Will the Dramas ever end?

[wetprickles]

Will the Dramas ever end?

Hi from Tassie

Time for a bit of a rant, couple of pictures too.

Had this Alfa 90 for about ten years now, I'm third owner.
It has the brief case!  Did about 20,000km without any issues but then had major issues with L-Jet and got local tuning shop to investigate, they took over 6 weeks to diagnose problem, faulty computer which they sent to Sydney to repair. Cost thousands. Morning after I got it back, It would Not start, had to get my Dad to come around in his Silverado to tow start me. Fresh out of money I had no option but to try and fix it myself.
IMG]http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae41/wetprickles/100_0645.jpg[/IMG]

Spent all my spare time [ and money ] going through the Greg Gordon website fix and eventually got her running pretty sweet and got another 15,000 km of happy motoring, although leaving it outside made it hard to start. Moisture seems to get in somewhere. Things the local tuning shop missed were, idling nut and locknut loose and donut inside dislodged. AFM mixture adjustment has been fiddled with to get it to idle I guess. Throttle position sensor was also out big time, again with idling not right they must have been trying to get the thing to idle. Did lots of klms with digital multimeter tied to wiper so I could read Oxygen sensor output and re-tune AFM.

Couple of years ago the poor maintenance caught up to it, chewed 23 teeth off the timing belt and mangled some valves. My poor wife was trying to start it in the driveway after pushing it out of the garage to make room for a project. Done 217,000 km and was due for belt, last one done at 160,000 km. Seems the belt de-tensioner was leaking and perished the belt. Start of never ending dramas. Picture.


Note to self: Change timing belt every 50,000 km or 3 years!
Have to have second car so bought new Honda Jazz for wife.

Bought another engine for the Alfa [thanks Tristan] but found a few problems when I pulled it apart.  Coolant [or lack of it] had eaten some scars into the heads and seeped into a couple of cylinders. Picture.


Decided to repair these newer heads and use them on my old original block. Picture.


Was making slow progress and in the meantime the clutch and brake pedals went flat to the floor [thanks Kids] Clutch froze / rusted to pressure plate. Took it out cleaned it all up, new slave cylinder. Brakes needed pads, master and slave. Rear pads are a challenge. So is the master! Aarrrgh! Hand brake is only working on one wheel. Must have stretched the cable, or I've got the pad gaps wrong.

Put all back together again, fired her up, running poor, clutch in, select reverse, clunk, broke roll pin in gear selector rod.... back up on the stands. Bits of the Broken pin were firmly wedged within the inner rod that is swinging on the linkages before the gearbox, won't come out with hammer and punch, end up breaking linkages if I hit it any harder so guess I'll have to drop the transaxle again. Found some larger roll pins at local shop and drilled holes out a fraction to suit. Fixed now and the gear-change feels like it is touching on something, on the way back from 3rd into 2nd.

Working thru the poor running [thanks Greg Gordon] found cracked and brittle O-rings under injectors. Tried the ones out of my old heads that are in much better condition. Now running better. Was able to do timing and idling.


Keep finding more and more things to fix. Exhaust middle section blew a big hole, ordered a new one [thanks Joe]. Swapped a carton of stubbies and a bottle of grog for a set of 16 inch 156 Alloys [thanks Rory] will have to get new tyres now. Swapped leaky steering rack [thanks David] while I had the motor out but this one leaks even worse! Not sure what I'm going to do about this. Not looking forward to working on this with the motor in there. Disconnect steering belt.


O.K. Time to start her up again, had battery on charger overnight but only clunks solenoid. Have big 650 CCA to jump start from and she fires up. Have to get new muffler fitted next week as the twin pipes are 3 inches too long and 2 inches too far apart to fit my cat conv.  Engine has good oil pressure now but low level warning light keeps blinking.  Did 25 km, not game to rev it over 3000 RPM.  Blinking oil light etc.  Bit of a drag without power steering. Brake pedal goes ¾ down on first pump then feels great second pump. Did front bleed again but no different.

