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False Turn Signal & Brake Lite Failure Warnings

12K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  goblue 
#1 ·
After filling my stelvio ti lusso 2.0 yesterday (93 Octane). The dash went off like a christmas tree and I received was Two warning lites:

1. Left Turn Signal Failure and 2 Brake Signal Failure

I turned the car off and back on.

Parked the vehicle and checked the turn signals. Right side worked perfect. Left side was blinking rapidly in the dash indicator and all 3 (front, rear, mirror indicators) on the left were blinking rapidly.

Returned to the office and spent an hour or so on the phone with Alfa Care (spoke with an extremely professional young lady - Gabby)

Went to the club after work and the failure indicators returned and remained lit. Played 18, had dinner —- and then to my surprise the failure lights did not come on upon my drive home.

I have no idea what happened. In retrospect, the fuel station I was at sits directly next to a police station and I am wondering if RFI (radio frequency interference) is a potential cause????? Otherwise, I am stumped.

From these forums it appears others are experiencing similar intermittent occurrences..... (I hope Alfa is monitoring this forum - last 7 of my VIN are: JC28321).

To quote Pink Floyd: Hello?, Hello?, Hello? - Is anybody in there? .....

Assuming you are comfortably numb
 
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#2 ·
On GM vehicles, a rapid blink usually means that one of the bulbs is out.
I had an acadia that this would happen to frequently, and it was a loose connection
on the bulb. Even if the turn signal looks good, it could be the parking light.

(the bulb has two filaments).



Solution: remove tail assembly, reseat bulb, put back together. I got good at it.



Take it into the garage, turn on parking lights and check intensity of all. THen check

intensity of turn indicators. I suspect you'll find one that is dead or dimmer.
 
#4 ·
Ok..but a bulb-is-a-bulb, and a bad connection is a bad connection.

I was just stating that in my experience a fast blink was a bad connection
or possibly a burnt out bulb. I dont know if the same electronics/circuitry are

involved with LED bulbs, but I would take 10 minutes to wiggle some connections
before blowing half a day by making an appointment with the dealer.


Then again, I'm an electrical engineer and I get off on this kind of stuff. :smile:smile:smile
 
#5 ·
I had the same issue as the OP, all turn signals were working, only dash indication that something is wrong and the rapid blinking. It resolved by itself after 3 engine startups. I've checked and there seems to be a recall for that, at least in EU. Attaching the document.
 

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#6 ·
Same thing happened to me today, I fill up and I get that warning, but when I checked the right side was normal but the left rear has 2 sets of bulbs for the turn signal one on top on on bottom and low and behold the bottom is not working. So its probably a bulb. You have to look carefully
 
#8 ·
what happened was weird, next time i got in the Stelvio and started it up all warnings went away just like Ducamj. This is why I will not buy this after the lease is up, the system, infotainment, and warning ICU is a POS, it can just act up at any moment, and if you are out of warranty you are basically stuck.
 
#9 ·
responding to this old thread...which may or may not get read....

I experienced my first bona-fide electrical gremlin.

On thursday started up the alfa and got a series of warnings: left brake light failure. left turn signal failure ANd FCA failure/disabled (sorry, can't remember exact verbage). So...got home, did some tesing, and sure enough, the left brake light and turn signal were out.

On friday was going out of town for the weekend, using another vehicle, so I put the battery tender on. returned on Sunday, started the alfa and got the same error. Tested again: left turn (fast blinker, no light), right was working, left (fast blinker), right, left again, right, then left...and it was working!

stopped the alfa. restarted. and the FCA disabled error was gone.

Go figure...
 
#11 ·
I can always count on you alfaoffroad...

No I'm not. My 2018 sat on the lot for a year..purchased it in July '19, and I was pleasantly surprised
(after reading this forum, and then checking the battery) that some kind soul at the dealer gave me a
new Mopar battery (If I recall, I think it was date-stamped for earlier in 2019).

