[kris2002]

My new Stelvio battery died after a day and half in the garage after driving it home from the dealer. I tried a jump start from a small portable and it was not enough to power it up, it tried once and then totally died. Alfa sent a road side assistance and the guy was able to start it but said the alternator could be problem and battery will die again. He says its charging at 12.5-13 and needs at least 14 to sustain. Any ideas? Car will be towed to the dealership on Monday as they needed a flat bed and dealership is closed. The DNA knob would not show any changes, other power steering once, and power trunk would not work (and still does not work), and so does auto stop/start. The electrical things took a while to come back after starting I drive it around for 5-10 miles and still love the drive

 

[skr9]

Sorry to hear you are having issues on a brand new car. I am hoping to take delivery this week, and have been watching this forum for researching overall impressions and issues. I seem to be seeing many threads noting issues with the battery. I did notice when I did my test drive yesterday that the salesperson pointed out they provide a trickle charger as a "free gift" from the dealership Kelly Maserati/Alfa of Danvers, MA) and am wondering if they are doing this because of known battery issues?
Just seemed like an odd 'gift'!

 

[onno]

...they provide a trickle charger as a "free gift" from the dealership Kelly Maserati/Alfa of Danvers, MA) and am wondering if they are doing this because of known battery issues?
Just seemed like an odd 'gift'!

Odd, indeed. Service adviser: "Have you been using your free gift?"

 

[Scalewoodman]

Batteries are a small sampling + specific batch/build date so the odds are on a bad cell in a specific vendor-purchased part. Makes sense a bad cell would fool the charge value. You would be the first alternator if so.

We received a nice Alfa keychain on delivery and the welcome packet, arrived this week, has a nice journal in it.

The trickle charger is rare indeed. Picture please and where the connection is.

 

[1265]

Power recharge and energy recovery strategy

I came back from Sweden today with the battery at 11.7 volts, no way

 

[ALFATECH]

4C has a trickle charger as an option, gotta pay tho.

This sounds like a battery issue to me, again, make sure the are checking the battery state of charge, not testing it with the GR8 tester-that tester cannot accurately test these batteries. Battery state of charge is critical, needs to be above 65%, tech line in my area is aware if this.

 

[1265]

the test is done on the power node into the engine vane, before the IBS and not on battery directly.

the recharge system is a little big drunk, sometime

 

[tipo949]

car to sit

4C has a trickle charger as an option, gotta pay tho.

This sounds like a battery issue to me, again, make sure the are checking the battery state of charge, not testing it with the GR8 tester-that tester cannot accurately test these batteries. Battery state of charge is critical, needs to be above 65%, tech line in my area is aware if this.

Alfa Tech or anyone!
We will be leaving to go out of town for 2 weeks in the future.....what are my chances the battery would be drained enough to cause problems upon my return? Sadly, the use of a trickle charger is out of the question.... now worried :>(

 

[SailDrive]

Alfa Tech or anyone!
We will be leaving to go out of town for 2 weeks in the future.....what are my chances the battery would be drained enough to cause problems upon my return? Sadly, the use of a trickle charger is out of the question.... now worried :>(

if you're really worried, and truly cannot hookup a trickle charger, you could disconnect the battery.

 

[lost1750GTV]

chances are very slim that 2 weeks would be a problem for a GOOD battery.
other(s) on the giulia forum have been away longer without issue.

 

[1265]

No problem at all, 2 weeks is nothing, relax

 

[kris2002]

The dealer said he replaced the battery but no paper work..(not an alternator issue but a battery issue). But sloppy to sell a new car with an almost dead battery maybe it was sitting too long on the lot like many Stelvios. If we are not using the Alfa for 3 weeks or longer the battery could be dead so not bad to have a trickle charger option I guess. Or maybe disconnect.

 

[ALFATECH]

I agree 2 weeks is no big deal for a fully charged battery. The problem we have frequently is the cars will sit on the lot for a month or so, then be started and moved to another parking spot, repeat as needed until car sells. So basically the batteries never get a chance to charge since starting is the biggest drain on the battery, and idling/low rpm driving isn’t nearly enough to charge the battery back up from the starting event.
You should be fine.

 

[DrM.]

My Stelvio just demonstrated the battery issues two days ago. After one night in the garage (heated) many of the warning systems went off and my accelerator went past redline. My dealer found the battery to be around 12volts. Not enough apparently to function properly. They said they can not replace my battery until and unless FCA authorizes it. Suggested I call FCA to complain. Maybe we all need to do this if we want them to correct the issue. I suspect mine will do the same thing once I get it home tomorrow. I am not interested in using a trickle charger every day. That is a headache. Thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[SailDrive]

Once you get the battery to full charge (see @ALFATECH good explanation above for why it wasn't fully charged when you got the car), you probably won't have an issue after that.

SLA batteries can charge up to ~80% SOC (State Of Charge) pretty quickly given a large enough charging source, but their acceptance rate drops off rapidly above 80%, and no amount of charging input will charge them any faster. It takes ~6-7 hours of charging for most SLA batteries to go from 80-100% charge.

If you got your car with the battery at 50% SOC, unless you've done a few 2-3+ hour road trips with it, the battery has never reached full charge since you've had the car.

 

[ALFATECH]

My Stelvio just demonstrated the battery issues two days ago. After one night in the garage (heated) many of the warning systems went off and my accelerator went past redline. My dealer found the battery to be around 12volts. Not enough apparently to function properly. They said they can not replace my battery until and unless FCA authorizes it. Suggested I call FCA to complain. Maybe we all need to do this if we want them to correct the issue. I suspect mine will do the same thing once I get it home tomorrow. I am not interested in using a trickle charger every day. That is a headache. Thoughts? Thanks!!

This is a big issue for us as the tester we need to use per FCA (called the GR8) cannot properly test the batteries, I’ve seen on more than one occasion where I would test a battery with the tester and get a fail, then test at again and get a pass, and vice-versa. Also, it’s a crappy thing to need to test the battery, since most of the time the tester needs to charge the battery for 2 hours before testing it, and if it passes after that we can’t do much more (and we get .2 hrs pay, even though it’s been in our bay for over 2 hours).

 

[dvisintainer]

I have been experiencing a dead battery twice in the past two months. Most recently it was yesterday. The first instance the dealer couldn't find any problems, even after testing the battery that checked out. They replaced the battery. Yesterday the car was completely dead. Roadside assistance came out and was able to get the car started with their portable jumper Not sure what the heck is going on. Only have had the Stelvio TI Sport since last August. Very frustrating

 

[Scalewoodman]

Sorry to see this. Other than the battery, there has to be a parasitic drain if the charging system checks out OK. You seem to have a unique issue. @ALFATECH?

 

[Knightofargh]

There is a software “campaign” for the Stelvio which may be your issue. It introduces a fault in the BCM which may cause the turn signals to come on with the car off. I’d have your dealer apply all recalls and campaigns.

 

[steelgatorb8]

At the dealership right now. Battery was dead when my wife tried to get into it this morning. We’ve had the car for 2.5 days. A bit nervous after reading this thread. Roadside assistance says the battery is bad so we will see what the service department says.