Motor Control System Failure - Check your Battery

Got the motor control system failure a couple of weeks ago and took it to my local garage who diagnoised it as a faulty air flow meter. They replaced it and not only has the warning light gone but the car feels so much better to drive.

Just had a battery check. The person said that Bosch testing machine is reporting that the battery is giving out good voltage but is unserviceable. He told me to get it changed. What do you people think about this?

Sigh, after my collision with a badger in my 147 JTD M-Jet, the "approved repairer" bodyshop mentioned that "did I know that the engine control light was lit?" I told them that it hadn't been lit before the accident. They said they'd sort it and later told me it was ready. Picking it up it didn't feel quite right, but I didn't have a chance to drive on a motorway until today, when I found it VERY sluggish (Struggling to get to 70!) and then the light came on and has stayed on ever since, through restarts. On the way back home the performance was the same (rubbish) and I took it back to the repairer. They tell me "it's a service item, nothing to do with the accident" I don't know how they can tell, as they just got in "airbagman" to reset the light. I think only an Alfa specialist or dealer will be able to read the codes properly.
The car was fine before the accident, and since is not, but it's my word against theirs so now I've got to fight it out with the insurance company.
It *could* be a problem that occurred on it's own, but it does seem strange that it occured at that point.
The repair shop replaced the radiator, colloing fan and cowl assembly, air filter assembly, and the bumper stuff. So I'm wondering if they may have dislodged something. I noticed a post below mentioning rubber hoses going from above the radiator, one of which goes to the turbo, I guess that's a possibility.
I can't believe that I'm having to do the troubleshooting when the repair centre had the car for a whole month and I've paid the excess already! Grrr.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
T.

my 147 is giving mr the same guff! refusest o start completely now, dont have much money (student on his second alfa!!) will try out the battery thing thanks, been worried sick for days that id have to loose my baby!! will let ye know how i get on!

Georgina147,

Failure to start is almost the easiest of the problems. It is highly likely a battery fault or starter motor. Get your battery checked first.

R.

Hi - first post. Picked up my 147 selespeed yesterday night, drove home 2 hours in the rain and wind but today, I start the car and receive the EOBD - Motor Control System Failure warning.

I don't have a lot of money - moved heaven and earth to get it in the first place - so Im slightly concerned this may be start of many problems. Its recently had the ECU changed but from what I've read it could be one of a dozen things that could need changing.

Its under warranty so hoping anything major will be covered. Changing the battery seems a bit hit and miss from what you've all said. I'll have someone run diagonostics but I've also read this can be hit and miss as well. From you long time Alfa owners, is this something thats going to plague me or are you all mostly satisfied owners?

Suppose one downside to forums is its mostly bad news, anyone care to give me a confidence boost??

Thanks all in advance

Well I took mine to AHMotorsports and they plugged in the Examiner and it told them "turbo pressure". He put it on the ramp and checked and found a squashed tube at the connection to the air filter assembly (that the insurer's approved repairers had replaced!). He fixed that and it's running fine now!
SO happy to have my Alfa back. Now I'll just have to fight the insurance company to pay for this bit.
T.

Sproggle,

As you said your ride is still under warranty so you shouldn't have anything to worry about!!!

This could be easy if the Examiner tells you the cause and you replace it like lambda sensors or MAF. Or it could be an elusive problem like faulty loom!!! Nightmare to detect.

First thing is to ensure your battery is still up to the job. Then get it on the Examiner to hear what it has to say.

Let us know how you get on.

R.

got my battery changed started 1st time no warning lite or anything! then took it out bout 12 hrs later drove fine then just died completly no warning lites or anything came on!! any clues?

Georgina147,

Does the engine turn at all when you turn the ignition? Could this be your immobilizer playing up?

Why don't you email Jamie Porter (search for him on this forum). He is a very good Alfa enthusiast who has unrivalled customer service. He would even try and resolve your issues via email if he can.

Sorry to hear about your woes. Must be frustrating.

R.

that'll be the crank shaft sensor, had mine replaced for £50. Worth doing if you've done over 80k.

Hello,

I get the vdc failure warning intermittently.
It has always happened in the morning within a few hundred yards from home after a cold start.
If I stop the car and turn off the ignition and restart it, it seems fine.
I also get the motor control failure which loses all power to the engine. This always happens when accelerating hard or trying to overtake in 3rd or 4th gear and its starting to do my head in.
If I dip the clutch briefly then It regains full power.
I love the car and its my first alfa and I guess not my last.
Any Suggestions?

cd_acai,

Regarding your vdc warning, see this thread:
ABS/VDC System Failure - Alfa Romeo Forum

About the MCF message, please get your battery checked first. This could in fact be the cause of both problems.

R.

topalfauser,

Thanks for the info. I will get the battery checked out and see if that solves the problem.

