Technical HELP. The power steering light came on on my panda today

[jellyheads]

Firstly, I'm new on the forum, so here is a chirpy "Hello" to everyone.
Now that the pleasantries are done i can say that i have a problem........I have a 2008 1.3 multijet panda and have had it from new. its got 132K miles on the clock, and it's been a brilliant motor. However, today the power steering light came on, and it stays on with a restart. It does go out if i put turn the steering wheel fully to the right (well about 15 to 30 degrees before full lock), but once steering wheel is back in the correct place it soon comes on again, often before i've even moved off.
I changed the battery about 3 months ago, and it was the first battery change the car has required. Its a good spec battery and the ignition is quite eager to turn the motor over, so i don't think there is a battery issue. Its sods law that it has chosen today to mess me about as i have about 1500miles to do over the next 10 days, and little opportunity to get it into a garage this side of the new year.
Also, the power steering light did give me a very brief problem about 4 weeks ago when i had my tracking adjusted, but that cleared itself up before i could investigate it.
I've not had any failure of power steering, but it does have a higher stiffness to the steering towards the full lock.
I suspect its my steering column on its way out.
My query is "am likely to be correct with my suspicions", and more importantly, is it likely (i know its impossible to say, but with reasonable likeliness) to function satisfactorily (despite the warning light) over the next 1000 to 1500 miles when i will have the opportunity to get it fixed. Any help/advice will be gratefully received.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

First line of investigation is the battery, followed by battery and earthing strap terminal connections

 

[jellyheads]

cool, thanks. The fault cleared itself by the time i got to my mate who has am OBD2 fault reader. i know the battery is fine as its just a couple of months old, and before the battery was changed the charge state on the old battery dropped so low it would only just start the car, and even then the power steering wasn't affected in any way at all. Where are the earth points that could cause this issue?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Just because the battery is a few months old doesn't mean it can't be defective

 

[Roxanne25]

I've had the steering wheel light come on my fiat panda 09 plate but it's went off now but this made steering light although not been out in car for about 6 days just wondering if anyone knows what could have caused it to come on thank you

 

[ytareh]

Had this happen in my 05 MJ once and wife also had it happen while she was driving it .Both cases extreme likelihood was that battery was struggling with everything maxed out including fan , lights and rear window demister while charge may have been a bit low after car lying up for a while etc .Never reoccurred after .Id ignore for now .

 

[inki]

Roxanne25 what ytareh says would be correct in your case Punto's & Panda's don't like to sit long without being used as electric power steering is a big drain on battery.

 

[Wee Smurf]

I've had the steering wheel light come on my fiat panda 09 plate but it's went off now but this made steering light although not been out in car for about 6 days just wondering if anyone knows what could have caused it to come on thank you

As above they don't like to sit about especially in the winter. The battery will run low through lack of use. I would presume that you're on your car's original battery so it might be time to look into getting a new one (a decent brand such as Bosch).

 

[Roxanne25]

OK I've booked it into garage to see whats wrong with it although lights not come back on since Monday thanks for feedback

 

[varesecrazy]

OK I've booked it into garage to see whats wrong with it although lights not come back on since Monday thanks for feedback

could well be a waste of money they will need specialist kit to check the steering's fault codes - may only say low voltage...

for that @£50 you'd have a new battery anyway..

my experience -

ours died fully.. right outside our local FIAT specialist..) so it was pushed into their workshop,
they spent 30 mins checking things..,
nothing was found:shrug:

a few weeks later it sounded slow to start.. so I replaced the original battery with a Bosch S4 - via Carparts4less,
not happened again in the next 5 years:worship:

as a side note,
this battery was the only electrical failure in 11 YEARS of ownership

gave me the confidence to buy my 1st NEW Fiat

 

[nobbles]

I had this happen after summer. The car hadn't been used for a while. I charged and had the battery checked-everything was ok. The warning lights came on the day after, so like always I turned off the engine and with the restart all was fine. Hasn't happened since. Now the car has sat for over a week, with the trickle charger on - I will see what happens when I go to work on Monday.

 

[Wee Smurf]

OK I've booked it into garage to see whats wrong with it although lights not come back on since Monday thanks for feedback

I would tend to agree with Charlie on this one. I don't think that your light coming on once merits bringing it in to get it checked. That will only cost you a fee for getting it checked. Most times the warning light is a sign that the battery is running low - something that will happen if you leave it sitting around whenever the battery is getting on a bit. The power steering is fed electrically and uses a lot of power. If the car has sat a while and for instance, you have the lights, fan and demister all on at the same time, then there simply won't be enough power in the battery and you'll end up with a warning light on. Have you had your clock reset itself at all? If that has happened, then it's definitely new battery time.

 

[Dr pepper]

Multiecu scan which is free for the demo version, and a cheap obd adpator as well as a green obd lead gives you access to the steering controller.
There may be a fault code stored even if the warning light is off.
I dont have much experience of eps, but what what you say the steering angle/torque sensor may be the issue, you can recalibrate this with multiecuscan, but if its bringing the light on it might need replacing.
I believe some of the eps motors suffer from dry joints on the power board.
If your not into diagnostics then take it to a garage, and certainly dont try recalibrating anything.

 

[tinmar49]

Iv'e got one of those cheap voltmeters which plug into the lighter socket. when you start the engine, it should read about 14V if the alternator is ok. Mine came from Ebay.

 

[nobbles]

I had this happen after summer. The car hadn't been used for a while. I charged and had the battery checked-everything was ok. The warning lights came on the day after, so like always I turned off the engine and with the restart all was fine. Hasn't happened since. Now the car has sat for over a week, with the trickle charger on - I will see what happens when I go to work on Monday.

No issues, running like a dream. Just a glitch almost 6 months and not come back.