Hi Guys,
Just a couple days into ownership of a used Gallardo and experiencing some electrical issues. I think the battery is drained because various electrical systems keep shutting off and on. For example, if I try turning on the headlamps the instruments light up but the headlights do not--until I start moving. Then while I'm driving they will sometimes flash on and off. Not cool. At lights when I'm stopped the lights will shut off then turn on again when I start moving.

Windows are not working consistently either. There's a ticking sound from the fuse box area when the glove box door is closed. Turn signals are not working. Finally, the alarm stopped working as well.

I drove about 60 miles on the car to get the battery charged and it seemed to work for a while then the issues reappeared a couple starts later. Sounds like a battery issue? I checked some fuses and they looked fine--nothing burnt.

Any advice would be appreciated. It's great driving the car but frustrating when the headlamps turn off at night!

 

I am guessing you may have a bad alternator. Sounds like the alternator is charging the battery and maintaining a voltage.

When the headlights go out, any warning on the dash?

I have had a few electrical issues as well. You may want to search lambopower to see if any one else had similar issues.

 

No warning on the dash when the lights go off. Sometimes the instrument dash lights blink on and off.

I think you are right and it is the alternator. When I switch the ignition to only turn on the instrument panel, the alternator light stays on. Hope the dealer I got it from agrees to fix this without charge though there is no warranty.

 

Sounds like an alternator issue to me. I take it you didn't do a PPI before you purchased the car?

 

Sounds like alternator to me

 

Dealer says the battery in the key/alarm remote was dead and that messed up the onboard computer of the car. Doesn't sound right. Is this even a possibility?

 

Could be..

 

So the dealer hired a mechanic to fix the issue FOC. I say "hired" because it's a BMW dealership with a luxury/exotic lot and they do not have their own mechanic for the specialty cars. Bad thing about buying from a non-Lambo dealer.

Believe it or not, I have not been able to reach this mechanic to determine what the issue was and how he fixed it. I think he's ducking me because he put about 80 miles on the car and used half the tank of gas. Plus the car came back dirty as if he drove through the desert with the windows down.

Anyway, after a week or so of driving there were no issues. It was a great week. Then the other night when I came out to the car after parking it in my friend's driveway the car did not respond to the remote fob. I'm fairly certain I activated the alarm but now it seemed deactivated completely because the doors were unlocked. The car did not respond to any commands from the remote fob. The alarm/fob not working was one of the original symptoms of this electrical issue.

I started up the car and everything else was fine except the alarm/fob. None of the other symptoms were present (headlights not working, steering stalk functions disabled, vanity lights not working, etc.).

I drove home and read the manual and the forums on how to resync the fob to the alarm. There was also a ticking sound coming from the fuse box. The alarm fuse (18?) looked fine but I swapped it out in case. After an hour of trying to resync it finally worked. I don't think the steps in the manual are written or worded correctly.

So everything seemed to be working okay--I went to sleep.
Next morning came out and the fob was not synced again. Changed the fob battery and tried for another hour or two to sync the fob. What I tried the night before didn't work so I tried some other random combo of steps and somehow got it to work. Frustrating.

Went for a test drove and stopped to get gas as I was low. Alarm seemed to stop responding again. But after starting the car and pushing the fob buttons while the key was in the ignition seemed to resync the alarm. Whatever. At this point I didn't give a F*** as to what the correct process was. Then I noticed the steering stalk functions weren't working (turn signals, high beams), headlamps, and the windows would not work. F***! Same symptoms as the first time. But the alarm was working. WTF. Vanity lights were good as well.

Drove it home and decided to drive the beater to the BBQ we had to go to. I was pissed because I really wanted to drive the G the 75 mile round trip with no traffic. Had waited all week for a long drive (btw I drove the car every other day this week so don't think battery drain is an issue).

When I got back home, the alarm was still activated and the key fob deactivated it. Turned the instrument panel on and everything was working. Took the key out then decided to start up the car. Car worked but the other same symptoms appeared again.

I started pushing the unlock button on the remote with the car still on. I thought I read somewhere that if you accidentally locked the car while the key was in the ignition and the car was on you would disable the steering stalk controls and windows. Or maybe I was hoping this was true. I can't find that passage now in the manual of course. Anybody know? After doing this everything seemed to work again though. I drove around for an hour to test things and there were no issues.

Sorry for the long tale but in summary--has anybody had any tempermental electical issues like this involving the key fob? I'm almost certain pushing the buttons while the key is in the ingnition does more than just unlock/lock/activate/deactivate the alarm. Something with the anti-theft controlling the electrical system and resyncing seems to be going on. I read in the manual that you can open and close the windows with the fob as well but mine doesn't work. Anyway--am I the only one going through this madness or is this some organized chaos to the programming of the fob with the electrical system? And what was that ticking sound coming from the fuse box? We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.
Thanks for reading.

 

Sounds like a relay is possibly getting stuck. I don't have access to wiring diagrams/locations for this car, so I can't really help you out there.

Not sure if this vehicle utilizes a general module for the alarm or relays, etc.

 

This is going to sound silly, but almost every Gallardo I've seen suffers for a bad ground on the battery. Trace the ground cable off your battery and you'll find it grounded to the frame, but ON TOP of paint. Disconnect it, scuff away the paint to make sure it's making good contact, and re-attach. Seems silly, but I've seen this solve MANY electrical issues similar to what you're experiencing on Gallardos before.

Worth a try...

 

Did you get your car resolved? I am having the same issues. My windows are stuck down. Sometimes the lights work sometimes no. But the windows have not moved at all.