Hi,
Both my abs warning light and handbrake light illuminate after I drive away, they flash and don't always stay on. Sometimes the airbag light will join in as well. If I turn on the driving lights the instrument panel lights pulse bright and dull.
I have disconnected the battry and reconnected which appears to clear the faulty lights for a very short while then back to flashing lights again.
This all happened after the car got particularly wet, the instrument panel was fogged up.
I intend to take out the instrument panel and wipe it down, I have cleaned the board before to correct the speedo failure and that worked out okay. My question is before I start taking things apart is .. Has anyone experienced similar problems, are there any particular connectors that are suspect?
The manual says that if the 2 light remain illuminated then it is the brake EBD System and you should take the car to your FIAT garage.
My brakes appear to work as they should and I am hoping it is just a connector or earth problem. Suggestion and advice appreciated as always.
Steve

Hi all,
I am still looking without success at the moment. The flashing leads me to think its a bad earth somewhere. I have yet to remove the instrument panel. :bang:
Steve D

That does seem likely, given the symptoms and the fact that it first happened after it got damp. Unfortunately, this time of year's not a good time to dry it out thoroughly - in the summer, you can just leave it out in the sun for a few days!

I took the instrument panel out a few years ago in an attempt to cure my erratic speedo. It's a very straightforward job, provided you keep track of all the screws etc

Cheers, i will let you know how I get on.

I found time to remove the instrument panel, found a small amount of corrosion on some solder joints and cleaned these up. Put it all back together and problem still there. I have looked up the gap for the speed sensors and will check these next. I did clean around the sensors the gaps looked quite large but consistent with each other. I also (with the battery disconnected ) disconnected the abs electrical connector and cleaned it before returning it into position.
By the way I connected the multiscan software to the ecu and it reported one fault, the aircon, but since this is disconnected it was correct. I connected to the plug next to the abs but could not get a connection on any of the different switch positions of the KL lead.
Frustration or what.
Steve D

Hi all, I finally gave in and booked a visit to the nearest FIAT garage as two other garages I visited could not help. The mechanic put the ecu on the diagnostics and it reported the same single observation of the aircon con connected as my multiscan connection reported. Similarly when he connected to the plug next to the abs pump the diagnostic failed to connect so no fault report.
I asked if this meant that the abs electronics had failed and perhaps changing the abs pump and its attached electronics would be the way forward and he said it is better to find the problem and suggested i make an appointment with their auto electrician who may need 2,3 or more hours to find the problem. As Fiat charged me 92euro for this visit the thought of throwing 2 or 300 euros to FIAT for them to practice on my car is a bit alarming. I have seen abs pumps complete with the electronics advertised for 73euros.
So the problem remains that I have the brake warning light and abs warning light flashing together with the occaisonal lighting up of the airbag light. Some periods of a journey the lights remain off and the initial start up proceedure for starting the car is correct with the lights extinguishing before driving off.
Is there any awkward earting points I am possibly missing that could be causing a problem?
Any ideas from anyone?
Cheers
SteveD

Hi Steve, probably an obvious earth point, but my twopeneth is the main earth lead from the battery to the engine via an earth point on the battery tray, mine was dirty and a poor connection. However I didn't have any of your issues.
Regards Dave M

Dave thanks I will take the battery support apart check that area out, it won't hurt to give it a clean out in that area.
Steve

First of all, check if your ABS works. An easy way to do this is to find a dirt road, a sandy parking lot or similar, brake hard and see if the ABS kicks in? If they do, there's nothing wrong with the pump.

Pulsing instrument panel was something I experienced years ago, and even though the charging warning light did not light up, the alternator was bad and replacing it cured that problem.

As you have symptoms in several different systems, it is highly likely that the problem is in the wiring or the supply voltage (alternator).
See the airbag fault codes - there's nothing related to the brakes, only wiring and supply voltage + some control unit faults.
Also if the ABS would have a permanent fault, it would cause the light to stay on all the time.
So my 1° suspect is the alternator, as it explains the instrument panel lights and airbag faults. Besides that, it might be worth checking the brake switches, both in hand brake and foot pedal.

Ikka, brilliant many thanks for that direction. I have tried the hard braking with no abs kick in but that was on the roadin the wet, i will try it again. The battery does not appear to be losing a charge but I think that that still does not eliminate the alternator.
Any thoughts on why FIAT or me. Ould not get a return from diagnostic connected to the abs plug? I couldn't get a reading from the airbag plug with the diagnostic either, I tried every switch position on the Kl interface plug, the only successful reading was when connected to the ecu plug.
The handbrake switch and brake light switch works every time.
The alternator is difficult to access but other than reading the codes from the airbag plug is there any way to check the alternator before going for a straight change?
Thanks again for your direction
Steve

I didn't have any problems with the battery draining either, just the fluctuating voltage. This actually might be a problem with the diode brigde/voltage regulator inside the alternator, but you probably need to remove the whole alternator anyway and if that's the case there's no point changing just the regulator.

About the OBD - see the attached screen capture from the multiecuscan.net homepage.
If you have an early version of barchetta with separate 3-pin test plugs for airbag, ECU and ABS (as I do in my ´97 b), then you need to use the same unmodified pinout for all plugs. So if you get into the ECU with one setting, then you should get into the ABS and airbag with the same setting (KKL engine in this case).
Since you got into the ECU, I assume you use the 3-pin adaptor, and have the crocodile plugs attached to + and - of the car or straight to the battery? (I use a cigarette plug with crocodile plugs to make working inside the cabin easier).

