Technical Warning light - steering wheel

[Olddane]

Hi all,

Fiat Panda 1.2 - 2005

Two days ago the symbol of a red steering wheel lit up on my dash. It would go on and off – but now it seems to be mostly on.

When I was out driving a while ago my power steering suddenly didn’t work. I stopped at a shop and when I came out 5 minutes later the power steering worked again. The “red steering wheel” is however still on.

Can anyone tell me what this symbol means – and what faults I could be looking at?

 

[MN500]

Your battery might be starting to fail and it is advisable to replace it (or recharge if newish).

 

[DaveMcT]

This will show you if its charging properly or if its not holding charge.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-3-30V-...880968?hash=item2368123c88:g:S20AAOSw6kxXIWdD

 

[Olddane]

Thanks guys. So this has nothing to do with the power steering/ servo itself?

 

[triballofts]

hi the power steering on the panda is an electrical motor and needs a good battery as it uses a lot of power so if your battery is on its way out the power steering usually is one of the first things to fail

 

[irc]

Certainly cheapest to sort out a possible battery problem first. Usually, failed steering unit starts with either clockwise or anticlockwise assistance stopping first, often intermittently.
Yours does sound like battery. I would change it and see.
Choose a good brand too - cheapo ones may struggle as the Panda is very battery-dependent.

 

[Olddane]

Thank you all for your input! My battery is less than 1 years old (Varta). I will however try to charge it full and see if that will help.

I also found this on Youtube (cannot insert URL so search for "City servo Fiat easy repair manual / relay V23072 A308 / relay 4117"). Perhaps its the relays mentioned.

 

[DaveMcT]

Fiatecuscan is a low cost tool for diagnosing electronic problems.

http://en.freedownloadmanager.org/Windows-PC/FiatECUScan.html

There are many connectors on the web. So check out Fiat Forum for the best advice.


This discusses power steering faults and fixes.

https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-mk2-2b-guides/266588-resoldering-power-steering-motor-relays.html

 

[Olddane]

Excellent! Thanks for the posts.

 

[g8rpi]

This will show you if its charging properly or if its not holding charge.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-3-30V-Blue-LED-Digital-Display-Panel-Voltmeter-Voltage-Gauge-Car-Motor-UK-/152069880968?hash=item2368123c88:g:S20AAOSw6kxXIWdD

While this little meter will tell you roughly if it's charging, it's not really accurate enough. Even if it meets it's specification it can be out by plus or minus 0.3V so a marginal charge of 13.9V could show as an OK 14.2
.
It's good if you have one fitted and know what it normally reads, but not great for fault finding.
A £10 digital multimeter from Maplin is more accurate, has leads with probes and also measures resistance for checking wiring, fuses, bulbs, switches etc.

P.S I just noticed that the "UK Seller" on ebay has this address:
HONG KONG FENG YUE LTD
meijuan xie
408,HaoQuan Building, 1st Jichangdongmen Road Jingtai Street

Hong Kong
Good luck with any warranty or returns.





Robert G8RPI.

 

[SB1500]

I think Halfords will test your battery for free, just keep an eye on them make sure they're not chatting sh*t, take it to another branch and see if their test gets the same results.

Least then you'll know if you need a new battery

 

[DaveMcT]

The point is you can fit a voltmeter to the dash that allows you to see what is going on with the charging circuit. Uber accuracy isn't an issue just check its output with a multimeter and make allowances.

I have a voltmeter (low cost though not my cheapo suggestion) on the bike that came in handy when I left the lights on. There was clearly no point in faffing about - battery was flat - call for help.

 

[Sweetsixteen]

As Robert G8RPI - I have found the cheap voltmeter (as above) does not tell me enough.

I have both digital and analogue multimeters, and they each have their strengths, but I prefer using an analogue multimeter for such a task.

Old-fashioned, me.

 

[DaveMcT]

As Robert G8RPI - I have found the cheap voltmeter (as above) does not tell me enough.

I have both digital and analogue multimeters, and they each have their strengths, but I prefer using an analogue multimeter for such a task.

Old-fashioned, me.

The real world is analogue so we can infer a lot from how a needle gauge moves that we wont see on a numerical readout. But for basic battery management a digital does the job at very low cost.

I have these on the bike -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-37mm-...136858?hash=item5d61c3229a:g:23cAAOSwKtVWwZmS

All the way from Hong Kong (no problems) and cheap enough to be disposable if/when it packs up.

 

[g8rpi]

As mentioned in my first comments, and by others, these little 3 digit meters are usable for inservice monitoring. They let you see any change from the normal. As any digital meter can only resolve pluse or minus 1 count these units anre only good to +_ 0.1V even if perfectly accurate. With typical accuracies they are not good enough for proper testig on modern charging systems. The minimum in reality is 0.01 V resolution or what is known as 31/2 digits. A 31/2 digit meter will read to 19.99V. I routinely use 41/2 digit meters (0.001V resolution at 14V) and also have 51/2, 61/2 and even 71/2 digit (I have 3, if you only have 2 and they don't red the same you can't tell which one is wrong they make 81/2 digit ones but I can't justify one of those as a hobbist, they cost about £10,000 new.
Only the physically large analog meters like the AVO 8 are good enough for checking modern charging systems. You just can't read a small scale accurately. Yes they have their uses and are very good for showing trends and when making adjustments, but not absolute measurement.

 

[martroy]

A large scale analogue meter is great for testing electrolytic capacitors using the ballistic method, it's much harder to check with a digital meter. As they say...horses for courses.

 

[DaveMcT]

Slightly OT but bear with me

Has anyone noticed how few cars these days drive at a reasonably constant speed? Speeding up and slowing down a lot more than ever in the past. It causes traffic problems on busy motorways (bunching) but I don't believe its entirely due to crap drivers.

My little Panda will run at a constant 70 (honest officer) with no effort. The speedo needle easily shows when the speed changes a smidge and I adjust the throttle. M-ways are really not in it's ideal environment.

My (soon to be sold) Renault Espace will effortlessly run at 70 but its digital speedo makes keeping a constant speed much harder. By the time I see the speed rise or fall by 1 mph the car will have dropped a lot more by the time its corrected and then it over shoots. Constant speed is history with that car.

Analogue speedos and analogue tachos are great. Digital might look cool but they are not nothing like as useful.

 

[g8rpi]

Slightly OT but bear with me

Has anyone noticed how few cars these days drive at a reasonably constant speed? Speeding up and slowing down a lot more than ever in the past. It causes traffic problems on busy motorways (bunching) but I don't believe its entirely due to crap drivers.

My little Panda will run at a constant 70 (honest officer) with no effort. The speedo needle easily shows when the speed changes a smidge and I adjust the throttle. M-ways are really not in it's ideal environment.

My (soon to be sold) Renault Espace will effortlessly run at 70 but its digital speedo makes keeping a constant speed much harder. By the time I see the speed rise or fall by 1 mph the car will have dropped a lot more by the time its corrected and then it over shoots. Constant speed is history with that car.

Analogue speedos and analogue tachos are great. Digital might look cool but they are not nothing like as useful.

Yes ,
analogue is best for following trends. There are reasons why many aircraft indicators and displays have both pointers and digital readouts. Pointers allow you to follow trends and if you have several identical readouts (e.g. two or more engines) you can instantly see if there is any difference between them. With digital you have to read all the numbers and mentally compare them. This is much slower.


Robert G8RPI.