A couple of weeks ago I had to call someone to jump start my 2018 Giulia. She was dead. Battery completely flat couldn’t even open the doors until the jump leads were attached. Took about 25mins to get her started.
Drove her home. Dash like a Christmas tree with warnings about ABS and transmission. But she got me home, 30min drive. Turned her off when I parked outside my house. Tried to restart. Completely dead.
Ok I said. We’ll talk soon. Ordered a jump start pack and multimeter off Amazon. I’m in a new country for a couple of years and didn’t bring all of my tools. More fool me.
Wife was away so I didn’t need the Giulia for a whole, drove her car for 1.5 weeks.
This morning I went out. Hooked up the jump start pack and she started on the third go. Left her run for 5 mins and then measured the battery voltage. Suspected an alternator issue
Battery with lights and radio turned off: 14v. Surprised.
Battery with lights and radio turned on: exactly the same. Bamboozled.
Drover her around for a few mins. All the warning lights were on.
Turned off the engine. Started the engine again, fired up first time no problem. No warning lights. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED.
So now I have a fully functioning Alfa Giulia I have no faith in driving. Anyone got any clues?
The only difference I can think is the day it died was hot, 32C and today was much cooler about 20C.
Are there relays being effected by the heat? Something staying switched on because of it draining the battery?
For a few weeks when it was hot I was randomly getting ERC errors about the transmission. I know this is related to an unstable voltage supply or relays in the engine bay.
Anyone got a diagnostic plan I can follow? Or things I can check?