Technical punto mk2b power steering failure

[TONY55S]

Hi ALL,
I have a 2006 punto mk2 b.
everytime i turn the steering wheel i loose the power steering.
when i turn off the ignition and restart the engine i get the power steering back
until i turn again.
how do i fix this problem.
tony

 

[porta]

Hi ALL,
I have a 2006 punto mk2 b.
everytime i turn the steering wheel i loose the power steering.
when i turn off the ignition and restart the engine i get the power steering back
until i turn again.
how do i fix this problem.
tony

Sounds like a failing battery

 

[Mike1alike]

Yes, discharged battery is the first thing to check. Then you should check the (-) cable, the one that goes from battery to body and further to gearbox. That one gets corroded and oxidized on the contact points which makes it to have less voltage at the end than on the battery terminal.
And if those are ok but the problem persists it means that the Torque sensor (Steering Angle Sensor) is toast. The fix is replacing it with a new one. I saw that people usually send the entire steering column to repair shops, but that just makes it more expensive in the end. It's an easy fix, I replaced mine like 5-6 years ago and had no problem since, the steering works great. You need to get the column down and the sensor sits in the middle of it. It is easy to replace, you just have to be careful not to apply pressure on the new one cause that damages it. In the end, using the tester, you calibrate the new sensor and that is it. I recommend to connect the tester now and check what errors are stored in the steering section. Bad sensor throws voltage errors that will be stored.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

as @Mike1alike has said, assuming the Battery is good then its a good indication the powersteering is begining to fail.

In this weather and with the short days and long nights, and people driving to and from work in the dark, sometimes short trips, its quite possible it is the battery getting run down.

When I had my Mk2B I got a few more months out of the steering unit by unbolting the motor, rotating the motor shaft 180 degrees and putting it back in.

My logic for doing this is that the motor is only ever used for the vast majority of time in rotating a few degrees so if the wiring had degraded and built up some resistance it might then cause the power steering to draw a bit more current than usual and the system trip out.

No Idea if there is any truth in that, but it worked and my steering worked fine for another year or so, till I eventually sold it.

 

[MSH1]

Hello all.
I am not a mechanic but I love my fiat punto 188 MK2 (ZFA5000) 2002.
This car has a city button for lighter power steering. When you press the city button, a light comes on the dashboard that says CITY, and the steering becomes lighter.

PROBLEM (S):

Everyone once in a while when it rains the power steering light (red steering wheel) turns on, and then it goes away on its own. I know this is intermittent , not my biggest issue, just adding for context.

Another piece of information for context is that sometimes the gearbox light turns on and the brake clicks. Again only after heavy rain. I have learned this is due to corrosion located at the rear light cluster connection pin. The seal isn’t great so water might get through. Once the corrosion on the final connector pin of the light cluster is removed , the light goes away and brake stops clicking.


MAIN ISSUE:
Beginning yesterday, after turning the car on, the city light began flickering on the dashboard - affecting steering sensitivity.
When I long press and hold down the city button , the light goes away and the gearbox light (as above) flashes. This began after a hail storm.


I have a VAGCOM/KKL cable with switches , and a ELM 337 tool from eBay,
I use the multiecu scan tool normally, but can’t make it work for the power steering light, I don’t know how to make it work .
I get a message which says ELM327/ODBKey Interface or can’t find COM3. God knows what it means.

I just want the light to stop and the problem to go away.

My non-mechanic mind thinks an electrical glitch maybe an earth problem (not something I can verify but just a feeling I have based on the erratic nature of the light).

Please can you guide me and help me.

 

[Tipo19GR]

I am not sure if it is helpful, but my Punto also lost power steering intermittently and it appears that it was a result of electrical faults due to water ingress along the windshield. The water leak also caused other strange issues when it rained. And a lot of mould in the longer term. So maybe you can check under the carpets in the front whether the underfloor material is wet (it is very good at absorbing water and equally bad at not drying out).

 

[MSH1]

I am not sure if it is helpful, but my Punto also lost power steering intermittently and it appears that it was a result of electrical faults due to water ingress along the windshield. The water leak also caused other strange issues when it rained. And a lot of mould in the longer term. So maybe you can check under the carpets in the front whether the underfloor material is wet (it is very good at absorbing water and equally bad at not drying

Hello! Thank you for your reply.
I will look into this in the longterm.
I think I have found the problem.
For a while, my car would take two twists of the key to turn on, and I thought that was needed to make sure the fuel was being pumped (its an old car). But I thought about it, and when I tried to turn my car on the 2 days ago it wouldn't turn over.
I intially charged the battery for 20 mins, i use a halfords automatic car battery charger, and the machine said that it was charged, so I took it off and put it back in the car. This did no resolve the problem, the flickering was still there.
I told my uncle (an ex- fiat master mechanic), and he said that 20 mins wasn't long enough and that I should charge it for a day.
I charged it for a day, and voila the light has gone away and the car starts instantly upon ignition.
He told me that cars don't like low voltage, so I needed to charge it, and that driving ver short journeys which is what I do won't be enough to charge it.

If somebody reads this in the future I hope they try the following before doing anything else. : TAKE YOUR BATTERY OUT AND CHARGE IT FOR A DAY.
I have been given lots of complicated (for me), and helpful advice on this FIAT forum, for this problem, but it does seem that I am only one of a few people who have faced this issue. I hope nobody else has it.

TAKE YOUR BATTERY OUT AND CHARGE IT FOR A DAY.

 

[porta]

I never advise fast charging and always trickle charge (12-14hrs on my charger)