Technical Few important questions about Stilo 1.6.

[olicz]

Hello, first of all sorry about my english.
Me and my friend got for a extra-extra-cheap Stilo 1.6 - 2001.It's in pretty rough condition and we decided to work on it and make it decent again and drivable cheap car. I have few questions to ask and i hope you can help me with that.

Car is pretty dirty from previous owner ...literally EVERYWHERE, fuse boxes looks like hell, interior seen better days..but car engine work great, it runs just fine, no "check engine" lights...BUT

1. Under the hood, there is something that caught my eye and that is missing belt between two components i don't know nothing about. Check this pic:

First of all: Car have a brand new battery with steady 12V, so that is not a problem.
2. Electricty spikes ? When i turn the steering wheel rapidly, or open/close electric windows or start the A/C or rear window heating or anything else that eats electricity there are visible problems with voltage..Blinking/unsteady front lights, interior lights...Even engine RPM is collapsing while in neutral.This "electricity spikes" happens even when i drive and shift gears
Is alternator bad ? or should i clean all the connections/fuse boxes...?

3. Clicking noise in power steering. Sometimes there is clicking noise coming from steering wheel. any ideas ?

Thanks a lot in advance
-Oli

 

[mhowse]

looks like you still have the alternator belt there is it fitted round alternator good and tightly,, other if remember is for air con compressor and not effect voltage issues just not have air con,
you say you have steady 12v when engine running you should be looking for approx 14v at battery with multimeter set to dc voltage checking...
After checking voltage when engine running at 14v approx..can move on as much of what you have listed may well be poor voltage when engine running, power steering that is an electric type on stilo is known issue to play up with poor voltage..
If not 14v at battery with engine running then can go from there, checking and cleaning electrical supply from alternator to battery and cleaning up earth points before going strait for faulty alternator as you say all the fuses and electrics are in a mucky dirty state and may help with a little clean to make electric contacts and earth points clean and shiny...check voltage when car is running look for approx 14v and go from there

 

[olicz]

Thanks
Any more ideas anyone ?

 

[zoli]

Hi Olicz,

The picture that you took indeed shows a missing belt from the Air con pump. This means that the air-conditioning pump will not turn because there is nothing turning it. You can easily check is the pump electromagnet clutch engaging simply by asking somebody to turn on the aircon and the other should listen for the distinctive click (clap) sound of the aircon clutch.
It's a longshot at best to guess is the aircon pump and system functional this way. You should take it to a local garage fixing the air cons who can pretty easily fit a new belt and also do a check up of the pump and system pressure as well. It should not take you back more than 40 euros for the fix in the Czech republic.

A huge drop in voltage can mean a few things. As it was explained it can be dirty coupling points, a dry and old alternator, a problem with the engine itself. The easiest is to first go about and check the major contact points, take them apart and clean them. It does take some elbow grease but it can be done by your self.
The alternator can be refurbished by a local garage if needed, it should also cost around 40 perhaps 50 euros.

This is what I can come up with as suggestions keep fiddling with the car and let us know how else we might be of help.

Cheers,
Zoli

 

[olicz]

Thanks Zoli for a great info.

First I am going to clean this car from ground up. Then I am going to post more info.