Technical Stilo Multijet 150 Charging

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Technical Stilo Multijet 150 Charging

pycoed

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May 10, 2005
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Location
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HI,

I have a bit of a problem with the wife's Stilo 150Multijet. 2007 & only 75000 miles - we've had it since 2010 & it's been great - couple of rear discs & an exhaust hanger or two & every MOT a pass. No Check Engine lights since a mouse chewed a temp sensor connector a few years back,set of glowplugs & I did the cambelt for the second time last October.

Anyway... couple of nights ago the Charge warning lamp came on & power steering was lost. Sure enough, there was only 11.8v showing across the battery with the engine running. Disconnected & put the battery on charge overnight. Following morning the same – alternator not charging.

I looked through the threads on the forum https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/alternator-charging-light.488929/
&
https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/alterator-escape-route.462792/#post-4359663
& did some further checks:-

Battery terminals are clean, battery is a Varta new 14 months ago.

Car starts fine, then shows Charge Warning light after say 20 seconds running, or if you switch on a load (headlights e.g.) Power steering is then not working.
Voltage only 11.9-12 at battery engine running.
All fuses fine & all fusebox terminals like new.
Ditto all terminals on the infamous D4 connector which is clean & dry.
I’ve put a smear of contact grease on all connections in fusebox.
D4 terminal to alternator wire (the excitation connection) is fine, but cleaned ends anyway.
Alternator terminals are like new (amazing after 15 years & lots of puddles up our lane).

Before I replace the alternator (not a job I am looking forward to), the only untoward thing I have found is that the excitation wire on the alternator is at only 9.5v with ignition on. Opening the D4 connector yet again I found that the upstream feed is only showing 9.5v too, so the connector is passing all the voltage it receives to the alternator.

I have the following queries:-

Is this sufficient to excite the alternator or should it be 12v?
Does this feed ( a very thin blue wire) come from the body computer terminal 19 as stated in one of the posts?
Where is the body computer in that case?
If I go back to the “good old days” & remove the exciter wire & apply 12v to the alternator to see if it then starts charging, am I likely to cook something?

It’s a b*gger when the thing is so inaccessible you can’t just remove it from the car to test, with no risk to anything else...
 
Think the big giveaway is the power steering stops working with the alternator not working. I remember the power steering being power-hungry hence why it stops working.
And it was a total pig of a job on my first Multiwagon, I know this isn't much help to your questions but I would say your alternator is knackered.

Driveshaft definitely has to come out as well as I did try to get it out without removing it but to no avail.
 
Think the big giveaway is the power steering stops working with the alternator not working. I remember the power steering being power-hungry hence why it stops working.
And it was a total pig of a job on my first Multiwagon, I know this isn't much help to your questions but I would say your alternator is knackered.

Driveshaft definitely has to come out as well as I did try to get it out without removing it but to no avail.
Yeah it looked that way from the start, but it's such an awkward looking job, I thought I'd try & exhaust all other options first! I'm old, it's cold & the garage is full of other more interesting projects at the moment so this may be the first job I'll get a garage to do since about 1968!!* I'll give my MOT centre/garage a buzz in the morning & see what they say.

*Second thoughts - I had a Golf GTI gearbox changed by a garage back in 1990 when I'd just had a serious neck op.
 
Think the big giveaway is the power steering stops working with the alternator not working. I remember the power steering being power-hungry hence why it stops working.
And it was a total pig of a job on my first Multiwagon, I know this isn't much help to your questions but I would say your alternator is knackered.

Driveshaft definitely has to come out as well as I did try to get it out without removing it but to no avail.
Working springers? (have cockers myself)
 
The alternator isn't too severe, but you'll probably have to remove the o/side driveshaft to get the beast out. I once changed a starter motor (Renoort) without removing the driveshaft but it was a complete PITA and it would have taken half the time, even with more dismantling involved.

There's one bolt from memory that is tricky to get a socket onto, since you can't see it, and the bulkhead, exhaust or some assorted brackets makes it impossible to turn a ratchet.. so I ended up cracking it with the ratchet but then putting a spanner on it, 5-degrees at a time. If you have various 15mm spanners available you might find one with a good head shape/angle/jaw layout that fits better than the others.

Change the whole alternator rather than trying to fix any duff components (rectifier/regulator etc). The components are about 1/3 the price of the alternator... but the faffing about is the bigger nuisance than a few extra quid... and you'll also know the rest of it is new, so shouldn't suddenly fail a few weeks later, potentially.


Ralf S.
 
The alternator isn't too severe, but you'll probably have to remove the o/side driveshaft to get the beast out. I once changed a starter motor (Renoort) without removing the driveshaft but it was a complete PITA and it would have taken half the time, even with more dismantling involved.

There's one bolt from memory that is tricky to get a socket onto, since you can't see it, and the bulkhead, exhaust or some assorted brackets makes it impossible to turn a ratchet.. so I ended up cracking it with the ratchet but then putting a spanner on it, 5-degrees at a time. If you have various 15mm spanners available you might find one with a good head shape/angle/jaw layout that fits better than the others.

Change the whole alternator rather than trying to fix any duff components (rectifier/regulator etc). The components are about 1/3 the price of the alternator... but the faffing about is the bigger nuisance than a few extra quid... and you'll also know the rest of it is new, so shouldn't suddenly fail a few weeks later, potentially.


Ralf S.
Cheers for that, but for a number of reasons I've decided to "outsource":
1. I have a couple of loader buckets I am modifying in the garage along with other tractor stuff at the
mo, so I am pushed for space.
2. I'm old.
3. Its the last couple of weeks of the shooting season, so I don't want to waste an invite or two 'cos I have to be in the garage. (Hope the wife doesn't see this!)
4. My MOT garage have quoted £311 to do the job next week - a price I am happy with, given 1,2 &3 above.
 
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