I have the same problem with a 175bhp version. Its had new airflow meter and MAFF sensor and all the wiring connections checked, pronounced *well* by my alfaman, and is now worse than ever and running in safe mode - except - after the *Ice on Road* message came up, revs would go up the scale properly. I suspect the ECU, or the wires to it even though they say they don't go wrong. Its due back in on Friday - I'll let you know when I know what needs doing to fix it.

I had MSCF cutting in about 3 times a week usually within 15 minutes of starting.

Car 03 jtd 8 valve.

Symptoms were complete loss of power for 2 seconds and then power returned. Over a period of 8 weeks it became more often culminating in cutting out after I had to break hard when a pedestrian stepped out into the road and the car cut out and would not start.
Battery went flat in 10 x 5 second start attempts so called RAC.
RAC man mentioned crank sensor and some other stuff.
Any ways he got me started with QuickStart spray and jump leads and I got home... 30 mile trip.

Rang local garage with good reputation and told story of all folks on here and instructed them to get me the best battery they could get.
Just managed to get to the garage with 2 MSCF in 3 mile trip.....
Had to squeeze this big bosche battery in as 5cm longer than OEM.

Next morning MSCF for one second and thought damn
However I later put this down to the new battery not being fully charged as since then I have had no probs for 3 months and covered 4000 miles.

So..... thanks to the forum My problem solved
So for 80 quid on a top end battery folks..... is worth it if your car is over 4 years old even it only removes the battery from the fault search.
If you are fortunate like me it will fix it.

Change it folks......Today

Oh and also whenever I had MSCF during same trip tried to turn on Cruise Control it would not work...no light on dash nothing untill a stop switch off and restart completed....usually the next morning.
So if you get MSCF and then power returns try your Cruise and see if it works or not.

Regards

John

I bought a new battery today - the cars been struggling to start, and it runs flat if I leave any electrics on with ignition off after a very short sace of time. I too get VDC and ABS failures ALL THE TIME. I'm fitting the batt tomorrow and hope to see if and what difference it makes - should be interesting...

My current battery was tested, and apparently it is only giving 240 amps at crank. Any body know what ampage a normal 147 battery should be as standard? We guessed it should be a 400, but I think later they said it should be more around a 600?

After the main dealers failed to fix my problems I found a great Alfa specialist less than a mile from me. They've poked around for days with the live data on the diagnostic machine and reckon my engine control failures could be down to sticking turbo blades causing too much boost. It happens at cruising speeds on the motorway when the engine's warm, I go to put my foot down to overtake and the car beeps and goes into safe mode. Trouble is it's very random and sporadic so catching the error when it's happening has taken a while.

I'm thinking with the number of sensors and computers in modern cars, it could be any number of faults and everyone's errors can be from a different source.

This Alfa garage I'm using say that Alfa specialists round the country talk to each other and share ideas (just like us lot here), they've kicked my data around between a network of brains and have all come to the same conclusion - sticking turbo vanes. It's worth getting diagnostics done by someone who knows what they're doing rather than replace the battery straight off, one person's errors probably won't be the same as anothers.

My 147 also has VDC, Motor Control System, ABS and Code errors resulting in the car turning off altogether. My Alfa garage replaced the battery and the car died again on the way home. The only way to start it again is to wait 20 minutes! Any ideas???

You'll have to get that looked at and diagnosed properly, firing a question on an internet forum won't find your answer. It could be anything from a single loose connection to a nackered ECU or major engine troubles.

We don't know if you've got a diesel or a petrol, how old the car is, how many miles it's done, any history, past work done, what exactly you were doing when it cut out - weather conditions, accelerating/ decelerating, how you drive the car ....

... basically, on an internet forum you'll get answers from people's specific problems and experiences which probably won't be the same as yours.

Take it to an Alfa specialist/ main dealer and get it diagnosed

My Alfa is a late 2001 model which I have owned since new and had it regularly serviced. It is a manual 5-door, 2 litre version. It has done 60,000 miles. The car stops running intermittently with a VDC Fault light followed by ABS failure, MCU error and then the key code logo appears. The car will not start again for at least 30 mins, when it seems to be OK again for an indeterminate period. I have taken it to an Alfa dealer and they diagnosed it as a low battery (30% life left - the diagnostics said!). However, upon driving it home from the garage it died again.

The conditions are dry and warm when it fails, so weather is not a problem.

Any ideas - because my garage doesn't ??

The important thing seems to be the voltage so if the battery is putting out 11 volts (as mine was) instead of 12 you seem to get odd errors. I was getting CODE and difficulty starting although the battery cranked the car over like a good 'un.

I bought a really cheap battery tester from Halfords and that showed the low voltage. I'm not sure what 30% left in a battery means.