[alfadodge]

Bad timing to get my first problem on the 159, which I bought at the end of March from Veloces.

I went to unlock the car on Weds evening (23rd) and by pressing the unlock button on the fob, I heard the doors unlock but didnt see the indicators flash or hear the alarm beep.

Maybe foolishly I still went ahead and opened a door and surprise surprise (well it was a surprise at the time, but not so much now looking back ) the alarm went off. After frantically pressing the unlock button again on the fob, and rushing back indoors to try the other key, he alarm was still going off and annoying the neighbours. The alarm only stopped when I inserted the key into the ign on the dash.

With the drivers door still open, I noticed the red LED was still flashing on the top of the door but it stopped after a few seconds so I closed the door. With everything quiet I pressed the lock button on the fob which successful locked the doors (audible clunk) but again no flashing indicators or beeping alarm.

So the cars now sitting locked but with no alarm and quite frankly, having had some alarm problems with my 156 (tho that was with the key fob), i'm afraid to open a door again for fear of the alarm going off again even tho I believe the alarm's not even set!!

Normally i'd have taken it straight to Veloces to get sorted on Xmas eve as I have an extended warranty with them (tho i'm not sure if the alarms is covered?!) but they were closed Xmas eve and don't reopen till the 4th Jan.

Autolusso were closed Xmas eve from 12 noon and are also closed till the 4th so I couldn't get it to them either.

I could leave it till the 4th and get Veloces to look at it - warranty or not, but after reading some reports on here of batteries not lasting very long if not used, i'm not sure how it will be after 2 weeks of sitting unused. I've never had a problem yet with the battery but haven't left it longer than a week without use.

Paul at Veloces has suggested (he's answering emails even tho they're closed, to his credit :thumbs disconnecting the battery for 10 mins and reconnecting, which might reset the system.

I did manage to speak to Chris at ProAlfa in Watford on Xmas eve tho and they are open next week so have arranged to take it to them on Tues, but before I do that I just wanted to check on here f there's any advice on what might be the best course of action.

Any ideas?

Thanks :xmas:

 

[swq4]

fully charge the battery and check the earth connectors as first steps....

 

[alfadodge]

Thanks.... are you saying that the alarm can give problems like this if the battery is less than fully charged and/or the earths need checking ?

Certainly something I can look at when I've plucked up the courage to open the car... :depressed:

What I wanted to establish first tho is, can I be sure the alarm isn't armed if the LEDs on the doors AREN'T flashing? If so, I presume it's best to separate the key from the fob and open the door using just the key?

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

The LED flashes when the doors are locked. Not when the alarm is armed.

Battery and connections are the first and cheapest port-of-call...

 

[alfadodge]

The LED flashes when the doors are locked. Not when the alarm is armed.

Battery and connections are the first and cheapest port-of-call...

Thanks. I'll check in the morning but I believe the doors are locked WITHOUT the LEDs flashing.... aranoid:

 

[LukeyC]

Thanks. I'll check in the morning but I believe the doors are locked WITHOUT the LEDs flashing.... aranoid:

If it helps, I have the exact same issue with my 159 - although it only happens intermittently, seemingly when it colder outside (points to battery issue?).

Most of the time it locks/alarms and unlocks/disables alarm fine, but maybe once a month thw fob won't work at all, and I have to manually unlock the drivers door with the keyblade.

(The LED doorlight still flashes, which makes me think the LED relates to the alarm.)

I have to quickly open the door, and shove the keyfob into the ignition before the alarm starts. This will usually solve the issue, but sometimes it will do this for a couple of days, then go back to normal.

I've tried cleaning up the battery contacts and replacing the earth strap, but oddly when I fitted the "New" earth strap I'd often get an electric shock when I got out, and I didn't seem to fix the alarm issue anyway, so I switched back to the old earthing strap.

I know my keyfob is slightly dud anyway as the boot release button hasn't worked from the day I bought it.

Hope that helps!

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

I know my keyfob is slightly dud anyway as the boot release button hasn't worked from the day I bought it.

Have you tried locking/unlocking with the remote between changing the indep boot unlock
setting ?

 

[alfadodge]

If it helps, I have the exact same issue with my 159 - although it only happens intermittently, seemingly when it colder outside (points to battery issue?).

Most of the time it locks/alarms and unlocks/disables alarm fine, but maybe once a month thw fob won't work at all, and I have to manually unlock the drivers door with the keyblade.

