check battery, connections and alternator first to see if that’s the culprit.
4. If not, make a decision whether to invest in having work done or trading car in.
Can you trade a car in that’s got a fault code?
The best course is to spend £5 on voltmeter to measure what's actually going on when you start and drive the car. If it's fine you've spent minimal money. However, an alternator that can't cope with the load will cause the voltage to drop. Low voltage is known to cause the power steering to trip.