Alfa 166 Flat Battery dilemma

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declanka - 30 Oct 2004 16:11 GMT

I have a 2.5 V6, has been sitting in driveway for a few weeks as it is for
sale. Alarm has drained battery totally and therefore boot solenoid will
not activate. Well the battery is in the boot so how do you get to it if
the boot does not open. First time I poked at the mechanism through the
back seat and with someone out side putting pressure on the lid it opened,
this time that will not work. Anyone got any tricks to get the boot open
without forcing or damaging the lock. The owners manual is FA use and its
certainly a weird design. Thanks

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Alfistagj - 30 Oct 2004 17:16 GMT

As far as I know you can slide the Alfa logo aside and open it with the key!

Signature

Ciao from Holland
AlfistaGJ (Gert-Jan)
Alfa red 156 SW 1.8 Madeno tuned (2000) (soon: GT 2.0JTS)
Golden Montreal 1428700 (1973/4)

>I have a 2.5 V6, has been sitting in driveway for a few weeks as it is for
> sale. Alarm has drained battery totally and therefore boot solenoid will
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> without forcing or damaging the lock. The owners manual is FA use and its
> certainly a weird design. Thanks

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F Kaiser - 31 Oct 2004 22:24 GMT

> I have a 2.5 V6, has been sitting in driveway for a few weeks as it is for
> sale. Alarm has drained battery totally and therefore boot solenoid will
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> without forcing or damaging the lock. The owners manual is FA use and its
> certainly a weird design. Thanks

Same thing happened to me. I phoned a couple of Alfa dealers and there
are two ways to open the boot.

Method 1
========

Push down on the boot, and turn the key gently. Don't force the key,
and it may take a couple of attempts to open the boot. This worked for
me.

Method 2
========

There is a lead running from the battery (in the boot) to the engine
compartment. You can connect a battery to this lead and provide power
to activate the electric circuit.

To find the lead, open the bonnet and lean over the engine. Look for a
black plastic casing attached behind the engine to the frame of the
car. I have a right-hand drive, and the casing is on the passenger
side, somewhere close to the brake fluid unit. If you open the casing,
there is a thick red wire that connects to the battery at the other
end, and a black wire too. The mechanic advised me that you can
essentially perform a jump start by connecting a power source to the
positive lead and a suitable earthing point. He did say to be careful
and I never tried this myself.

It is a weird design, one of several quirks with the 166, but the car
is wonderful to drive.

Regards,
Faez

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Tom Boltwood - 01 Nov 2004 11:35 GMT

> From: "declanka" <declanka@hotmail.com>
> Organization: www.talkaboutautos.com
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> without forcing or damaging the lock. The owners manual is FA use and its
> certainly a weird design. Thanks

If it's anything like my 164, which most alfas are, twist the badge on the
boot and put your key in the hole.

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