Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia Forum

Technical => 900 Series (Alfasud, Alfasud Sprint, 33) => Topic started by: Boxer33 on December 07, 2013, 12:55:16 PM

Title: 33 16v not starting
Post by: Boxer33 on December 07, 2013, 12:55:16 PM
I was driving my Alfa down the freeway, when all of a sudden it died on me. Over the days of diagnosis I have these observations to add;
In the beginning it would start and idle rough and choke if given any throttle. I found out after pulling myself by the headers under the car that only the right hand bank was firing, as the left hand manifold was dead cold.
I checked spark and fuel from the injectors on the left bank, and both seemed to be fine.
I've swapped over the ecu from my brothers identical 33 and this caused it to not run at all, same result when I reconnected mine back up.
So that is where I am at so far, I  have fuel and spark, but either the timing is out somehow or the fuel mixture is wrong.
Are there any other checks I can make, possibly on the sensor/electrical side?
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: colcol on December 07, 2013, 01:23:25 PM
Check the crank sensor, they work when cold, but stop when the engine warms up, also see if the dizzy is working ok, the wires can get old and short out, and check the rotor button and dizzy cap, try and find out  if you can put the computer into diagnostic mode and see if you get a fault code, Colin.
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: Boxer33 on December 07, 2013, 03:53:07 PM
Yeah I've checked the rotor button and the cap is brand new, I'll double check the wires again. Where is the crank angle sensor located? As I swapped around one of the sensors from my brothers to no avail, the one under the driveshaft on the left hand side of the engine.
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: colcol on December 07, 2013, 05:33:15 PM
The crank angle sensor is either on the distributor or around the flywheel, but it also could be at the front timing cover, never owned a 16v, so don't know much about them, Colin.
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: VeeSix on December 08, 2013, 02:49:31 AM
16 valve, rotor and dizzy?  ;D
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: festy on December 08, 2013, 03:09:16 PM
Yep, rotor and dizzy... nothing else in the distributor though, they did HT function only.

If it's the ML4.1 ECU (#0.261.200.14x) then here's some diagnostic procedures (http://motronic.festy.org/ML41_checks_33.pdf) that might help trace down the problem.
Or if you get any fault codes from the ECU, post them up and I'll tell you what they represent.
Title: Re: 33 16v not starting
Post by: LukeC on December 10, 2013, 10:23:13 AM
Eer: Left hand cam belt....  :-\

Been a long time since I have seen one of these, let alone work on one but on the information you have given, I would be checking to see if the left hand cams are being driven (cant remember how the quickest way to get access to have a look).

If your cam belt has gone: you will probably have some bent valves.