[mrwierdwrench]

My 91 164S is suffering from un diagnosable,(by me), electrical gremlins. Dash lights went out one night about a month ago, the next day, I checked, cleaned and reseated all the fuses, all good for about 2 miles. Then no dash lights, no wipers no heater fan, no turn signals. Re checked all fuses, still good, cleaned all relays w/ " deoxit and reseated, everything worked, for about 3 miles... put the windows down, opened the sunroof...Same problems returned, so today I replaced all the relays, checked all the connections, still no good. Is there a fuseable link or some hidden fuse or relay that I'm missing? Its supposed to rain to night and I'm at wits end. Any suggestions? Thanks Terry

 

[Del]

Does the engine shut off when this electrical failure occurs?

 

[mrwierdwrench]

No, runs great. Headlights work, radio works, seats move, overhead lights work. Haven't checked the mirrors.

 

[Richard2]

Sounds like something to do with N22 and/or ARC relay.

 

[mrwierdwrench]

Thanks Richard, I don't have my wiring diagram available, where are these located?

 

[Alfisto Steve]

You probably have a bad contact in ignition switch for pink wire that operates what you say isn't working. However, headlights shouldn't work either. Open fuse panel door and locate four wire connector to ignition switch. Jumper red power wire to pink wire and sun roof should now work and dash lights should work.

The other thing that is common is grounding point G174 under steering column.

Again if either pink wire at ignition switch or G174 bad headlights should not work either.

 

[IRONBLOCK]

You probably have a bad contact in ignition switch for pink wire that operates what you say isn't working. However, headlights shouldn't work either. Open fuse panel door and locate four wire connector to ignition switch. Jumper red power wire to pink wire and sun roof should now work and dash lights should work.

The other thing that is common is grounding point G174 under steering column.

Again if either pink wire at ignition switch or G174 bad headlights should not work either.

+1! Most of my Alfa electrical issues have been due to bad grounds and a good coating of Vaseline (or dielectric grease) at a clean ground contact (wire brush) will eliminate issues. I did have a 164 ignition switch go bad once and had a short in the rear passenger courtesy light wire.
Mark

 

[Del]

The 164 for some reason had this problem from the get go, and Alfa paid the dealers about $5 per to clean and use dielectric grease each electrical connection in the engine bay, so I was told by my dealer.

I always recommend doing that before addressing any weird problem. Easy to do, and eliminates that potential problem right away.

 

[Evgeny 164]

Electricity is the science of good contacts.:wink2:
I came to the conclusion that any ALFA, there is always something going on with the electrical part. It is necessary to fix one thing, as there is certainly something else. ENIGMA. I had a similar Problem. Something works, then no. But almost always, the cause was a bad contact.

All the same, I bought a new fuse box and now I have a whole year, nothing happens. And everything now works consistently. But before that, I cleaned all the connections and changed all the wiring in the engine compartment, because that at the temperature lost its elasticity.

 

[italcarnut]

Great point Evgeny.

 

[mrwierdwrench]

Problem solved! As usual Steve's advice was right on. I had cleaned and,(I thought) reseated this connection early in my diagnostic efforts. I must have pushed the pink wire out enough that it didn't make good contact, but didn't look disconnected. Another lesson relearned. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my post and make suggestions, and molto grazie to Steve for saving me many frustrating hours w/ a schematic and multi meter!! Regards, Terry

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Glad I was able to help but the fact that you didn't say the headlights didn't work either blew my mind since they are on same circuit that pink wire feeds power to them.