Alfa 147 towbar

[dehne]

Hi there
Has anyone done this to a 3 door hatch, really looking for the wiring side of this is there a socket at the back of the car
Thanks

[bazzbazz]

Just google it, you'll get heaps of info.

Baz

[dehne]

Have looked but can't find anything,

[bazzbazz]

Check in the back of your owners manual, it is written up there how to do it.

Baz

[poohbah]

I'm pretty sure there was a whole thread about fitting towbars to a 147  on this forum a few months back.

[bazzbazz]

Check out these guys, they are in Brisbane, do kits with or without harnesses, are the cheapest I've come across. I am sure they or their website will have a wiring diagram somewhere.

Give them a call, sure they will be able to help you out.

Baz

[johnl]

I've recently fitted a towbar. There was no useful wiring information in my cars' owners' manual. There was no "socket" already fitted, a trailer plug socket needs to be installed and the individual wires spliced into the cars' harness.

When researching this on forums I found some people saying that it was necessary to use relays (or a special box with relays inside it), or else there could / would be problems with the added electrical load (from the trailer bulbs) causing issues with the cars' electrical system. The individual wires (car) are very thin, only intended to run one bulb it seems. If the feed for the trailer tail lights (i.e. 'parking' lights) is taken from the wire on only one side of the car, then an additional three bulbs are running from that one small wire (on the trailer, two tail lights and the number plate light). The same goes for the brake lights, except it's only two additional bulbs. Apparently this can be enough for the car to detect something that it interprets to be a 'fault'.

I also found someone on some forum saying that they had problems when they didn't use relays and were taking the feed for the brake and tail ('parking') lights from only one side of the car. However, when they added a wire that connected the left and right side of the cars' brake and tail light wiring, the problem disappeared.

That is what I did, i.e. splice into the rear tail light ('parking' light) on both sides and connect the added wires together, then connect another wire at this junction leading to the trailer socket. Same for the brake lights. This means that the the tail light wire on each side of the car is only running one and a half additional bulbs (not three), and each brake light wire is only running one additional bulb (not two).

No problems, this works fine on my car. There is no need to do anything like this with the indicator lights, just splice into the wiring at each side of the car, each of the cars' indicator wires only operating one additional bulb. I didn't use any of the cars' earth wires, just earthed the trailer plug to the car chassis.

Regards,
John.

[poohbah]

Dehne, JohnL has already replied, but he was the one who posted this report on fitting a towbar to his 147. 

http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=16301.msg93743#msg93743

And BTW - Merry Christmas All. May all your presents be Milanese.

[bazzbazz]

Sorry, left out the link in my earlier post  . . .DOH!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EURO-TOWBAR-Alfa-Romeo-156-Sedan-Wagon-1999-2006-1600-60kg-/331887179618?hash=item4d46047762

Baz

[dehne]

Hi thanks for the replies, what I was trying to do is fix my indicator issue. The left rear is staying on, all other one work was hoping to cheat and run it from a tow are if there was a plug an play type thing. What I have research it is a body computer problem and I was trying to by pass rather than fix it. Anyone know a way to do that.

Thanks

[bazzbazz]

Ohhh, well if you had said that in the first place this would have been a LOT quicker.

Do you mean the left rear indicator is staying on when the car is just by itself and NOT hooked up to a trailer, or stays on only when hooked up to a trailer?

Baz

[dehne]

 Left rear indicator stays on, all the time even when car is turned off. I have been researching how to fix and they all say body comp, was just trying to think of other ways to fix it

[bazzbazz]

Apart from taking the bulb out - NOPE!

Its caused by a failure in one of the lighting management chips, thus requires the Body comp to be replaced, and this usually requires purchasing from a wreckers a matching set of Body Computer, Engine ECU & immobiliser chip out of the key Dongle from the same car as they are all coded to each other.

Baz

[Craig_m67]

There is a known or common issue (156) where the indicator or brake light stays on (dimly) regardless of ignition. It's related to a failure in the the bulb indicator/warning circuit. This circuit is located on the back of the tacho.. I mean where else would you expect to find it

Replacing the tach with a good one fixes this.

Search (Google) Alfaowner.com, they've covered this to death.

.. or as Bazz says above for the 147... http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-andamp-gt/231242-147-rear-side-light-lit-dimly-ignition-off-body-computer.html

What a pain in the arse, buy a 156

[dehne]

I wasn't hoping someone had already done a by Pass for this, looks like I will track the wire from wire from the rear indicator to around the body comp and change it myself, had to do the same with the tail lights but that was easy just bridging from rhs