Bought a new battery. Just clicks solenoid, wont fire up starter. Roll motor over with socket spanner and solenoid clicks back out.  Battery is new, 12.61V.  Not enough amps to do anything with. Put new battery on charger.  Check wiring. Terminal below coolant bottle has some red wires, one goes to relay beside it and one goes into loom that goes down to starter. Good clean up. 2 black wires, one goes to same relay. Did remove these wires at terminal for engine removal.  Could be the problem.  Have not touched relay wires though. Put old battery back in [12.91V] Jump with big battery [12.78V] now operates starter but wont start engine. Swapped for cooling fan relay from near headlight, no difference. Could be ignition switch. Gees how will I test that! New battery reading 13.9V after a good charge. Wind engine over and over and over and.... cough...splutter, over and over and a little throttle...just catching a cylinder or two...and she fires, thank goodness.

Check oil level, Spot on max mark, have to get fuel so will risk anther run. Lots of winding country roads around here. Soon up to operating temperature and holding 80 degrees on the temp guage. Stays in the top half of pressure guage depending on revs. Over 4 when above 2000 rpm. Still got a blinking low level light. Brake pedal is annoyingly soft and traveling too far, making heel toe changes a bit ugly, must do another full bleed. Ten minutes have past, oil pressure is still really good, temp is just fine, might try her a little above 3000 revs. Approaching 45 km/h left hander, on the brakes blip back to third, revs come back to 2500, blip back to second, turns right now up and over crest, into third at 4500, gentle uphill straight and into fourth at 4500, levels out to easy left, into fifth at 4500 and feels good. This is the stuff that makes owning an Alfa worthwhile. Enjoy another 15 minutes of this sort of driving. Changing up a gear between 3000 and 4500, Changing back between 3000 and 2500. Sounds loud. Feels pretty good apart from brake pedal. Brakes are working O.K. but need a good bleed.

Had centre muffler fitted, mongrel welded it to the cat converter, its gonna be a challenge if I ever need to take it off. Time for another drive. Same roads as last time, from Ulverstone up to Nietta across to Preston, across to Central Castra and Upper Castra, back to Sprent and back home. Took about an hour and did 100 km or so. Very enjoyable.

Intended for road use only, but will do any driver training club days I can get to, few laps after for sure. Not interested in racing her though,[thanks Sheldon] couldn't trust her!

Better get back out into the garage, think there's still a beer or two left in the fridge and a little commercial free music off the internet, making some progress at last.

Call in if your going past.
Leon.

[Mat Francis]

Excellent rant. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nothing ever happens quickly or to plan at my place either, but as you said it's all worth while in the end 

And don't worry about the oil light flashing, i have never seen or heard of one that doesn't. I replaced the voltage regulator in my ARC, which is supposed to fix everything. ARC works perfectly, except for that one damn light. (ok, it also gets a little excited for a few minutes when you first start the car on cold mornings).

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Excellent stuff Wetprickles.  Love your description of the drive, and that 'this is the stuff that makes owning an Alfa worthwhile'.

Makes me feel quite fortunate I haven't had too many dramas with mine.  I think mine likes the Italian tune-up I give it every couple of months.

Good luck with her buddy.

[wetprickles]

More dramas.

Picked my daughter up the other arvo and on way home drove over a speed bump and muffler grinds on road, pushes system onto rear CV joint and tears boot to shreds. Grease everwhere. The muffler has been welded on to the cat conv and the mounting brackets above axel are missing. Back out to muffler shop and he's arguing it's not the right muffler for that car, which is probably right but I would have been able to fit a correct one myself. All he would do is twist and push it back up closer to the body. Poor job. Not going back there!

Back into my shed and up on car stands again, take off the half- shaft, manual says to press axel off joint. Will not budge. The bolts holding my vice on the bench are starting to give way as I try and drive the axel out. Drop the new boots and shaft assembly off at mates service centre and he spends an hour and a half wrestling with the bloody thing but finally gets them off. Thanks Allen.

O.K. I get her back together and go for drive, listening for any noises that might suggest I've damaged something doing this fix. Seems alright and suddenly car stalls at 70 km/h and dies. On an uphill corner, between guide posts. Will restart briefly but stalls straight away. With key on and AFM open, relay clicks but fuel pump not working. Hitch-hike back home and ring mate with VW Syncro Van to tow me home, thanks Steve.
Applying 12V direct to fuel pump makes it work. No Voltage at pink /white wire under relay with AFM open. Add 12V to pink / white wire and pump works, Ordered second hand Relay, thanks Hugh. Should have just rang you Dehne !

