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156 Electrical problems - Advice or Help???

5K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  keithyboy 
#1 ·
Hello,

My newly aquired 2001 (Y Reg) 156 2.0 T/S Sportwagon has a few electrical 'niggles' and before I take it back to the dealer (not a specialist, just car sales) I wondered if anyone can shed any light on the issues... If it's something small (fuse/relay etc.) I would have a go myself... If not, I need to take it back.

1, The blower fan and air con won't work. The A/C light comes on but nothing else. Can't see a fuse specifically for the blower motor...
2, Rear passinger side electric window wont do anything from either switch.
3, Rear wiper won't move. You can hear a relay clicking but nothing else.

Any advice or help is welcome... Or even a shoulder to cry on! :cry:

And despite these 'niggles' I still love my new Alfa!

Thanks,

Alun
 
#3 ·
I hear what you say Danny, it does have a 3 month w/tee, but they are a car sales place without specialist knowledge... I think I will check all of the fuses first and then speak to my local Alfa dealer... Think I would prefer to pay (if it's not too much) to have it done properly than let their part-time mechanic do it.
 
#4 ·
Alfa dealer will cost you an arm and a leg. Any decent mechanic should be able to sort out simple electrical problems - and they probably will turn out to be simple.

Rear electric window failure is very common on the 156. My rear driver's side windows hasn't worked for about 12 months now. The runners get clogged with dirt through lack of use and eventually the motor dies. A new motor can be bought for around £70 and you can fit it yourself. There is a good guide (with pics) on how to do this but I can't remember if it's on this forum or the alfa156.net forum. Do a search. Oh, and good luck. It'll be worth looking after!
 
#5 ·
Ditto, on the rear window, I did one myself last month and it was a peice of cake took less than an hour, the best bit was I bought a door of ebay for £15 and took the motor out of that.
 
G
#7 ·
Hi and welcome to AO

Re
1. sometimes the heater resistor goes and blower wont work at all - blower motor lives "behind" passenger glovebox. It you take the carpet piece off underneath g/box you should be able to see the motor and resistor is to the right as you look at it. Can be the control panel too iirc. See if you can get hold of a known good 2nd hand resistor and try plugging it in. You can also remove blower motor and check it be powering it directly.
2. as said above common problem, had to replace both rears recently as cables had seized
3. Probably seized mechanism in some way ??

Dav
 
#9 ·
Thanks everyone, I have booked it into my local Alfa dealer provisionally for the end of next week. In the meantime I will look at the suggestions here and see what I can sort myself. I know of a damaged/scrapped Sportwagon and may be able to 'borrow' some bits to test it... I will also write to the dealer and ask if they would consider covering the costs (or a part of the costs) if I take it to LC Motors... Will update you all when something happens! :thumbs:
 
#10 ·
As said above, these are all common issues - the rear windows and rear wiper motor generally from lack of use.....the Sportwagon rear windows tending to be worse than the saloons for seizing, probably because of the bigger glass area....with practice (I get lots!) you can strip off the door cards in about 5 minutes - getting the inner door seal off in one piece is a trick few can achieve, however:lol:

Only problem can be that getting the "peg" on the winder mechanism out of the glass is only really possible when the window is lowered...tricky if the motor is seized - if this is the case probably best to cut the winder mechanism wire - as you'll generally be replacing a full unit....

As far as the heater is concerned - its worth checking the large fuse in the connector block on the battery positive terminal - that powers the fan:)
 
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