Alfa Romeo 147

marianneh79

Hi just looking for a little help.

I have a 2001 alfa romeo 147. 83000mls. Nct is just up on it and i have it booked in 1st week in august. just spent about 500 quid to do a few jobs on it. And car is driving great. I brought it to an alfa dealer today just for the nct pre check to make sure everything electrical is ok on it and to fix my back break lights and got bad news . The break lights wont work because my body computer is on the way out..Now he said i can try and connect the back break lights up to the front ones to get them working and i may pass the nct. otherwise gonna cost me about 600 quid for a new body computer. oh and i need a new battery aswell about a 100 quid.He says the engine is perfect and everything else iis perfect on the car. i was gonna sell the car once it passed the nct thats why i put the few quid into it. Now i feel like just scrapping the car.. i just dunno what to do.. i really do not want to spend all that money on it to pass nct.cause i know i wont get it back on selling it and of course i just wouldnt sell it with this problem.. any ideas what my best options are

cjt156

I'd avoid the dealer and take it to a good auto electrician. Main dealer will often throw expensive parts at a problem that could be fixed cheaply.

Nonoperational

What about buying this and getting someone to fit it?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alfa-Romeo-147-Body-Computer-/380353818928?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item588edab130

Otherwise you could sell it and tell potential buyers about the problem. Not worth much though...

marianneh79

I did ask about buying a second hand one and he told me that i would have to get a new one . Something to do with the engine.. I dont fully understand and thing is i dont have anyone to back up any information for me. He did say though i could get someone to connect back breaks to front ones and it might pass nct . Just as along as they work is the thing. But now im afraid that this body computer is just gonna cause me problems anyway

Nonoperational

That ebay one is new. Still a nice bit of money to be putting into it.

Gophur

marianneh79 wrote: »

..........The break lights wont work because my body computer is on the way out..Now he said i can try and connect the back break lights up to the front ones to get them working and i may pass the nct. ...........

No. 1, it's BRAKE lights, not break lights

No. 2 Whoever told you about "front brake lights" is pulling your leg. Where, on the front of a car, are there brake lights?

You need to get someone who knows about cars to look at your vehicle, because, based on your post, you brought it to a bunch of clowns.

GavMan

Give Gerry Campbell in TI Auto's a shout. There isn't a better Alfa indy in Dublin. He may be able to help you our or point you in the right direction if he can't

marianneh79

gpf101. The ebay one is not bad price but as it says on the ad "You Will Need Special Computer to Install This Computer to Your 147".
I would have to wonder how much this would cost on top

gophur . i never mentioned front "brake lights". I would presume everyone would take it for granted i was taking about connecting them to the front lights. Thanks for your helpful reply though.

Gavman. thanks also its just im in waterford and even to take it all the way to dublin is another 50 quid or more.. Its all these little costs that are starting to add up for me.

Nonoperational

Your correct. If you don't get a body computer specific to your car chassis number from a dealer it needs a lot of other parts to be replaced too or the car won't start. Is it the sweep garage in Waterford you went to?

This thread covers a bit about it: http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt/217157-147-body-computer-failure.html

marianneh79

gpf101. Yeah the sweep is where i went. And what you just said in your post was exactly what he explained to me today. From not knowing too much about cars i wasnt able to relay exactly what he said. Thank you. At least i know they werent trying to catch me out anyhow.

Nonoperational

You don't seem to have too many options then unfortunately. It is possible to buy the computer second hand along with the ECU and other bits and pieces and swap them all over but I don't know how easy it would be to find 1)the parts and 2)someone who would do it. And your still left with a second hand body computer. The Sweep have a good reputation so they are unlikely to be shafting you. Bad luck.

Gophur

marianneh79 wrote: »

.........

gophur . i never mentioned front "brake lights". I would presume everyone would take it for granted i was taking about connecting them to the front lights. .........

Why would you connect brake lights to any of the front lights?

marianneh79

gpf101. yep bad luck is right. Thanks for the help though

Gophur. my original post was a relay of information i got from the garage today. "Why would you connect brake lights to any of the front lights" .He told me i could possible get through the nct if i get the brake lights wired into the front lights. This is why im on the forum, to try and get a little information from people in the know.

Nonoperational

I'm not good on electronics but maybe they were proposing wiring the brake lights onto some switch operated by the brake pedal or something like that. They're supposed to be good guys.

Gophur

marianneh79 wrote: »

gpf101. yep bad luck is right. Thanks for the help though

Gophur. my original post was a relay of information i got from the garage today. "Why would you connect brake lights to any of the front lights" .He told me i could possible get through the nct if i get the brake lights wired into the front lights. This is why im on the forum, to try and get a little information from people in the know.

I'm not having a go at you, just telling you you were told some tall tale.

Aggers

Am i missing something? Why dont you wire the other brake light to the broken one? thats what i did.

marianneh79

gophur i would agree normally that he was telling a tall tale but he wasnt even offering to do this wiring job. He knows i have a mechanic in wexford who did all the small jobs to the car already. The reason i went to the sweep was because my own mechanic couldnt get the brake lights working and told me i prob needed to go to dealer because to get them working something needed to be set up on the computer. So the thing is i went to the sweep today just to get brake lights fixed and came out with more problems than i went in with. My own mechanic doesnt know much about the alfa computer but the guy in sweep said he would have no problem wiring the lights as it would be a manual job. So i tend to believe him because he wouldnt be paid for doing this job.. As gpf101 said they do have a good reputation its not the first time ive dealt with them. I guess what im afraid of is doing the last few jobs on car, passing the nct (hopefully) and then the body computer goes completely the week after.

marianneh79

Aggers .. Typically both of them are not working.

Veloce

Gophur wrote: »

I'm not having a go at you, just telling you you were told some tall tale.

In fairness Gophur you were quite condescending in your first post- going from being a grammer teacher to an auto-electrician. I don't think your posts are any bit helpful to the OP.

OP- The guys in the Sweep in Waterford do a good job I have heard a lot of good things about them. You could just give Gerry Campbell in Ti Autos a call and see what he says about your issue. Alternatively you could stick up a post on Alfaowner.com in the 147 technical section- here is the link http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt/ people there are usually quite quick in getting responses up.

marianneh79

Veloce. Thanks a mill for your help . I will try that forum and i will get my my mechanic to give gerry campbell a call. At least they will speak the same car language