[simon no pieman]

Anybody else experienced warnings on the computer with this cold weather? Cant find any similar threads. The temperature was down to about -4degrees and then -10 the other morning. After starting all the lights flashed crazy with 'get engine checked' and 'no ABS' and 'no VDC' etc... The engine management light stayed on and the ABS didnt work and I felt like I was going to have to watch out on the snow.... A bit later when it had warmed up a bit, I stopped the car and restarted and eventually all the warnings ended. Central locking was OK and no other problems.

What temperature were these cars tested down to??? Anybody know?

 

[0of0]

All 'normal' - there's are loads of folk experiencing this

 

[Kras]

yeah, i got the ABS warning a few times, took it to the dealer just in case which showed absolutly no problems with the ABS and said that these freezing temps do cause a stain on the battery on startup and may give a few errors only on initial startup. Nothing to worry about in my case.

 

[Commanderfish]

Yep this is basically the same problem people have when a battery is on it's way out. The Canbus system is apparently very sensitive to fluctuations in power supply and freaks out if the battery output isn't great - like on a very cold start.

There's nothing wrong with your cars

 

[swood5]

I nearly had a heart attack this morning when the computer said I had no oil at all and a picture of a dip stick appeared (no I wasnt looking in the mirror!). I turned the car off Immediately and checked oil level which turned out to be fine. When I turned the engine on again the computer shown the oil level as full. Phew!

 

[Paulus]

DING!

YUP, YEP, and YES!

I get all those flashing lights and beeps and ding-a-lings!

My 147 is a little long in the tooth so in this weather the handbrake doesnt release proper! I am also sure that there ia a buildup of crud on the wheel sensors all of which confuses the poor system. I think the rear wheels may drag a little on the ice!

I have had this 2 or 3 times this year but really its no problem as I cadence brake in this weather anyway (I find this works better than the ABS on ice!) and switch off traction control and the power gets regulated by ME!

Then as you say when you stop everything resets itself!

 

[cj romeo]

Minus 10 - only real warnings - like auto wipers not available (frozen sensor) etc.

 

[rickyw]

Minus 10 here 2 mornings in a trot & -6 when leaving work at 3 today. No messages here. I feel left out

 

[alfamoment]

Minus 10 here 2 mornings in a trot & -6 when leaving work at 3 today. No messages here. I feel left out

No problems here when temp was -7.5 on Tues took little longer to start but no warnings.

You are not alone!:thumbs:

 

[159john]

I'm finding in this very cold weather I have to watch the glow plug light on the dash (normally I take no notice of it). If I start the engine immediately it goes out, the engine fires instantly, rather than taking a few seconds on the starter if the light's been out for 15 seconds or so. Might be worth bearing in mind when we all need to be as gentle as possible on our batteries in these conditions :thumbs:

 

[ptcoll]

I don't get any warnings in the cold when starting (down to -9 here recently). I would treat these as an early warning that the battery is on the way out.

Pete

 

[Black159]

Yep, My 159 2.4 has got the "Get Engine Checked" problem...Runs fine and no other issues, and as the weather is still poor not sure i can be bothered to take it to the dealer...may just monitor it for a few more days..

 

[JTD_Liam]

Hi All

Visitor from the dark side of Fiat here Hoping for an Alfa one day, when my insurance drops abit more!

Just spotted this & thought id say it's very common to get false warnings appear on startup on Stilos aswell. As someone has mentioned, the CAN system (electronics) are very sensitive to battery voltage & a slight dip in power level, caused by a worn battery or extra drain on it from the glowplugs/starter motor on a cold morning can cause it to fire off warning messages about ABS failure, Engine Failure etc.

Usually the actual component mentioned in the warning hasn't failed at all, it's just down to battery voltage.

To help avoid it, make sure everything like lights, wipers & heater fan is off before startup to prevent additional drain on the battery. And also try to wait for the car to finish its pre startup checks - on the Stilo the display reads 'Checking' whilst this is happening but not sure about on the 159/Brera/Spider. Basically wait for all the warning lights (ABS, airbags etc) to go out & for the fuel pump to stop priming before starting. Thats what i do on the Stilo & have so far never experienced the warning messages. Except when i let the battery go flat, but that was my fault!

Hope that helps abit.
Liam.

 

[chriskath]

Hi
My Brera JTD had ABS not available and I had the brakes checked. Rear offside break was not releasing properly. It was fixed. In the snow with both front wheels spinning I had VDC system not available. When my wheels spin I get no ars light on the dash to show system is working. I do not feel that my abs is working but there is no warning light. If I disconnect the ars vdc I get the triangle light permanently on the dash. Anyone else had this problem? I've read about the cold weather but wonder if my problem is more permanent than this?

 

[159stu]

yeah i had a few mornings like that... always under -5 degrees
had the vdc and abs warnings and none of these systems worked for a while... also one one very cold morning my cd changer wouldnt work, also i was on a long motorway run on one of the coldest nights, showing -11 on the display and i got a warning about the hill holder and vdc which stayed on until i got home, that fault had cleared itself next morning though and since it warmed up above -4 i have had nothing apart from the screen wash level light (which will go off when i remember to fill it up again!)
I used to have to drive renault lagunas as company cars and was well used to thier bonkers electrics regardless of the weather so i rarely bat an eyelid at warning lights these days.. makes as much sense to listen for strange noises or fluctuations in performance and be aware of the surface youre driving on, just like the "olden" days before we had all this technology! :cheese:

 

[bullman]

Warning messages in cold weather

Hi from cold Finland.

My Alfa 159 shows sometimes messages about low oil level in minus degrees.
This happens below - 10 celsius.
Otherwise works fine in winter, now we have -25 celsius and car goes nicely and is really warm inside

 

[Breraboy]

Some interesting posts here. Mine brought up the ABS warning the other day and went away. Yday it brought up 'get engine checked' and hasn’t cleared itself. From the posts it looks like its nothing more than the cold weather. Off to disconnect/reconnect battery at lunchtime hopefully that will clear the engine warning.

Now to find posts on how to reset window closures (Brera) after battery disconnect…...