If you have a single OBD2 connector, only then you should use the dip switch accordingly. I have one of these blue VAGKKL + Fiatecuscan cables, and the numbers in the switch seen to match the pinouts of the emultiecuscan guide, but I never tried to confirm if it works.

One more thing - if you use this kind of USB cable, it is essential to set the COM port latency to minimum to ensure connection.
Connect the cable to your laptop, go to device manager -> select ports and right click for properties. Select advanced properties, set latency to 1ms, save and close. Remember the number of port COM1...COM4 or change it to your preference. When you use your OBD software, make sure you choose the same port when you select your OBD interface.
I use FiatECUscan and with it I've been able to connect to all of my units with the blue VAGKKL cable, but only with the minimum latency setting.

And about checking the alternator - there's a basic test you can do with a cheap multimeter and that is to measure the battery voltage when the engine is running. It should be some 13.8-14.2V. If the voltage is lower than that on idle, try revving the engine slightly (to 2000rpm) to see it helps. You can do this by hand from the accelerator cable linkage.
If it's higher, like 15V there's possibly a problem with the voltage regulator.
If it's lower, some 12-13V then the alternator is propably not charging properly. In this case you should see the charging warning light on.

The problem is, a normal digital multimeter is not quick enough to show you fluctuations in the voltage. If your instrument panel light are changing from bright to dim and back when the car is running, but are stable in brightness if you turn the engine (alternator) off, then there's not many sources for the problem - it's most likely the alternator or it's cables. So check the alternator cable shoes for wear and tear if you have the change.
If you want to be sure it's the alternator, you can always disconnect the alternator + cable, and run the engine and see if you see the same problems. With a full battery, without any devices or lights on the ECU (engine) should run for quite a while.
I once broke my aux belt, lost my alternator and was still able to run some 150km with all my lights and devices turned off without problems

Ikka thanks again,
I have the same obd equipment except I used a seperate 12vbattery for the power and was successful with the ecu connection but unnsuccessful with the abs and airbag plug even on the same setting on the VAGKKL. I also tried the two different Barchetta models on the FiatECUscan i.e. Basic and climate control model, no sucess there. Latency and com ports all good, I used com port 4.
The alternator change sounds a good pointer. Question, if while the motor is running, i assume the voltage at the battery will be approx 14v with a rpm of about 1500rpm, if I turn the lights on for load do you think this would show any failings in the alternater by unstable voltage or would the battery act as a stabilizer? I have a digital voltage meter. Phew that was a bit wordy but just searching for a testing strategy.
Steve

Oops sorry you beat me to answering my question before I asked it:worship:
Steve

How easy is it to get the cable off the alternater?

Yes, the battery won't completely stabilize the voltage fluctuation as the battery voltage is lower than the alternator voltage, so it just prevents the voltage from dropping below it's internal voltage.
This is the case, if alternator is giving high voltage due to broken regulator.
If the alternator is giving low voltage (low amps) and the battery is old you may see the fluctuation median closer to the battery voltage or even below, but should also see the charging warning light.

Not sure but usually the cables are just connected with a screw so they should be easy to remove, assuming you can reach the screw. The alternator is a bit of a pain to remove, but is possible to wiggle out by looking the engine mounts and slightly moving the engine.

Also, try reading the codes with supply from the car battery. Just get some extra long cables and see if it makes any difference, it may be that the - needs to be in the car's - (frame) for some reason.

Cheers, i liked the post, my fat finger registered on the dislike button not the like, its one of the irritating things with my ipad, it seems to make its choices not what I want.
I will give your suggestion a go as well, I am leaning towards the alternater being the problem. I have looked at the different alternaters available and they are not too expensive but I think I will have to remove the existing one before I order a replacement to ensure I get the correct one, my engine in the car is reconditioned replacement of the same series so can't go on the registration to be certain.
For testing the alternater, is it easy to get to the wiring connection with the alternater in position, has anyone done this?
Thanks for all the help so far, thank goodness I have a daily car for use.
Steve

Hi ikka, I have finally found time to put my digital meter on the battery terminals while the engine is runing. At tickover i get 15v fluctuating 16+. When I hold the revs higher the votage goes up to 18.6V and fluctuating down and up. i assume this means its the regulator part of the altenator that is failing.
I have not been able to jack the car up to get to the alternator and its connections but that will be my next move, need to get some axle stands.
I am willing to attempt a removal of the alternator and replacement. Any advice on where to support the front of the car with the axle jacks? The rear no problem as I have two ramps.
Thanks again,
Steve

Steve good luck with that Alternator, haven't had the pleasure of removing this item but I'm sure it will have it's difficulties.
When I removed my steering rack I put axle stands under the lower wishbone inner bearing area, but also used blocks of wood under the main chassis rails just to be safe, (the blocks of wood were 4" x 4" x 4" 4 off I had to do some pulling and shoving about getting the rack off so wanted to be sure it didn't fall of the stands)
I couldn't use my car ramps cos both front wheel had to be removed, i f I was you I woud raise the car on the ramps, more room to manoeuvre around I was forever banging my self against the axle stands.