Intermittent Electrical Woes

[jls.nonbiz]

Hello people,

A bit of a problem is occuring on my 2001 GTV V6. Intermittently without any type of warning my headlights, side lights, indicator lights, power windows and rear number plate lights will all go dead. Radio, break lights, engine, etc. continue on working fine but obviously this means that I am currently unable to use my car at night..

Every time it happens it appears that Fuse number 8 (second from the top on the left bank of fuses in the footwell) blows, of course all the mentioned components that die all rely on Fuse number 8. Once they go if I replace the fuse and turn the stalk to the first lighting position (side lights) then the new fuse will blow again and again untill I run out of fuses. If do put a new fuse in and DO NOT turn the stalk to the first lighting position (side lights), then the indicators, power windows and everything else works fine and Fuse 8 does not blow.

If I leave the car overnight then usually by the morning I can turn the lights on without immediately blowing the fuse however this lasts untill the issue randomly happens again, which could be several days.

I have been trying to work out what is going on and the only thing that I notice is that my trip computer sometimes will reset every time I restart my car, other times it does not (I am not sure if this is related).

Now chances are that I am opening up a can of worms in terms of finding a solution on this forum but what I am keen to find out is whether there is any point on taking my car into an autoelectrician if I am unable to tell them how to replicate the issue? Or should a good autoelectrician be able to suss it out for themselves?

Thanks in anticipation!

JLS

[misterchase]

Don't mean to state the obvious but sounds like you have a problem with the side light circuit.

I am a bit confused as the services you list don't all share the same fuses according to the alfa CD. Still I have a 2001 V6 GTV and have found wiring anomalies in mine!

Good luck...

MC

[Nige005]

I think that the only way to bottom this one is to disconnect each affected component in turn until you find the one that is causing the problem. An easy place to start would be the lights as one of them could have water in the connector. Snag is, as you say, the problem is intermittent. Could be a time consuming job I'm afraid and I don't think an Auto Electrician could think of any shortcuts. Maybe worth asking though.

As MC says the wiring diagrams are often a stab at reality rather than fact............

[jls.nonbiz]

Hello People,

Thanks for all feedback, just a FYI ....Problem Solved!

Auto Electrician found a short that was triggering within some circuit board that sits on the rear fog lights circuit. He gave me the option to replace or isolate. I chose isolate as I rarely use the rear fog lights and don't want to risk it happening again.

Perhaps I should isolate all of the wires on my Alfa to save grief, time and money ha ha ha

Cheers,

JLS

[Nige005]

Originally Posted by jls.nonbiz

Hello People,

Thanks for all feedback, just a FYI ....Problem Solved!

Auto Electrician found a short that was triggering within some circuit board that sits on the rear fog lights circuit. He gave me the option to replace or isolate. I chose isolate as I rarely use the rear fog lights and don't want to risk it happening again.

Perhaps I should isolate all of the wires on my Alfa to save grief, time and money ha ha ha

Cheers,

JLS

Isolate the lot, save a lot of grief !

Any idea what the PCB is for ?

Glad you are sorted but I'm wondering if the rear fogs are part of the MoT in which case...............

[jls.nonbiz]

Hi Nige005,

Yes I would like to isolate all fuses but I may then need to sticky tape some torches to my bonnet and that would surely ruin the aesthetics of the GTV

No idea what the PCB is for however I do know that in the GTV the rear fog lights operate differently from the front fog lights in that if you turn the car off with both front and rear fog lights on and then turn the car on again, the rear fog lights would be turned off untill you press the on button again, whereas the front fog lights on/off setting was always remembered.

From what I was told I don't believe the rear fogs have any relation to the MoT and that the PCB or whatever device it might be was safe to be disabled. Strangely the actual PCB was not an expensive part which is very rare in the world of Alfas.

All in all I recommend the Bosch Approved Service Centres for any GTV auto electrical issues. I am pretty sure I'm going to get to know these guys very well

[Nige005]

Originally Posted by jls.nonbiz

Hi Nige005,

Yes I would like to isolate all fuses but I may then need to sticky tape some torches to my bonnet and that would surely ruin the aesthetics of the GTV

No idea what the PCB is for however I do know that in the GTV the rear fog lights operate differently from the front fog lights in that if you turn the car off with both front and rear fog lights on and then turn the car on again, the rear fog lights would be turned off untill you press the on button again, whereas the front fog lights on/off setting was always remembered.

From what I was told I don't believe the rear fogs have any relation to the MoT and that the PCB or whatever device it might be was safe to be disabled. Strangely the actual PCB was not an expensive part which is very rare in the world of Alfas.

All in all I recommend the Bosch Approved Service Centres for any GTV auto electrical issues. I am pretty sure I'm going to get to know these guys very well

Maglites are cheap right now.

Well if there is no legal requirement for the rear fogs then why worry, it has to be extreme weather for me to use mine too. One of my pet hates is people driving around in slight mist or drizzle with these things on, my eyesight is bad enough without being blinded further by these things !

The rationale behind some of the electrickery can be a bit obscure. Took me months to figure out how to put parking lights on without running the engine !

[jls.nonbiz]

Hahaha, yes the good old click the key back into 'Park', just learnt that through this whole troubleshooting process, 3 years into having the car.

Yes I'm trying to remove all non essential electricals on my GTV as they are a recipe for disaster. The first was the rear demister. I know there are many forums on this but trusting my luck (or Alfa Romeo) something major will die as a result of my attempts at fixing.

Besides rear demisters are highly overated, nothing wrong with the good ol' 'glovebox rag' I say..

[Nige005]

Originally Posted by jls.nonbiz

Hahaha, yes the good old click the key back into 'Park', just learnt that through this whole troubleshooting process, 3 years into having the car.

Yes I'm trying to remove all non essential electricals on my GTV as they are a recipe for disaster. The first was the rear demister. I know there are many forums on this but trusting my luck (or Alfa Romeo) something major will die as a result of my attempts at fixing.

Besides rear demisters are highly overated, nothing wrong with the good ol' 'glovebox rag' I say..

I like my rear demister ! Seem to get a lot of condensation in mine, no idea why as I don't have any soggy carpets or leaks. In the winter I even put a container of Silica Gel on the rear shelf to help things out.

I echo your sentiments of not fixing anything that isn't broken. I've organized a Meet at the local Indy and part of the deal is that people will be able to get their cars on Alfadiag to see what's going on. I'm not taking up this offer myself, don't want to give the electronics any excuse to wake up !

As for the rag for the rear window, well I struggle to get in the back to do this and when I do end up with cramp and I'm stuck there !

[jls.nonbiz]

Hahaha ,

As for getting stuck in the back when cleaning the window, in winter perhaps we should throw one of these in the passenger footwell along with the rag...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg (Not linked)

In terms of Alfadiag, agreed - Hear no evil, see no evil. If the Alfadiag machine had speakers I'm sure you would hear the sound of falling coins for every code that came up

[Nige005]

Originally Posted by jls.nonbiz

Hahaha ,

As for getting stuck in the back when cleaning the window, in winter perhaps we should throw one of these in the passenger footwell along with the rag...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg (Not linked)

In terms of Alfadiag, agreed - Hear no evil, see no evil. If the Alfadiag machine had speakers I'm sure you would hear the sound of falling coins for every code that came up

Could be useful ! Either that or find a girlfriend with the right attributes. Size wise of course..........

Yep, I'll be interested to look at Alfadiag but not on mine, I'm going to play ostrich and have my head firmly buried in the sand.