Ugh. Sorry to hear it. Hope it's quickly diagnosed and more quickly resolved.

 

Last week - I had to have mine towed in. Would not even turn on .

Turned out to be a bad lead on the negative terminal.

Once they cleared out the computer system and fixed the issue, I swore it was running better than before the issue.

I hope they are able to address your issue just as quickly.

I wonder if returning the ECU back to the original settings has value?


Good luck.

 

ECU is original, I've never bought a "clone" or any other upgrade. For that matter, the entire car is stock. Well, except for the hay bale, and all the repair parts were OEM, which keeps it in the "still stock, still original" class.

 

A bit of a stab in the dark but have you checked the battery voltage?

I've seen similar weirdness on the Alfa's Italian cousins when the battery charge is weak. They can be sensitive.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

 

That sucks.
But I wonder if it is related to the recurring code problem that you mentioned before (perhaps all caused by something as simple as the voltage/connection issues mentioned above)?
Fingers crossed that your dealer can figure this out - you need a vehicle that you can have confidence in.

Good luck!

 

I checked the fluids today. All is where it should be. No sign of any seepage or obvious problem. That's about all I can do ATM.

Took her to the store to get 'last minute stuff' for the wife. Ran just fine. Except for the "service engine" light and the fact that it's stuck in Natural Mode.

Always a show stopper. This guy asked about her. "Is there room for golf clubs?" So I showed him the huge trunk.
Oddly, he never said anything about the Cayman I was parked next to. Which looked kind of . . . BRZish next to the 4C.

 

Have you checked for any CELs yet? Or did a prolonged battery disconnect?

I know that with multiple pulls on a 2WD dyno, the car can be put in a "limp" mode (car stuck in Natural mode) which is speculated due to the front and rear wheel speed sensors mismatching. This can usually resolve itself with a battery reset.

Just spitballing....

 

What's a 'CEL'?

As a daily driver, I don't drive so spirited as to get wheel spin, of any type.

 

CEL is the check engine light.

You could try a battery reset.

Disconnect both battery terminals from the battery and connect both leads together for 30 minutes or so. Reconnect the battery and see what happens. Probably won't clear the check engine light, but might get the car out of 'limp' mode?

Worth a shot ...

 

Ahh, thanks. And, Yes, checking the terminals is something I can do.

Well, to continue ... I had to move my car this evening and guess what? It cured it's self! Yup. Pure Alfa. CEL was off and dynamic was reached. It's all normal again. What did I do? Just like my ex-wife ... ignore it and it goes away.

Turning the key on/off about four time will clear out the fault codes allowing the computer to act as if the problem went away, even if it didn't. The problem with this is that now there are no fault codes for the dealer to read. Next time, if there is a next, I need to have it flat-bedded to the dealer so they can see problem and read the fault codes.

 

Get a cheap $30 OBDII reader from Autozone and plug it in your OBDII port (near your left shin) and scan for check engine light (CEL) codes and post them here with the display explanation. This will give us more information to help you potentially diagnose your issues. Read codes before you do battery reset.

 

Will any OBDII reader work? I've heard here that most can't/won't read our codes correctly.

While we're on the OBDII subject (nice hijack BTW), is there a blue tooth transmitter so I can use my smart phone to read this?

 

The codes should still be stored even if CEL light turns off (if you didn't do battery reset). It would still be potentially useful information for you (and us) to lnow if you had any codes thrown.

Peter- my little orange OBDII reader from Amazon reads CELs on my 4C. Hmmmm...i will post picture of my reader so maybe we can compare. Maybe we should start formal threads on OBDII readers AND CEL codes....

For OBDII dongles, a bunch of us on the Fiat forum have preordered the new slim PLX Devices KIWI3 scheduled to start shipping in December. And there are smartphone/IPad apps like DashCommand and Torque that you could use to read codes.

I carry an OBDII reader (and a 10mm racheting socket and tire gauge) in my 4C tow hook/filler hose sack in the trunk.

 

I am very glad to read the follow up, Z.

I lost sleep over this last night.

