Technical Sudden high fuel consumption and steering problems

[szombati]

Hi guys!
Just joined in hope of getting some ideas about what my punto's problem. I bought an mk2 Punto (1.2 8v) a month ago and since last week I had some issues. One day after filling my tank with gas the fuel consumption suddenly went up by 2 litres! (Before that the average km/liter was around 16 as the computer said but now it's barely reaches 13) Which is a huge amount. Also I noticed some stiffness in the steering, it takes more effort to turn the wheel. I suspected the tyres but they were ok with 2+ bar pressure. Do the two things correlate? Or is the fuel just that bad, but I doubt that. I am clueless, any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jazz452]

Your trip computer probably reset they do after so long, couple of short journeys and fuel consumption will look bad, is the battery good?

 

[szombati]

It is true that recently I made few short trips in the city. Because you see everyday I commute to my training airport (I'm a pilot) 30+ kms on highway but I didn't fly last week because of the weather. But I'm still concerned about the steering wheel. The battery can be old I don't know. The previous owner had the car for like half a year and he hadn't changed the battery.

 

[jazz452]

Is the steering light on dashboard, does light up when you switch the ignition on before starting engine?

 

[szombati]

It lights up but goes off after a few seconds so it's just the regular test. By the way I was on the highway today and my gas-mileage improved to 14 km/liter.

 

[jazz452]

You have checked tyre pressures right?

 

[szombati]

Thank you guys for the replies. The servo and battery was all okay, I'm just not used to the force requiered to steer the car, this is my first car so I'm still learning about it. After refueling I always reset the trip computer so the consumption meter resets also and I just fueled the car the day before and drove in city and on a cold day afterwards so no suprise the MPL reading was bad. It got to the previous level afterwards. Thank you again