Picasso P0606 - Internal Fault & C1404 - Electric Power Steering Control Fault

hi, new Citreon owner (8 weeks) and first post here. Unfortunately my recently purchased 62 plate C3 Picasso with 39k miles has got this steering issue. happened while i was driving and is very concerning. read this and another forum and am even more concerned to find it seems to be a common and known issue that Citreon seem to often cover the cost of repair

i got it towed to local citreon garage (robyn & day in chingford) as i didnt trust driving it and have just had their diagnostic report where it showed the P0606 - Internal Fault, C1404 - Electric Power Steering Control Fault , however it also showed very poor battery health with only half the expected output (although charge was good at 90%) . they are suggesting it could be due to the battery but want to charge me £475 to fit a new battery which is so extortionate i cannot believe it. they will then retest to see if the steering issue is solved. (they also want to charge me £91 to top up the coolant and £145 to change the windscreen wipers which is insane price! )

i can buy and fit a new battery myself, but am somewhat stuck as i dont want to drive the vehicle due to it being dangerous. At least i want them to try it with a different battery to see if it fixes the steering issue or not before i would even consider paying them. my concern is that it might fix it for now but could this steering issue just happen again? what is legal situation of me buying a new battery and giving to them to fit, or fitting it myself while its on their property? my assumption is that this isnt possible so am wondering if i would have to drive it onto the street, change the battery myself then give it back to them to test the steering again.

the car was new in July 2012 so i am right on the edge of the 10 year limit that seems to be a cut off point for citreon covering this cost of fixing the steering issue (although mine has lower miles than a lot of cases i have read about)

Hi

my assumption is that this isnt possible so am wondering if i would have to drive it onto the street, change the battery myself then give it back to them to test the steering again.

That was exactly what I was thinking while reading your post

Sometimes (quite often) if the EPAS fails for a charging/alternator fault it is only temporary and will reset itsef.

The P0606 code is a bit more worrying as this may indicate it to be more of a permanent fault.

When you drive it off to fit the battery, you may find the EPAS is working.

Fit the new battery anyway because the old one sounds bad.

Will it happen again? Quite possibly, that depends on how long you keep it.

thanks for reply

they actually called me about 10 mins after i posted this. told me citreon will cover the steering repair which is great news (although he said i was just on the edge of whats eligible) , but i need to pay for the battery and when i said 475 was ridiculous they said it was actually 235 which is more reasonable but still seems quite high. the guy on the phone seemed to say it was ok for me to bring in a new battery i had purchased and potentially fit it myself on site but he is in the office rather than the workshop so not sure about that?

i will go there tomorrow and find out - fingers crossed!

DanT wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:08 pm thanks for reply

they actually called me about 10 mins after i posted this. told me citreon will cover the steering repair which is great news (although he said i was just on the edge of whats eligible) , but i need to pay for the battery and when i said 475 was ridiculous they said it was actually 235 which is more reasonable but still seems quite high. the guy on the phone seemed to say it was ok for me to bring in a new battery i had purchased and potentially fit it myself on site but he is in the office rather than the workshop so not sure about that?

i will go there tomorrow and find out - fingers crossed!

£235 is extortionate! My Wife has a C3 Picasso and I changed the battery on it. I'm pretty sure it was around £70. Change the battery yourself as it's really easy and then get them to fix the power steering pump.

The power steering system is manufactured by Koyo Seiko Japan and is very reliable.
Typically the only two failures they suffer is the control module failing or the torque transducer failing. Both are VERY rare. Failure of the control module cause loss of power assistance and failure of the transducer causes asymmetric power assistance (assistance in one direction but not the other).
Failure of the transducer will require replacement of the steering rack. Not good, but again, extremely rare!!
You can find dozens of the steering modules on Ebay quite cheap. They do not require "coding" and just "drop in".
Because of the reliability, I would have no qualms in replacing parts with a used steering rack or module from a beakers.
Having said all of that, the most common cause of the power steering not functioning correctly is a bad battery!
The electrical systems of modern cars are very reliant on a stable voltage and current supply. Car batteries don't just start the engine, they are a crucial part of the electrical power supply.
From an electronics stand point, 12V is not much potential to be dealing with. There is a reason why cordless devices (drills, vacuum cleaners etc) run on higher and higher voltages these days and why electric cars run on hundreds of volts...not 12V!
The quality of car batteries has picked up in the last few years but the average lifespan is still only about 4 years.

As far as the other points of your post...I'm sorry, but you are being ripped off.
The average garage would charge about 50-70 pound per hour labor, in 1 hour increments. To change the battery, "top up the coolant" (what the heck does that mean) and change the wiper blades would take less than an hour but they would charge you an hour anyway. As devk says 70-90 pound for a battery. 10-15 pound for wiper blades (they are expensive these days). How are they going to know what coolant you have in the engine? Shouldn't mix coolant. So to play it safe, just use de-mineralized water. 50p per litre. If it needs more than a couple of hundred mLs, the cooling system might need investigating.
Now do the maths as to what they should charge you.