Lesson learned...

[paook]

The last few days, the turn signals would work most of the time. Occasionally I would flip the lever and they wouldn't blink. Today, the whole trip to and from work was without blinkers. Halfway home through town, the heater fan stopped working...and I happened to notice the BRAKE and SEATBELT lights were on. For some reason, after a few blocks of this I decided to reach under the dash with my left hand and jiggle a wire or two. OOPS! The engine suddenly dropped to 800 rpms, then 500 and unstable. Stepping on the gas didn't change anything. Obviously, I shouldn't have jiggled the wires. Another half block and I was stuck behind a truck at a red light. 10 seconds of bad idle getting worse...then *silence*. Right in the middle of traffic at the start of rush hour. I've gotta troubleshoot the ignition wiring now.

Don't jiggle wires for the heck of it, unless you're in your garage!

[Zippy]

I was driving home one night a few weeks ago and it was after dark. I noticed when I started up that the dash lights were out. I don't know why but I, too, reached under the dash and jiggled some wires. Fortunately for me the dash lights came on and the drive home was uneventful. I hope you find a solution to your problem.

[narfire]

Want a positive spin... glad it was'nt pissing wet coast rain.. likely though the wipers would end up the only things that worked
I know what you mean though, the o'l sphincter constricts when lights suddenly go out, tack jumps around,turn signals don't come on, exhaust note has changed.....

[124JOE]

you should focus on the ing wires under there
and go over your grounds looking for a bad connection

[zachmac]

I recently had the exact same symptoms (not unusual BTW) where I would lose various electrical devices at random. Reaching under and jiggling ignition harness usually got it going again. Finally tiring of the hit and miss (no pun intended ) I got to looking close. What I found was bad / burnt connections at the six plug / five wire connector where the ignition switch meets the rest of the harness (or as I call it the factory installed thief's hot wire junction!!!). Usually one or more of those connections is bad. I disassembled the wires from the connector, cleaned and recrimped everything and reassembled and no problems since.

Depending on the year you'll find a brown hot feed in, a black hot feed in, two feeds out to the fuse box depending on switch position (pink and light blue / black), and a red out to the starter solenoid. You can get Bradley's excellent wiring diagrams at the Miafiori site under FAQ electrical.

BTW, Classic Ricambi sells the correct wire ends and connectors if you want to do it correctly. I reused the original connector for now but as only five wires go through it I am thinking I should route the four non-brown wires through a new four wire connector and install a separate two wire connector for the factory brown wire and the suggested retrofit backup directly off the starter post.

[4uall]

funny story
I had recently permantly solved my overheating issue and wanted to take Fiona out for a test drive after a days work with a fellow owner. She ran great and the thermo never went over 190F even when I was pushing her etc. So there I was with the top down on a beautiful evening when all of a sudden the lights started to dim (more than they already are ) the engine had no pep and i was slowing down in traffic?!? I came to a complete stop underneath an unlit bridge at night in my black little Fiat WTF FML. For fear of being killed by traffic I immediately took out my hazard kit and set up the flashers (thanks canadian Tire). Then panicked as I opened the hood (nothing was out of place?). Then I remembered why I was on this drive.........nope car was not above 190F it was simply the sensor in the T bar that had come loose. Snaped it in and away I went with my little pride in tow All that to say that sometimes these little vixens are sensitive.

[katsi]

I got to looking close. What I found was bad / burnt connections at the six plug / five wire connector where the ignition switch meets the rest of the harness (or as I call it the factory installed thief's hot wire junction!!!). Usually one or more of those connections is bad. I disassembled the wires from the connector, cleaned and recrimped everything and reassembled and no problems since.

Same thing happened to me and left the junction box less junction and more BBQ smoke box. So, I bypassed the junction box all together. No broblems so far (I am totally knocking on wood as I write this).