Hi,

I recently bought a 07 plate Grande Punto 1.4 Sporting. This was fine until a while back and there was heavy rain.

About 2 days after I started it up, it overrevved (to about 2000/just over), and suddenly the battery light comes on and the steering is heavy, battery isn't charging. We took it into a garage and they replaced the alternator.

It was fine again for a while, then again after some rain this happened again, although after restarting 3 times or so it went away, and then yesterday the same happened again. However, when we go to start it today when it has been raining all day, and harder than yesterday, it doesn't do it.

That being said, does anyone have any ideas as to what would cause this problem? It's obviously associated with rain. My dad and I think it's to do with the water from the drain pipe dripping down onto the alternator, but it seems odd given how inconsistent it is.

Sorry this thread might not be the best of descriptions but I've tried to explain it properly, if you'd like more information then I'll try and help you out further.

Hopefully someone has some ideas

Thanks!

Very very well known fault, your dad is bang on. It was the subject of a recall and there are loads of threads on here about it if you use the search function.

jameshobiecat said:

Very very well known fault, your dad is bang on. It was the subject of a recall and there are loads of threads on here about it if you use the search function.

Click to expand...

Ah okay! This is gonna sound stupid, the search function doesn't seem to be doing anything for me:L top left bar I'm assuming it is? What shall I search for? everything I try it just refreshes the current forum.

Edit: got the search to work but couldn't find any thing on it really, was more mainly to do with the belt freezing.. Very cheeky but don't suppose you would be able to find one haha:S? Sorry for the hassle!

The water drains into the alternator and then freezes killing it but presumably even if it doesn't freez it can cause problems. Either way the £6 drain pipe is the answer. https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/257193-frozen-alternator-leading-snapped-belt.html is the main thread on it