Thanks for the pictures!
Did the parrot lose its presets?

 

My parrot never had any presets. It's wired wrong and looses it's presets every time I turn off the engine. I did reset the parrot clock.

 

I'd 100% advise AGAINST Santa Monica AR for service. The guy bringing mine around after a tire change (hit a nail- btw, they don't carry AR tires in stock..), jumped out of the car after doing nothing more than turning off the key.. Needless to say the car was halfway down the ramp onto the road before he stomped on the brakes and put the park brake. That ramp alone was too steep and would've caused nose damage at a freeroll, ignore the traffic on the street that doesn't expect a car to jut out suddenly. He saw me looking at one of the Fiats on the lot and laughed it off like "haha whoops, no parking gear in these".. I guess I looked too young to be the owner. He gave the key to the front-desk guy, who literally moved his arm about a foot to drop the key into my hand and the mechanics eyes got big as he quickly walked away.

1 tire, 2 days shop time, plenty of minor scratches on the driver side where you get in and out. I don't think they took it for a joy ride, but they definitely hopped in and out of the car a few times to change 1 tire. The car wash (after reading on here, I should've avoided) basically stripped the wax I put down and made all the surfaces just a bit cloudier than they were when they got it. While polishing isn't a reason to avoid a mechanic (maybe a detailer), generally though, the scratches indicate what the parking fiasco indicated- CARELESSNESS. I invested way too much in this car to have it carelessly managed like a leaser fiat.
And them trying to outsmart you with the battery? That's not carelessness- that's arrogance. If there's something that annoys me more than carelessness (which is pretty high on my peeves-list), its arrogant ignorance.

I'm impressed with how they put your car back together (although part of me would be very curious to pop my head under and see how many bolts they forgot to put back in). I'm unimpressed with everything else on their service end. Perhaps a dedicated Maserati/Alfa dealership will be a bit higher quality? If anyone has had significant work done at one of the LA Mas/Alfa dealership garages, let me know how it went. Otherwise- outside of dealer-recalls, I'll be having all service done at a private shop. The rates and quality of work can't possibly be worse.

 

The AG Van Nuys is a Mas/Fiat/Alfa dealer and i've been going there for TSB's and warranty stuff. Fast Cars or Madness are my recommendations.

 

I'm also surprised a mechanic would overlook the battery when diagnosing what is CLEARLY some kind of electrical system fault. Especially since you noticed it when trying to start (it didn't die while running), any and all voltage issues (which would cause the christmas decor to light up) would HAVE to come from the battery.

 

Find a race shop near you (that builds actual race cars), we in SoCal are lucky there are several good ones. The dealer...hrmm, that looks like a losing proposition. I am sure there are pockets of great service places here and there but, my car won't touch a dealer here unless it's a major warranty issue.

 

This isn't looking good. I'm definitely going to confront them. Toss some pictures in their face.

 

Still acting up

Follow up report:

Everything seemed fine until . . . I stopped for a doughnut. Car seemed fine. Turned it off. Got my doughnut. Turned on the car, dynamic, manual, drove about four blocks . . . wham!

Slammed into a Christmas Tree. Figuratively, not literally. The instrument panel lit up like a Christmas Tree and the transmission went into limp mode. The engine continued to run though.

It was convenient for me to drive to the dealer so they could read the codes while they were current. That was Wednesday, five days ago.

Friday was scheduled for a major service which includes a nut & bolt of the entire car. They kept the car, providing me with a loaner, a new Fiat 500.

Yes, I confronted them about the battery terminals. They claimed they did look at the terminals.

"There is no need to disconnect the terminals if you can't see any corrosion. Until you can see it, it's not a problem."

How come I don't believe that? Because I know better?

My brother is an electronics genius, earning a living at designing and troubleshooting all types of stuff including high-end audiophile amps. When I told about this, all he could do was laugh until his ass fell off. "It's the corrosion you can't see that is the problem".

Saturday evening (last night) they left me a message. The major service is done. The OBDII codes were sent to FCA and an answer received. Monday they will work on whatever FCA said. They are also checking into the front suspension bang.

 

I got a call today. "Your car is low on gas, can we put gas in?"
How can I say no? But I'm wondering how far they've test driven my car as it had half a tank when I dropped it off.

Later, they said it wasn't low at all, it's just the car freaking out.

It's almost like they didn't believe me until they experienced themselves. So now they think the PCM is bad. This is the PCM they replaced recently. It might get here as soon as one week.

Two good things here.
1) It's a warranty thing.
2) They're providing me with a new Fiat 500 loaner car.

 

Remember with a fiat 500 there are only two throttle positions on or off ?

 

Like all loaners and rentals...

 

Too bad it's not an Abarth...

The new word is they (FCA) thinks the problem is within the fuel gauge system. Perhaps a short in a wire and this is enough to take down the rest of the car. To complicate things, the wires are not the same color as what the service manual shows.

But, I've still got the Fiat loaner to putz around in.

 

Official confirmation now. They think the fuel sending unit is bad. The fuel pump and sending unit are a combo pack, so they are waiting on a fuel pump. No word on how long that will take to get here.

 

I really can't see this being a fuel gauge sender issue, a fuel gauge works by measuring resistance, I don't know the figures as I am in the middle of breakfast but full will be say 1000 ohms and empty will be 0. So if the wire breaks it will read full and if it shorts out empty, it wouldn't do much more than that!

 

The resistor could be partially shorted, is there some type of redundancy in the circuit that could be causing havoc?

 

Interesting reading! but nothing like you mention, I had a look at the wiring diagram and it is a simple resistor.

 

Have they checked the CPU unit? I notice it gets some water from washing if you are using high pressure on the back.

Just a thought.

 

I'm curious with the battery terminal corrosion, I did a search but couldn't seem to find a specific thread.
My 16 came with rubber flaps that cover the battery, are the 15s equipped with this as well. SO anyone recommend a lube or spray to spray on the terminals? Mine's a daily driver so will be in rain etc.

 

My 15 has the same rubber cover. Corrosion on terminals is normal. It's a lead-acid battery. All lead-acid batteries do this. The older, non-computerized cars were not sensitive to this. The newer computerized cars are very voltage sensitive, some more so than others. Our Alfa's are part of the some, not others.

Dielectric grease is a good protection here. It helps prevent the electrolysis without effecting the electric flow. It's good in high heat and/or wet places. You can find it at most auto part stores and computer part stores.

And I agree on how a fuel sender works with resistance. The powers to be that are footing the bill and calling the shots have ruled...

It is possible that it's the positive lead shorting which would back-feed and cause havoc with the rest of the system. If it was the return, it would simply show the wrong amount of fuel without causing other problems.

This isn't an old car where everything is separate and independent of everything else. Everything is tied together, monitoring or being monitored by the other. One miner thing has a tiny issue and this cause three non-related things to have big issues.

Oh for the days of carburetors, points and fixed cams. Give me a hammer and screwdriver and I can fix ANY problem on the side of the road.

 

DUH! FUnny, I keep a tube in my toolchest, actually used some yesterday after discussion a corrosion issue on the switchgear of my V-strom, I only recently bought the bike new (lefotver 14) and it had the worst corrsion I've ever seen on mc electricals and bikes got only 80 miles of dry riding and kept in a climate controlled garage.

My 15 has the same rubber cover. Corrosion on terminals is normal. It's a lead-acid battery. All lead-acid batteries do this. The older, non-computerized cars were not sensitive to this. The newer computerized cars are very voltage sensitive, some more so than others. Our Alfa's are part of the some, not others.

Dielectric grease is a good protection here. It helps prevent the electrolysis without effecting the electric flow. It's good in high heat and/or wet places. You can find it at most auto part stores and computer part stores.

..

 

Thanks guys.

I have been feeling, uhm, different, the last few days. Driving just isn't fun lately. 100 HP Fiat doesn't do ... what the Alfa does.

 

The week of the 14th came and went. Does this mean I can breathe now? I've been holding my breath waiting on the fuel sending unit that was promised this week.

It will get here, eventually, in Alfa time.

 

The 14th of - did he say what month/year?
Alfember 14th - that's it.

Hope it comes soon.

One of us should have bought that wreck and parted it out.

 

I really wish I had room for it. I would have entertained dragging it home.

 

Thanks to Racer Z's experience, I bought the described terminal brush (instead of using my go-to emery paper) and dielectric grease.
Surprising amount of corrosion (though no observed problems) on my car's battery terminals, too. For a vehicle built only 13 months ago, anyway.
Doing this might not be a bad suggestion for anyone putting the car into hibernation. Especially since the plug connectors for the battery tender are screwed in to the connectors on the terminals.

 

Racer Z, I'm glad you got your car back. Hope it's right as rain again for you. An Alfa Red Christmas is a great Christmas!



Hope you don't mind me putting this in your thread, but for the knowledge base:

I ran the car today for the first time since cleaning the battery terminals. Had to reset the car's date and time (easy), but Polly Parrot did NOT lose her radio station presets with the power off, nor her clock. I had at least one terminal disconnected for maybe 5 minutes or less for the operation. Just in case that's holding back anyone from doing the same.

I'm grateful, as I'm not sure I can remember how to reinstate the presets anyway. All I recall is that it was far from intuitive. Something like: scan for available stations, check off the ones you want, and then somehow "add" them to the permanent memory.

 

Word is my fuel sending unit arrived this morning.
Word is they worked on it all day.
Word is I'll have my Illusive 4C about noon tomorrow.
Looks like I'm going to have a red Christmas

 

Hope it was what they said it was and not just corrosion on a battery terminal. A fine Christmas present if you get her back tomorrow.:smile2:

 

I really hope so, what a Christmas present, you wont believe how fast it is when you get back in it!

 

[emoji2]

 

great to hear!