My Milano is possessed!!

[dbgrubbs]

For quite some time now my turnsignal light on the ARC comes on when the ignition switch is turned on. It goes out however when the headlights are turned on. Nothing happens with the light when the turnsignals are on though. I've been living with this for some time and it doesn't bother me much. The last few weeks though things have been getting stranger. When I turn the headlights on in the morning the wipers make one swipe and turn off. The last couple of days though the wipers continue for several miles before turning off. Turning the wipers on or off makes no difference. They continue on as long as the headlights are on but turn off after a few minutes.

All the wiring behind the steering column shroud seems to be in order.

Any ideas to ANY of the problems I'm experiencing?

Don

[AR4me]

Now, if Alfa could figure out to add such fancy features intentionally all would be well

No ideas, except for the obvious.

Jes

[SamW]

As they say in the software world, it is not an error, it is a feature!!! LOL!!!!

Maybe something internally on the column switches.....

[slyalfa]

as a rule the gounds seem to get messup all over the place. and I am guessing that is what is going on.
on my car it seemed alfa was short on black wire so they streched all the blacks very tight.
I have had black wire break in the middel. pullout of connectors etc. on some I could never find the fault and just ran a fresh run to the body. like the wire going to the dash dimer. if the ground opens on the dimer the lights go out in the dash.

[Gubi]

If it were just the lights and turn signals I'd be thinking your left switch is fried. The wiper involvement makes me think grounds, though. Maybe both.

Start by checking/cleaning the under dash grounds behind the fusebox. Then do the two ground clusters at the front of the engine bay. Spend extra time cleaning the driver's side one where the small ground cable from the battery connects to it.

I had some bizzaro headlight-related electrical problems that turned out to be these front grounds. The grounds were marginal...they were good enough normally but with the headlights on there was too much current being dumped to them and other things would start malfunctioning.

[alfaparticle]

My guess is that the timer for the intermittent wipers is in the ARC computer and it is subject to the usual gremlins.
Ed Prytherch
79 Spider
88 Verde

[dbgrubbs]

When I only had the turnsignal light problem, I tried swapping the turnsignal switch, ARC panel and ARC control unit. None had any effect on the problem. I have cleaned the grounds in the past and i guess I need to revisit that and see if anything changes. Hopefully I can clean the grounds and ALL my gremlins go visit somewhere else. Still just don't understand how turning the headlights on can cause the wipers to come on. Strange. Now if I could get the wipers to come on when it rained, quite the feat!!!

[Gubi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alfaparticle My guess is that the timer for the intermittent wipers is in the ARC computer and it is subject to the usual gremlins.

[slyalfa]

also check the wires them self. I had had the wires go bad as wells as the ends/plugs go bad.

I just had to replace the ends on the grounds both sides that go in to the connector next to the heater. it has like 6 or so wires in the connector but just the grounds went bad where it was crimped. my fan stoped working and strange things in the dash it would go on/off or 1/2 way when my it moved I hit it all the time, it is next to the gas pedel.

[tomp]

Ill place my money on one of the grounds somewhere. The manual should show grounds related to wiper system parts.
-TomP.

[dbgrubbs]

Took out all of the grounding blocks (one under the dash and the two under the hood), cleaned them real good with a dremel and contact cleaner and for at least the time being, the problem has gone away. The wiper problem that is. Hopefully this will be the end of it.

Back to my other oddity. The turn signal light on the ARC. Is it normal for this light to come on when the ignition is on? And then turn off when the headlights are on? Mine works that way but doesn't blink when my turnsignals are on. Still trying to track this one down. I've tried 3 different turnsignal switches and the light never blinks.

Don

[slyalfa]

no you still have a open some where.
do you have the wiring schematic?
if not download them if you search there is a link to the workshop manuals

[ToonRboy]

There is a bunch of grounds under the dash drvrs side, you definitely want to check there. Basically, the ARC is a continuity box. Open circuits to all the switches, whose circuits get closed to indicate the condition. e.g Door open, coolant low, brake fluid or pads low. Usually, these get goofy in very cold weather (hence the "Christmas lights" syndrom) Also, (though I never had an issue with my Milano's) the column switch sounds suspect so don't dismiss that too quickly.

Good luck,

[dbgrubbs]

One of the grounding blocks that I cleaned was from under the drivers side of the dash, next to the steering column. Other than that and the two behind the headlights are there anymore locations that would be worth investigating?

[Gubi]

From the wiring diagram, looks like the turn signal light on the ARC is not controlled by the ARC control unit. This is probably a good thing as the ARC can be a PITA to troubleshoot.

I think you've still got a bad ground somewhere and something else is dumping current to the turn signal circuit. There's a couple of grounds under the rear seat that you can check. Also two along the sides of the passenger compartment I think (somewhere under the carpet).

Before you do that, however, see if unplugging or cleaning the rear taillight connectors makes a difference. I had a similar problem where my fog light button would glow when I hit the brakes. Turns out the connectors to the taillights are pretty bad and can arc between circuits...perhaps this his happening with your turn signal circuit?

Holy melted taillight board, Batman!
Brake Light/Tail Lights Grounds?

Good luck.