(The LED doorlight still flashes, which makes me think the LED relates to the alarm.)

I have to quickly open the door, and shove the keyfob into the ignition before the alarm starts. This will usually solve the issue, but sometimes it will do this for a couple of days, then go back to normal.

I've tried cleaning up the battery contacts and replacing the earth strap, but oddly when I fitted the "New" earth strap I'd often get an electric shock when I got out, and I didn't seem to fix the alarm issue anyway, so I switched back to the old earthing strap.

I know my keyfob is slightly dud anyway as the boot release button hasn't worked from the day I bought it.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Lukey, yes it is of some help!

Today I tried to open the car as I had it booked in a Proalfa to have a look at the alarm. I put it off till today in case the alarm went off - if it did, I just wanted to get the car to Proalfa straight away, rather than opening it a few days ago and having it go off on more than just the one occasion.

The LED on the driver's door was not on, and Proalfa confirmed this mean the alarm is not set. Pressing both buttons on the fob did not do anything so that kind suggests to me (and confirmed by Proalfa and later, Veloces) that the car's (not the key fob's) battery has gone flat over the last 5 days.

I removed the key from the fob and inserted it into the door lock and turned it both ways. One way would give the feel/sound that it was operating the lock mechanism but lifting the handle would not open the door.

So it appears I now have a door lock mechanism problem!?

I did try opening the tailgate by pushing the badge and pressing the button on the fob, with a view to climbing thru the car to get to the drivers door, but with no success.

So as far as I see it, i'm left with the only option being to get the RAC round to 'break in'. Once the door's open, I can get under the hood and check the battery and replace if necessary.

Grrrrrr.... :furious:

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

The LED flashes even if you lock the car with the key, which doesn't arm the alarm.
So a flashing LED doesn't necessarily mean that the alarm is active.


Sounds like a door lock issue.

Did you try the other doors after unlocking with the key?
Maybe just the driver's door is blocked?



http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...cking-failure-single-door-whirring-noise.html

 

[alfadodge]

The LED flashes even if you lock the car with the key, which doesn't arm the alarm.
So a flashing LED doesn't necessarily mean that the alarm is active.


Sounds like a door lock issue.

Did you try the other doors after unlocking with the key?
Maybe just the driver's door is blocked?



http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...cking-failure-single-door-whirring-noise.html

Thanks Tata - yes I tried all the doors and the tailgate, all remained locked. You may well be right about the LED but i'm hoping I don't have to worry about it any more as is now fixed! Well, I hope so... :biglaugh:

The theory about the battery being flat and the alarm not being armed was 50% correct as it went off all on it's own this morning. I tried again to open the door with the key, whilst lifting the handle but again wit no success. The alarm only stopped after about 5mins while I was on the phone to the RAC.

Luckily there was a patrol man less than 5 mins away and he as able to pry the door open enough to insert his small air bag into the gap, inflate it enough to get a long wire onto the handle an open the door by pulling on the handle.

Once open we opened the bonnet he checked the battery. His meter showed it had 2.5ish Volts so had obviously drained a lot since last used on the 20th. As it looked to be the original (FIAT label) we replaced it with a new 600Ah (albeit physically smaller) RAC battery.

Fitting the new battery seemed to reset the alarm but he drivers door was still inoperable with the outside handle and the key. We only managed to cure that once the door locking/unocking button on the centre console was pressed a couple of times.

So we concluded that the driver's door had got out of synch somehow with the alarm and/or central locking. It may be something to do with the part in the back edge of the door that you fit the key into when (according to the owners handbook) locking the door with a flat battery, which appears to be missing. So maybe the previous owner had a door-locking problem too. :ermm:

So hopefully all sorted now.... oops that's probably jinxed it :biglaugh:

Thanks for all your input :thumbu p:

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

Cool. Hopefully that's it.

The 147/159 era Alfas are terrible for the flat batteries.

From one day to the next: "poof" everything is on the fritz.


Fingers crossed.

 

[alfadodge]

Cool. Hopefully that's it.

The 147/159 era Alfas are terrible for the flat batteries.

From one day to the next: "poof" everything is on the fritz.


Fingers crossed.

If it was the original that I've just replaced, I suppose 5 years (just over) is par for the course. The replacement has a 5 year guarantee so hopefully that will last for at least that amount of time before I have to worry about it again.

What was annoying/frustrating/surprising is how quickly it went from apparently being ok to being completely dead