[AlfonsoAlfista]

I have a 2003 156 2.0 JTS.

I get the "Motor Control System Failure" message come on the dash with beeping sometimes when starting up, but only first thing in the morning when it is very cold outside and frost on the ground.

It goes off straight away, and doesn't come on again until next time I start it on a cold morning.

I have checked for fault codes using a diagnostic scanner, but there are no fault codes present.

The performance of the car is not affected in anyway.

The only thing is that when starting up very cold, there is a lot of white vapour coming out the back, a lot more than my old car when starting cold. It goes on for about 15 minutes, then it is fine when warmed up.

Is this anything to worry about?

 

[Afco]

No worrys the damp is normal, that the messages comes on on a cold start is not normal................butt its an Alfa so if it thous not make the car run doddgy and you find no faults no worrys.
You know it is S.H.I.T. ( Self healing Italian Technology ) so dont worry if tomorow or one of these days the massages is spontainysly not comming back anymore :biglaugh:

 

[AlfonsoAlfista]

Thanks Afco, thought it might be just electrical gremlins.

 

[sneaker]

Used to get occasional MCSF when starting up, it sometimes would need a few attempts to start because of that. I think there were no faults stored, car certainly drove fine. May be a coincidence or something unrelated, but since I got a new battery (Bosch S5) this hasn't happened at all (~12 months).

 

[Afco]

Used to get occasional MCSF when starting up, it sometimes would need a few attempts to start because of that. I think there were no faults stored, car certainly drove fine. May be a coincidence or something unrelated, but since I got a new battery (Bosch S5) this hasn't happened at all (~12 months).

I never had a case like that butt i have read this many times, so this is a possibility

 

[Simon_GT]

I never had a case like that butt i have read this many times, so this is a possibility

I used to get exactly the same symptoms. Turned out it was a slightly dodgy ignition coil. I had Bianco Autos do the scan as part of its service and they identified the problem and replaced the part. It didn't affect performance so I didn't rush to get it diagnosed. Short answer is I'm sure there is something minor wrong with your car so it's probably wise to get the fault code read at some point.

 

[Afco]

I used to get exactly the same symptoms. Turned out it was a slightly dodgy ignition coil. I had Bianco Autos do the scan as part of its service and they identified the problem and replaced the part. It didn't affect performance so I didn't rush to get it diagnosed. Short answer is I'm sure there is something minor wrong with your car so it's probably wise to get the fault code read at some point.

could be , butt then there must be some misfire faults

 

[Krycek]

MCSF errors

I took my 2005 GT on a challenging drive yesterday on 80-100km windy, undulating roads to a national park. Mostly the car performed very well but on the way home I got several MCSF errors. They seemed to occur after I downshifted quickly and had to reduce speed suddenly or turn a sharp corner at speed. I lost fuel pressure for a few seconds and the engine struggled to catch up the revs. I believe it might be an issue with the JTS/fuel injector caused by the sudden changes of direction or speed. Is this normal behaviour or should I get engine parts checked?

I did get the system diagnosed recently and there was a "cylinder N2 misfiring intermittent" result. Not sure if that could explain it?

 

[Afco]

@ Krycek, clean the spark plugs and give the petrol a doublle dose of injector cleaner, JTS ses nead this from time to time espescialy after cold periodes there could be some condens waer in the petrol, injector cleaner neutralises this.

 

[AlfonsoAlfista]

I have scanned for faults and there are none, I suspect it may possibly be time to replace the battery, I think it is still on the original at 80K miles. That would explain why it would happen on cold mornings, when I start up with lights and heater on.