Hi,
Had an interesting problem this morning, my Grande Punto 1.2 had not been used for a few days, started OK, but soon clouds of smoke from the engine bay and into the car. Stopped it and found the Alternator belt burnt out and broken, bits of black stuff everywhere. Further investigation found the alternator siezed solid. I Put the car in the garage and got a lift to work, later this afternoon I found the alternator completely free but quite wet. My assumption is that it must have froze, the drain outlet from area under the wipers does appear to allow water to drip directly above the alternator.
Anyone had this problem? Is there a fix? Other than keeping the car in the garage overnight when its frostly.

Spray the moving parts with lubricant/water repellent? Doing mine every week in this weather; a silicone spray is good for the belts as it wont breakdown the rubber like some more aggressive ones can.

tip: don't get it everywhere (fire?)

Punto Malc said:

Hi,
Had an interesting problem this morning, my Grande Punto 1.2 had not been used for a few days, started OK, but soon clouds of smoke from the engine bay and into the car. Stopped it and found the Alternator belt burnt out and broken, bits of black stuff everywhere. Further investigation found the alternator siezed solid. I Put the car in the garage and got a lift to work, later this afternoon I found the alternator completely free but quite wet. My assumption is that it must have froze, the drain outlet from area under the wipers does appear to allow water to drip directly above the alternator.
Anyone had this problem? Is there a fix? Other than keeping the car in the garage overnight when its frostly.

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Oh yes indeedy, exactly the same happened to me just yesterday on a six months old t-jet, the most annoying part about it is that my fiat dealership have nt got any fan beltsand will have to wait for one to come from italy, what a joke a main fiat dealership and they havent got means to supply a fan belt without having one shipped half way round europe

nevstrange said:

Oh yes indeedy, exactly the same happened to me just yesterday on a six months old t-jet, the most annoying part about it is that my fiat dealership have nt got any fan beltsand will have to wait for one to come from italy, what a joke a main fiat dealership and they havent got means to supply a fan belt without having one shipped half way round europe

Click to expand...

can you not just get one from a motorfactors?

The car is still under warranty mate so genuine parts have to be used, apparently probally the non ome ones are better than fiats

I work at a Fiat dealer, and we've had two of our cars do the same. The first one, I smelt burning, saw smoke and flapped about for a fire extinguisher, came back to it and all the smoke had gone. :chin: Opened the bonnet and it took me a while to clock the drive belt appeared to have farked orf.

Second one, i realised, turned the engine off and it was OK, left it for a few minutes and it was fine.

We've also had a couple of puntos and mitos through the workshop. It appears that it only happens if there's a lot of load on it right from start up, so when you turn it over, make sure you don't have anything switched on, eg blower, ac, rear screen, wipers etc.

Nothing to do with load on the alternator.

Unfortunately due to the cold-snap there's been a run of frozen alternators (and broken belts) and coupled to a lack of parts deliveries around the country, the stocks of aux belts are running a little low in the central warehouses.

Take a look on www.alfaowner.com - this is affecting (quite alot of) petrol MiTo's.

A Fiat & Alfa dealer (Mangoletsi in Cheshire) has posted on one of the threads on AlfaOwner to say its a problem affecting petrol Grande Puntos & MiTo's where (as previously described) the water from the windscreen scuttle drain hose on one side of the car drains onto the alternator, the temp drops, the water freezes & the alternator freezes with it, causing the belt to snap when you try starting the engine.

I believe Alfa have been working on a modification to prevent it happening again, which seems to amount to a different shaped drain hose, to direct the water somewhere other than over the top of the alternator.

Quite why they thought directing water onto the alternator in the first place was a good idea, God knows.

JTD_Liam said:

Take a look on www.alfaowner.com - this is affecting (quite alot of) petrol MiTo's.

A Fiat & Alfa dealer (Mangoletsi in Cheshire) has posted on one of the threads on AlfaOwner to say its a problem affecting petrol Grande Puntos & MiTo's where (as previously described) the water from the windscreen scuttle drain hose on one side of the car drains onto the alternator, the temp drops, the water freezes & the alternator freezes with it, causing the belt to snap when you try starting the engine.

I believe Alfa have been working on a modification to prevent it happening again, which seems to amount to a different shaped drain hose, to direct the water somewhere other than over the top of the alternator.

Quite why they thought directing water onto the alternator in the first place was a good idea, God knows.

Click to expand...

had a look at mine when i washed the car today even with a watering can quantity of water over the winscreen the water still drained between the steering rack and the alternator (06 1.2 active)

still gave it a light coating of silicone oil just incase .

might make it a "hat" from a bit of plastic theres a mounting bolt in the perfect place to secure it

Andy Monty said:

had a look at mine when i washed the car today even with a watering can quantity of water over the winscreen the water still drained between the steering rack and the alternator (06 1.2 active)

still gave it a light coating of silicone oil just incase .

might make it a "hat" from a bit of plastic theres a mounting bolt in the perfect place to secure it

Click to expand...

The GPs that i've read about this happening to are so far
2 x 1.2s,
1 x 1.4 8v and
1 x 1.4 TJet

so yours is potentially on the 'at danger' list & it therefore sounds very wise to make the alternator a little hat, at least for the interim. Someone on the Alfa forum has made a cover for the alternator which he puts on overnight & removes in the morning, with a sign for the passenger seat to remind him to take it off before starting the engine.

There should be some sort of info through to Fiat UK (from Alfa) about this problem and the modification by now id have thought. Only trouble seems to be the replacement drain hose appears to be on backorder (inevitible bearing in mind all the MiTos that have failed) so your fix sounds like a good idea in the mean time as there could be a delay.

This might also explain why GP's experience the weird steering issues at times too?!

When they're replacing the belt ask them to swap the drain hoses and then the water will not go on the alternator. There is nothing on the near side that can be spoiled by this.

dragnil said:

When they're replacing the belt ask them to swap the drain hoses and then the water will not go on the alternator. There is nothing on the near side that can be spoiled by this.

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with the exception of the ABS Modulator


a simple check should prove if you have a problem or not......

Lol, Whoever didn't think to check THAT during development needs the sack!

there is a quick fix to it was in my dealer yesterday and they told me to do the same.....
need a little piece of plastic (thick plastic, not a carry bag) and glue a small piece to the drainage hole and divert it away from the alternator... they've done it and it works

hmm
Took this pic on my phone whilst out in the car earlier today.
Pics a bit fuzzy but it shows the AC unit and alternator being soaked

nevstrange said:

Oh yes indeedy, exactly the same happened to me just yesterday on a six months old t-jet, the most annoying part about it is that my fiat dealership have nt got any fan beltsand will have to wait for one to come from italy, what a joke a main fiat dealership and they havent got means to supply a fan belt without having one shipped half way round europe

Click to expand...

Same problem with me and exactly the same excuse from dealer, belt AND alternator coming from Italy.
So nevstrange, how long did it take for them to get the parts?

its not a excuse, parts are not available...cant magic them out of thin air!

no, but it is just a belt.. i bet even halfords have them in stock! Having a car off the road for X amount of days for it is just silly!

if car is under warranty the genuine parts must be used, if parts are on back order see your parts department as why should you be without your car.

i might have a starjet belt in the shead foc if it helps?