That's where I am right now, think there's gonna be some more stories to tell soon.

[Paul Gulliver]

The human spirit is a wonderful thing.

Have a read of this quote from Calvin Coolidge former President of the USA  (b1872 - d1933) Maybe he had a 90 or i just read it in an Alfa Owners manual somewhere

Press On   

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race"
Calvin Coolidge quotes (American 30th President of the United States, 1872-1933)

[wetprickles]

Can't wait any longer on Hugh for a relay and got one from Italian Job, thanks guys. Fitted but makes no difference! Double check all the fuses in the fuse box and test O.K.  Could be on the wrong track here.  Make up a switch and power it from below the coolant bottle where power for starter is and swap fuel pump. No difference. Take her round to Auto Electrician and he finds broken fuse in holder on out-side of relay case near battery, renews fuse, fuse holder and length of wire, does his errands for the day in her for a test drive and rings me to pick her up. Take her for drive and get about two kilometres out of speed limit and fuse blows again. At least I have switch in place to get me back to sparky's shop. More delays as he tries to find time to have another look. Few days later he rings and asks me to take her for another test drive as they could find nothing wrong. On test drive she just dies at the same spot. More delays, days go by, rings with good news,... come drive her again. This time success.  Exhaust mounting bracket is rubbing on wiring and causing a short on occasional bumpy corners.  Cause? Poor job done by exhaust place. Grrrrrh. Some new wiring, sheathing and re-routing has fixed.

Got 16 X 7 Alfa 156 rims from Rory and had inside centres turned down a fraction to fit over the larger Alfa 90 bearing caps, Still barley enough room to fit centre cap Alfa badges but as long as they go on before fitting the wheels all is well.
Fitted 205 / 50 series 16 inch Zender ( Bridgestone ) from Bob Janes [thanks Shane]. Perhaps I should have gone 55 series and tried to fill in a little more of the space in the wheel arches.

[dehne]

thats right you should have just rang me give me a call on 0418711643 ill tell you a little trick i did with mine i kept blowing that same fuse and ive not had a prob since i fixed it

[lombardi]

Magnificent speciment,gives me goose pimples looking at the photos.rgrds

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Yep, that's a beautiful 90.  I have one the same colour, hope to have it looking that nice one day.  I'll be putting the same wheels on too, I think they suit the 90.

Your front end seems to be quite high though, even before I lowered mine slightly it never sat that high.

[wetprickles]

Hugh rang and apologised for not following up on the delivery of the relay. Seems the job was marked as "done and despatched", someone has let Hugh down. Courtesy call was appreciated and I am happy to deal with them in the future.

Thanks Dehne, for the tip on the wiring, would have been a lot less mucking about than the switch I have wired up.
[ Tip was to exclude the fuse with a loop of wiring, for anyone thats interested.]

Sheldon, front does seem high, might give her a bit of a lowering job when it comes time to reco the wishbone bushes.[ overdue! ]

[L4OMEO]

Wheels look great though, bet they set you back a fortune ...

[wetprickles]

Wheels look great though, bet they set you back a fortune ...

Yeah, cheers Rory..... I'll drink to that.

[dehne]

hows the 90 going with lowering it all ive done on mine is lower the front 50mm left the back at standard hight it looks a little meaner that way and it was an easy mod took 10-15 mins but i thing to remember is make sure you put in different shock shorter one is koni's other wise the standard shock will decide to smash the top housing out and how do i know, from experience ofcourse, i other thing do you need any parts for her yet, ive got a heap lying around

[dfrye]

Fantastic read, and I totally sympathise. When I sold my 90 6 months ago, I didn't regret it. I really truly enjoyed that car, but when its electrics kicked up, it was a nightmare. I too did the greg gordon routine, but that only highlights more problems. Bad fuel pumps, injectors, air leaks, the dodgy fuel relay...

The drive though is fantastic, and for the pocket change they go for, it's worth it. Best for long drives though - not a good commuter car...

//dean

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Hey Leon

Nice to catch up with you at PI, shame I didn't get a chance to come and have a good look at your 90.  Was kind of busy, what with the track stuff and all.  Anyway, here's a pic I took of the traffic jam on Sunday.  That's a nice looking 90, makes that 105 in front look small though!!