I'll double check again, but I think the battery is prolly 2.5 years old by now....certainly not more than 3YO.

But yeah, I'm well aware that a lot of the electronic gremlins are related to the battery.

Also, aware that driving habits affect the "intelligent" charging. Madison (wi) is switching a lot
of roads to 25MPH, and they are cracking down A LOT...so I'm driving like an old lady the last
couple of months....
 
#13 ·
If it's 2 1/2 years old get it checked no matter what. Could be getting low. Again.

Yes, the battery should be fine but might not be. The number of random electrical things that can happen seems limitless.

I know my battery is weak now, but am not changing it see what all happens. Today while listening to the radio, the car connected to my phone for music instead (by itself), which began playing but only out of the tweeters. Again, radio was selected in the infotainment. Restart the car cleared it, immediate test the battery's voltage, it's slightly low. I've had my blinkers not work (blink fast), random warning lights, notifications the auto headlights can't work, backup sensors going off in forward gears, inability to connect the phone (it hangs), the touch to unlock function not work, button on handle to lock doors not work..some other stuff. None repeats regularly and everything always goes away after starting the car, shutting it down, waiting 4-5 minutes and restarting. Rebooting the car in other words.

Possibly something else, but...IMO anything weird, unless the battery is a year old or newer, check that first.

Also, for the charging system...you can drive less like a grandma, just make sure you do plenty of coasting. When you allow the car to engine brake it charges the system like a Tesla.
 
#14 ·
Do you run a tender routinely?? Chronic low voltage is PE#!
 
#15 ·
Thanks for all the replies...the battery is a bb0h8800ac, with a 5/19 sticker ( so I was right, they installed it a few months before I purchased).

Discussion here: Mopar replacement battery indicating that this is prolly not an AGM battery.

So..to answer some of the questions:

ViscontiVerde: I would say I run the tender "occasionally". ALWAYS when I'm out of town and leave the vehicle, sometimes when I "remember" or think "gosh, it's been a while. "

Alfaoffroad: thanks for the "coasting" trick..I"ll try that.

Dumb question: What kind of battery test? I have a battery voltmeter that goes into the cigarette lighter, or are you talking about take it to a shop and have them run a load test? Do you think its worth taking to the dealer (75 miles away)?


I disable start/stop 100% of the time (ok, I occaisionally forget, but then I just hit the button).

Thanks all!
 
#16 ·
Voltmeter in the cigarette lighter is good measuring stick. Not the most accurate but it works to give you the ballpark. (The voltage at the power points/lighter isn't exactly the same as it is to everything else necessarily, variables)

If that shows low I'de get it tested under load professionally to verify. If it shows good look at something else.
 
#17 ·
Just wanted to update everyone...

so about a week after getting the false brake light/turn signal error, I got another error that the start/stop feature was disabled (along with check engine light). So...put the tender on overnight, and problem went away.

I did notice that the CTEK tender only lit up 3 LEDs....which I found "curious".

Then, this past weekend, went to visit an out of town friend and the next morning the battery was completely DEAD. Just enough juice to unlock the door, but not enough to lift the tailgate. My friend had a battery charger so used that, and after 3-4 hrs, the car started.

Back home, I put it on the tender and still, only 3 lights. just seems like something is wrong....
Take it to an interstate store convinced I'm going to just get a new battery. The manager there does several tests
(including a CCA load test) and tells me the battery is fine. So...back at home, I put a real charger on the battery, it
draws 4A and after 3-4 hrs, it's down to 0A.

And just for fun, I put the tender on and it cycles through all 8 LED's like a normal charging/tender session.

I will admit to this...I'm not 100% sure I had the tender on the right mode...I may have had it on the motorcycle setting, which may explain why it never got above step 3, and may explain my weeks of gremlins. Hopefully I have
it fully topped off and all the gremlins are gone. I'll pay closer attention to the tender from now on.
 
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