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Everything seems to have stopped working

10K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  EricW  
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,

Need your suggestion here. Today I went out, parked my car and later did a remote start, once I entered my vehicle I saw something odd, Forward collision unavailable message and check engine light were ON, then immediately following that, all error messages started to flood in. I am not sure what exactly had happened, 15 mins earlier everything was fine. It was rainy while I was driving, I know that's not a problem Alfa can take a lot more than that. I have anyways contacted the service center but they will be available only by Monday, so until then I won't be able to drive my car as except headlights no other lights work(tail light and turn signal lights), I have attached a video, please let me know if anyone had faced a similar issue and how was it resolved. Thank you.
 
#10 ·
They should be able to perform a battery health check for you at Autozone, although it probably won’t be totally comprehensive. If it tests out OK, I’d be inclined to keep it and take a chance, it’s not that old. I’d definitely invest in a battery maintainer no matter what you do, and use it every week or two depending on your driving habits. I have the Alfa branded CTEK charger below. A few $’s more than the generic CTEK equivalent, but what the heck.

 
#12 · (Edited)
Do this:

1. start the car, in park, turn the wheel all the left and right two times pausing 2 seconds at each full stop
2. return the wheel to the center position.
2. drive a few hundred yards

This clears the issue for me (twice). It's likely a battery issue.

The steering wheel thing is actually covered in the owners manual, although it's far from obvious or something you'd expect.

107135
 
#16 ·
It is unclear how many of the battery dead problems are caused by accidental discharge (i.e. hitting a bug in the electronics power down code) and how many are caused by a bad battery.

It is also unclear how many bad batteries are caused by excessive discharge of the OEM battery while the car sits on the dealer lot, unmaintained.

Fully discharging a lead-acid battery (especially a starter battery) is not good for it. Even so, if you can get a proper battery tester and use that to evaluate the battery it seems like a reasonably trustworthy way to tell if the battery needs to be replaced. A simple voltage across the open circuit battery test is not sufficient.
 
#21 ·
The mechanic at my dealership diagnosed this battery problem about 1 1/2 years ago. He said the OEM batteries did not have "born" date on them and there was no way to even check to see how long the batteries were on the shelves before being installed. It is quite easy to have the battery checked and if that's the problem and it's under warranty it is a free replacement, if not it's worth the money to change it out.
 
#18 ·
Do a little research on batteries and temperature. Powersports batteries are the worst. I keep a tender on my MC and don't even take the battery out the bike anymore. Sits in freezing conditions for a couple of months and restarts. No tender equals a new battery every 3 years or less. My Triumph currently has a 6 year old battery is great condition because it always sits on a tender. Will replace this year just due to age because it is a beast to pushstart :). I would treat rarely driven newer cars the same. Tender just prevents battery problems and is money well spent.

I have let my Giulia sit for up to 3 weeks while traveling - no issues.