Technical Fiat 500 power steering failure on start up but then works after turning ignition off and on again?

[Wilsonwilson11]

Can you see the video?
Someone has suggested on another thread that the Body control unit needs to be reprogrammed

 

[koalar]

Am on a café WiFi at the moment and it's too slow to few the video, I will have a look when I get home

Body computer will only help if it's always been there, which I am guessing is not the case

 

[Wilsonwilson11]

Am on a café WiFi at the moment and it's too slow to few the video, I will have a look when I get home

Body computer will only help if it's always been there, which I am guessing is not the case

It’s had its engine replaced. The car didn’t have this issue prior to the engine being replaced

 

[koalar]

It was fine before an engine swap, the more information, the better

The fact the battery warning light on, is the only concern, the steering will be stiff, the body computer switch power hungry things off like the power steering to get you home if it detects a problem

We can only guess why, we need data, measurements

Could be as simple as the earth wire under the airbox missed off

 

[Wilsonwilson11]

It was fine before an engine swap, the more information, the better

The fact the battery warning light on, is the only concern, the steering will be stiff, the body computer switch power hungry things off like the power steering to get you home if it detects a problem

We can only guess why, we need data, measurements

Could be as simple as the earth wire under the airbox missed off

Earth wire under battery tray has been replaced, alternator replaced, brand new battery

 

[Wilsonwilson11]

Earth wire under battery tray has been replaced, alternator replaced, brand new battery

All testing of voltage to the battery etc were fine

 

[John202020]

Try
Make sure the headlights are OFF before trying to start the car, next turn on ignition, don't crank, wait a few secs, now start?

Your dash lights dim suggests you need a new speedo cluster and that, that may have been caused by the "hatch wiring issue "

 

[koalar]

All testing of voltage to the battery etc were fine

Not helpful

Fine means nothing

Same system as the panda

EPS electric power steering faults | FIAT Panda (Mk3)

First don't panic, the vast majority of power steering faults are normally simple and cheap fixes especially if it starts failing mainly in your winter months But unfortunately nobody can say change this or do that and it fix it. A lot of different faults will cause the same symptoms or the...

www.fiatforum.com

The fact it fails from first start then doesn't fail again strongly suggests it the battery

There's no easy test, substitution for a known good is the most reliable test

The fact it fails from first start then doesn't fail strongly suggests it's not the alternator

The only reliable test for the earth strap is a voltage drop test under load, unless it's obviously corroded or damage.

Over on the panda section someone struggled on for two year, because the garage twice told them the battery tested okay on their gadget

Need the actual value not fine

Battery resting volts
Voltage across the terminals at idle
Voltage across the terminals at idle rear heater on, main beam on, blower on max
Same as above but at 2K rpm

Need the actual voltage not fine


Without something to work with there's not a lot we can do except guess wildly

 

[the green vanper]

It’s had its engine replaced. The car didn’t have this issue prior to the engine being replaced

Another idea:

Was the ECU (engine control unit) swapped with the engine? Was proxi alignment done after?

The mileage isn't flashing I assume (you would share that info I suppose) and the problem appears only the first time you turn the key, but this info about the engine swap is crucial to me, so it needs to be checked.

 

[koalar]

Another idea:

Was the ECU (engine control unit) swapped with the engine? Was proxi alignment done after?

The mileage isn't flashing I assume (you would share that info I suppose) and the problem appears only the first time you turn the key, but this info about the engine swap is crucial to me, so it needs to be checked.

There's a video on page one of this thread, sometimes it doesn't play if the sites running slow

Here's a summery

No the milage isn't flashing , some of the light are dim even with the ignition off until the body computer hibernates

The battery light isn't it's proper brightness

If they start the car before the body computer hibernates, the battery light stays off, steering works

If they start the car after the body computer hibernates, the battery light stays on and the computer goes into power saving mode, so the steering fails

The body computer monitors and controls the charging, it puts the warning light on and switches the EPS off if it sees an error

You can connect to the body computer and read the error code

But seeing as the the engine just been swapped, the fault wasn't present before, it's highly likely the wiring been damaged or an earth missed off, we could go onto checking the D+ resistance to ground, volts ignition off, volts at ignition on, volts during cranking and with the engine running, this is what the body computer is using, however we haven't checked it's reference ground is correct yet as per post 13

 

[the green vanper]

But seeing as the the engine just been swapped, the fault wasn't present before, it's highly likely the wiring been damaged or an earth missed off, we could go onto checking the D+ resistance to ground, volts ignition off, volts at ignition on, volts during cranking and with the engine running, this is what the body computer is using, however we haven't checked it's reference ground is correct yet as per post 13

Yes, the cause is surely the engine swap. As I missed this fact earlier what I've put in my previous post was the first idea that came to my mind.

There should be correct communication between all the modules through CAN to asure that they will be able to work properly, as designed. I haven't seen a confirmation in the thread it is so.

I can't imagine that the engine was swapped with the battery on the car and connected, but perhaps some actions (like connections etc) before / after the swap itself were done in a wrong order and one of the modules got some shorts which caused the damage.

Another question is why the OP is not coming back to the workshop which did the engine swap, as everything was working fine before, unless the swap was made by himself. If so, it gets more possible that something went wrong on the electric side during the swap or just after it.

The nowadays cars are highly computerized to a level most of the people can't even imagine. Purely mechanical era finished when carburators and mechanical ignitions were replaced by injections and ECUs... And it gets worse from generation to generation.

 

[koalar]

Are we still moving forwards with this

 

[Zardo]

With the engine idling, the battery light should go out immediately. That's not the case, as there is a long latency for it to go out.

I don't understand why some lights would stay on even with ignition off (I don't drive this car) - doesn't seem normal to me.

Is there a special after-market sound system installed, with, for example, a buffer capacitor? I wonder where the voltage is coming from once the ignition is set to off.

"So the alternator, battery and earth wire under battery tray have been replaced and fault still happening."

Does this car have a voltage regulator (I'm talking about the battery charge status sensor connected to the negative terminal of the battery) to protect sensitive electronics (radio etc.) as is usually the case for start-stop equipped cars? It it does, maybe have it checked.

Also, if this car is start-stop, the choice of new batteries is reduced to those chemically compatible with the vehicle (no wet batteries, but AGM, for example).