 

I don't think that it's your fault, my thought is its a design v/s safety issue so the safety issue is the terminal needs to be easy to remove, but Alfa and most other manufacturers use a spring to tension the clamp which has give in it. Then the corrosion works its way in and because there is some give in the clamp it works its way between the clamp and the pole and you get a very high resistance joint which stops the car starting

 

I'm at the dealer now. They're going to read the OBDII and look into it. Essex, my mechanic thinks there will be enough fault code storage to read still.

 

They read the codes and sent them off to FCA for analysis. At my request, they showed me the codes. All over the place. Nothing consistent. The only one I remember for sure is: "Low Fuel Warning"; But, I've got a full tank.

I scheduled a major service for next week now that I have 15,000 miles. That will be $800 or $900. This is a full nut & bolt of the entire car and includes oil change and loaner car. They claimed it would be done in eight hours.

 

What are the Codes?

Gas cap/door seal leak?

 

You know what racerz this is also consistent with the battery earth terminal issue, when it happens you get lots of weird codes as most the systems don't like the voltage drop and so flag up weird codes the ABS ,VDC and air bag systems are particularly susceptible, as I said earlier you need to remove it and clean it.

(ESC is part of the braking system)

 

I know totally unrelated, but this is how my Range Rover behaves when the terminal has an issue...each system that needs power fails as it is powering up and throws a code. Very random stuff like transmission failure, ABS, airbags, etc.

 

More follow-up. When I was at the dealer and they were checking into this, I did mention to them the comments about corrosion. They later said they checked and didn't find any corrosion on the battery terminals.

As I was leaving, I felt suspicious somehow. If the battery was disconnected, the clocks would be wrong. Ok, so they reset my clocks, nice. But what about the tripometer? Wouldn't that loose memory and be zero? Not sure, but mine didn't change.

So when I got home, I looked. Not only did I find corrosion, but when I was done, the tripometer was zero.

This puts me in a very awkward position now. Trust issues with my dealer.

 

I've voiced my trust issues with this dealership multiple times including when the tech flat out lied to my face in front of the service manager to save his ass. I wouldn't trust E***x or S**n with ANYTHING. The "Sales Manager" is actually one of the Auto Gallery Dealer Principal's who righted a financial wrong with me which why i'll still do business with the AG Van Nuys Location.

 

I'd say lack of trust issues - and I would have driven right back and shown them the corrosion (if you could get the car started, that is).

 

That's going to be awkward. The good news is that you found the corrosion, which is hopefully the source of your woes and a simple fix.

I'd call your sales manager and tell him about your experience. I'd be willing to be that he's going to walk over to the service department and rise hell on your behalf.

 

And I'd be willing to bet that it will make zero difference in the end.
Sad, but likely the case.
Service manager would be a better bet. And doing it oneself, instead of relying that the sales manager would even actually have bothered.
I mean, how do you know that he didn't approach the service staff the same way they investigated the battery?

 

Can I be smug again PLEASE > or do you think that it would not be fitting yet?????

 

First things first. I protected the fender with a soft cloth.

The positive terminal cover snaps off. I probably didn't need to remove it, but I did anyway.

The negative (-) terminal has a snap fit making it easy to disconnect and reconnect. Always remove this first. When finished, this is the last terminal to reconnect.
ALWAYS.

The positive side (+) required a 10 mm socket. A wrench would have worked.

Then I scrubbed all four parts with a battery terminal brush, available at any auto parts store for just a few dollars.

I only scrubbed the battery terminals, not the axillary connectors. This is where corrosion starts. All lead acid batteries have this problem.

I reconnected the terminals, positive first, negative last and started the engine. While the engine warmed, I reset the clocks and checked the rest of the settings in the menu.

That was a few days ago. Power of suggestion is, ... powerful and can be misleading. It does seem to be starting and running better. Not by leaps and bounds, just little things.

She had been developing a minor miss or hicop while cold. That seems to have gone away.

She's had been starting to oscillate or surge in low gear (1 & 2) at mild throttle. That oscillation seems to be gone.

As for the idiot lights, the had already gone away. So far they have not returned.

 

In my experience with my transmission issue, when the CEL is on, you are relegated to the natural mode, I suspect some kind of fail-safe measure. Fran

 

Please see updated index on racerz's starting issue AND ADD SOME IDEAS http://4c-forums.com/386762-post30.html

 

Pictures of proof and technical reference.

 

The last of the pictures.