I'm losing my mind

[i am monster]

Hi everyone. Long time reader, first time poster. Thanks for all your wisdom over the last few months.

Sorry if these symptoms have been brought up before. I tried for thirty minutes to use the search function but can't quite find an answer. If there is a thread open, let me know. Anyway...

Okay. I have been working on my daily driver 87 platinum Milano for about a month now. I finally got everything working correctly, or so I thought.

First off. I am a novice at car repair. I'm an audio engineer by day and live in Omaha, Nebraska. I have not had great experiences with the two import car shops I have taken my Alfa to, so I thought I'd try to fix my problems myself. Now I'm in trouble.

I had been having issues with the battery dying and the brake lights not working. At first I checked the fuse and noticed it was blown. I replaced it and tried the brakes again. Blown. I read about issues with the pedal switch. It wasn't clicking and I took it to the local european car shop. They confirmed it's broken-ness and sold me another. Took it home, installed it and tapped the breaks - nothing. Checked the fuse and it was blown. After a while I sussed it out to be the in dash cigarette lighter blowing a fuse. I disconnected the lighter and everything seemed to be okay.

I figured the problem had something to do with the lighter. I had been dealing with frequent dead battery problems and once I had taken the lighter out of the equation, everything seemed normal. With my multi tester, I saw the battery taking and holding a charge and with a screw driver I felt the magnetic pull of the alternator when I revved the engine.

I drove it down to Autozone to double check the battery and alternator. They ran their little test and said everything was fine.

So I drove it to work. I headed to the studio at 11:00 am and broke for lunch at 6:00 pm. Walked out to the car and it started fine. Drove it, picked up food, came back. Around 1:00 am I left work and got in my car. It started up fine, but as soon as I turned on my lights, the car died.

I grabbed my multi tester and checked the voltage of the battery. It read 8.8 volts. I had brought along my battery charger and started the car. With the lights off the battery shot up to 12.5 and responded when I revved. When I shut off the car, the battery stayed consistent at 12.1 for twenty minutes. I started the car and it seemed fine. I turned the lights on...same thing. Dead Alfa.

So, I walked the seven miles home and registered on the messageboard. Argh. My legs hurt. I haven't walked that far in...well...I don't know when I walked seven straight miles before.

Oh Gods of the Alfas...Please help and recommend my next step. Is it a battery issue? Alternator? Grounding? Anything I can do or should I just take it to the shop and pay someone else to do it? Should I stop writing such a long first post?

Thank you so much for your time,
Ian Aeillo

Edit; Also, something weird that never happened before that I'm not sure, but could be related. As I was driving to work today, all of my instrument cluster lights began to randomly flash. No pattern, no rhyme or reason. Just all together the temp gauge, oil pressure, and fuel light began to quickly flash.

[sh0rtlife]

sounds like a SERIOUS ground issue...go thru and remove clean and inspect EVERY ground..check and replace the battery cables as needed

as wacky as the lighter sounds its not the first time ive seen a bad lighter do that

double check the power points and grounds in the engine bay

[Craig]

Two points,

A good fully charged batter should be about 13.2 volts.

The alternator should put out about 14.5 volts.


Also the wacky instruments may be caused by low battery voltage.

[BigSwede]

Show me one 75/Milano alternator that puts out 14.5 volts and I am 100% certain that it's a replacement unit...

[ToonRboy]

So you're an audio installer Ian? Your problem might be a ground, but more likely a SHORT. Tell me, have you installed a new head unit and/or amp in this vehicle? If so, start checking there first.

The undeniable clue is the blowing fuse. Anyway, these shorts aren't always easy to find, so I advise you get it done pronto before a fire starts. Oh, and don't park it in the garage till you get this fixed, or disconnect the battery every night.

I once had a short in a dome light that was draining my battery, and if I was thinking in this mode I would have found it sooner. I had recently replaced the bulb and moved the switch to turn it on when I opened the door...

[block]

I have nothing to add other then Horray for another audio guy on the the BB. Ian, I have found Milano electronics to be as cranky as a 3M M-79. But with a little persistance it's worth the fuss. There is a short floating in there somewhere most likely. Check for continuity at places it shouldn't be with your multi meter...

[slyalfa]

if the alt. is working it should be around 14.1V
the Alfa has a funky system where they feed the battery first then the rest of the car. so as a rule the more you load the system the voltage will go higher at the battery(over charging it)
as the regulation point is the dash light. but in this case it goes to the ARC control system. so if the voltage is not geting to that point right it will affect the alt working.

I guess the best way to test this is to pull the small wire off the alt. and read the voltage on it with the key on. it should read the same voltage as the battery. then if you ground that wire the light should come on in the dash.
if all that works then I would look at the alt. its self. pulling it out and cleaning it up and regresas the ball bearings and new brushes or a new regulator(comes with new brushes) will in most cases fix it.

now the short is a 2nd problem if still there.

also when you check the voltage on the small wire try it with the lights on and with them off.
the voltage should still be the same as the voltage across the battery.

[La Voce]

How old is your battery? If your battery condition is not postively known to you as good, swap out a known healthy battery and measure voltage again with the engine running, no lights, then turn on the lights and measure again. You should see more than the 12.5 volts you described. Do you have the wiring diagrams? Also, find and fix that short!

[papajam]

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