Battery Change on Alfa Giulia my experience
Discussion
I’ve been putting it off for a while but with the recent cold snap bit the bullet and changed the battery on my 2017 Speciale.
Tools wise it required a 10mm socket on a 1/4 drive, a spanner will do but small socket set is better. Also a posidrive bit or shortish screwdriver. Oh and a full pack of swear words.
I bought my battery from Halfords, which was local and with trade card decent value. When I picked it up the Sales Assistant gave a grave warning about ‘having to get the battery coded’ for another £27, but I’ll get onto that…
As they say fitting is the reverse of removal, but a lot more bloody awkward.
After taking the off side cover off in boot, the first thing is to loosen the -ve terminal (10mm socket) and pop it off, what I did at this point is to take the terminal cover off the new battery and put it on the one in situ just in case…
Next pull out the drain from the battery which is on that same side.
There is a small loom that bridges the two terminals which I disconnected on the -ve side, this will help keep stuff out of the way when removing the lump.
After this it was the turn of the +ve side, pop the cover off then there are two screws that need undoing. They go through a piece of red plastic which acts a bit like rawl plugs securing the assembly to the battery in addition to the terminal clamp. The clamp is a quick release type that just needs flipping open. The whole lot can then be lifted off the battery. The cables can be a bit fighty but if you stuff them up behind the trim they stay out of the way for a bit. You can do the same with the cap on the positive side for a bit of protection.
Next undo the securing strap in the middle and loosen off the clamp at the -ve side with the 10mm socket. The +ve side is fixed so you just need to wiggle the battery and it will come out from under the fixed end. The battery can then be lifted out, it’s quite a lump especially in the position it’s in.
Before fitting the new one I put the supplied covers back on and should have slacked off the clamp as much as it would go..it would have saved a lot of lifting in and out..
Watch out for the battery drain pipe trying to dive under the battery and also the cables getting in the b
d way. Getting the battery under the fixed clamp was a bit fiddly, mainly because I hadn’t slackened off the other side enough.
So once it was clamped up the strap goes back over and drain plugged back in.
Positive assembly put back on, screws refitted and clamp flicked shut.
Reconnect the loom to the -ve clamp and refit to the terminal.
Now comes the interesting bit…when you go to start the car all it’s alarms and warnings will be up. I tried the steering lock to lock thing which is meant to clear faults but it didn’t seem to work. After about 4 restarts all except the EML had cleared.
I was on the verge of buying a basic ODB reader to clear this but a couple of starts later, this had gone too. Just need to remember to let the garage know next time it’s serviced to clear the memory.
So much for the battery ‘needing coding’
That was it really, and now the stop start system has started working, which it hasn’t done for a couple of years.
Oh and the time reset itself after about 10 mins, trip A &B zeroed though.
Tools wise it required a 10mm socket on a 1/4 drive, a spanner will do but small socket set is better. Also a posidrive bit or shortish screwdriver. Oh and a full pack of swear words.
I bought my battery from Halfords, which was local and with trade card decent value. When I picked it up the Sales Assistant gave a grave warning about ‘having to get the battery coded’ for another £27, but I’ll get onto that…
As they say fitting is the reverse of removal, but a lot more bloody awkward.
After taking the off side cover off in boot, the first thing is to loosen the -ve terminal (10mm socket) and pop it off, what I did at this point is to take the terminal cover off the new battery and put it on the one in situ just in case…
Next pull out the drain from the battery which is on that same side.
There is a small loom that bridges the two terminals which I disconnected on the -ve side, this will help keep stuff out of the way when removing the lump.
After this it was the turn of the +ve side, pop the cover off then there are two screws that need undoing. They go through a piece of red plastic which acts a bit like rawl plugs securing the assembly to the battery in addition to the terminal clamp. The clamp is a quick release type that just needs flipping open. The whole lot can then be lifted off the battery. The cables can be a bit fighty but if you stuff them up behind the trim they stay out of the way for a bit. You can do the same with the cap on the positive side for a bit of protection.
Next undo the securing strap in the middle and loosen off the clamp at the -ve side with the 10mm socket. The +ve side is fixed so you just need to wiggle the battery and it will come out from under the fixed end. The battery can then be lifted out, it’s quite a lump especially in the position it’s in.
Before fitting the new one I put the supplied covers back on and should have slacked off the clamp as much as it would go..it would have saved a lot of lifting in and out..
Watch out for the battery drain pipe trying to dive under the battery and also the cables getting in the b
d way. Getting the battery under the fixed clamp was a bit fiddly, mainly because I hadn’t slackened off the other side enough.So once it was clamped up the strap goes back over and drain plugged back in.
Positive assembly put back on, screws refitted and clamp flicked shut.
Reconnect the loom to the -ve clamp and refit to the terminal.
Now comes the interesting bit…when you go to start the car all it’s alarms and warnings will be up. I tried the steering lock to lock thing which is meant to clear faults but it didn’t seem to work. After about 4 restarts all except the EML had cleared.
I was on the verge of buying a basic ODB reader to clear this but a couple of starts later, this had gone too. Just need to remember to let the garage know next time it’s serviced to clear the memory.
So much for the battery ‘needing coding’
That was it really, and now the stop start system has started working, which it hasn’t done for a couple of years.
Oh and the time reset itself after about 10 mins, trip A &B zeroed though.
Edited by r159 on Sunday 18th December 17:50
TonyRPH said:
I believe that it's not the battery that needs coding, but the charging system needs to know a new battery has been installed, in order to adjust the charge rate accordingly.
Correct, you don’t need to code the battery for it to start, but you do need to code it so it charges correctly.stevemcs said:
TonyRPH said:
I believe that it's not the battery that needs coding, but the charging system needs to know a new battery has been installed, in order to adjust the charge rate accordingly.
Correct, you don’t need to code the battery for it to start, but you do need to code it so it charges correctly.Forums | Alfa Romeo, Fiat & Lancia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff