My 33's broken

[colcol]

Speedo has stopped working again, and i have hard wired it, so that there are extra 2 wires going into the speedo itself to overcome the dodgy multipin plug on the back of the speedo, and it still doesn't work, went to wrecker and got another speedo, this time the speedo works, but the odometer is not working, went and got another speedo, this time Speedo and odometer is working, has anybody got any idea what stuffs up in the speedo, is it the one thing, or random things?, Colin.

[Alfapride]

i had the same problem with my 33 earlier in the year, i replaced the sensor, hardwired it as you did and also resoldered the instrument cluster and worked beautifully - maybe you are having just bad luck using a second hand sensor that was nearly dead anyway?

With the hard wiring make sure you tape up the soldering you did to not create a short between them - you probably did that anyway but just checking!
Another thing to look at is the fuse box, I recently did some resoldering there and checked all fuses and relays upon further inspection I noticed several relays were corroded and not working properly, i removed them all and cleaned them with alcohol and bit of fine sandpaper. Good luck with the repair!

[colcol]

I have several, [about 10], sensors that i swap around, so i don't think its that, you can check for resistance between the red and white wire, it should be 2-4 ohms, no reading, throw the sensor away, years ago i had a broken wire between the plug on the sensor and the instrument binnacle, so i made a new wiring loom, i have resoldered the instrument cluster, in case it had a dry joint, but you are right, you have to be carefull that the remelted solder doesn't short out the printed circuit or the other wire, and the hard wire connector on the speedo cluster has a insulator over them, i have cleaned the fuses, as they are a constant source of trouble, when there is a poor connection, they get hot, then the plastic fuse body melts, and the ends don't make contact, i have used a different speedo in the same intrument binnacle, so i can eliminate a crook binnacle, the 'new' second hand speedo i put in now works, but i have some other 'issues' that i will have to figure out, thanks for the good tips Alfapride, life is always busy with a 33, Colin.

[Alfapride]

Anytime Colin! It's great to listen to someone else so passionate about these 33's, I reckon these cars are a bit of a sleeper in the alfa line up. The 16v has been my daily for 6 years now and whilst it has a few little querks its hard to find a newer car that sounds as nice and has a personality...

[colcol]

Hey Alfapride, if i didn't love it to pieces, i wouldn't have kept it 26 years, and i like it when people at work tell me how hopelessly unreliable Alfa Romeo's are, and i point out i drive it everyday about 70 kilometres everyday, and its the oldest car in the carpark, but on Top Gear they said......., sure you have issues, but they keep going, with a smile on the owners face, Colin.

[colcol]

So now i have put the new second hand speedo in and its reading slow according to my GPS, it is reading 50% slow, ie GPS says 100 KPH, speedo says 50 KPH, on the speedo there is a 'pot' with a tuning rheostat in it, i will adjust that and see if it makes a difference, Colin.

[colcol]

After about 10 attempts to adjust the 'pot' on the bottom of the speedo, according to my GPS, when i am doing 99kph on my GPS, the 33 speedo reads 100kph, can't ask for any more than that, the speedo is a French made Jaeger, and the gearbox sendor is a French made Jaeger and the binnacle is Italian, betcha the faults in the speedo, not the binnacle, would be a worthwhile job to do on your 33 speedo, if its not reading accurate, better than making a contribution to Goverment Revenue, Colin.

[colcol]

So anyhoo, have FOUR Magnetti Marrelli distributors at home, and only 1 works, thats the 1 in the car, [!], as they die and misfire, i just go and buy another second hand one, decided i needed a good second hand one in the boot for a spare, so i purchased another second hand one from the wreckers, and put it in to make sure it works, it works good..... except now the revcounter has St. Vitus dance, so i changed the revcounter with another one, and it also has St. Vitus dance as well, then i tried another 2 revcounters and they are all suffering the same affliction, i think they must have all caught the same disease, as they all lived in the same box, so out with the new old distributor, and in with the old old distributor and now all 4 revcounters are cured again, the current distributor is the worst looking one, and some of the ones that don't work are quite new, Italian electrics, never a dull moment, Colin.

[colcol]

Now i have a new old rev counter in the car, it seems to be reading too high at the upper rev range, so i checked it with a tune up kit that is so old, that it was purchased from BRIAN'S SPEED SHOP in Elizabeth St. Melbourne, and sure enough, it was, i know that at 100 kph, it is usually doing about 3500 RPM, but it was showing about 4500 RPM, so i took the needle of and repositioned it, as when i installed it i had to use the needle off my old rev counter, so it matches the Speedometer, [the needle is a flouro red off a Commodore], and no matter where i positioned it, it didn't seem to work accuratly, so i pulled the tacho out and found it had an adjustable 'pot' [potentionmeter], so over the period of 1 week, i adjusted the pot either way to try and get it to read accurate, after not achieving much for about a week, i decided on drastic action, took the cover off the instrument assembly, so that you see the 'chassis' of the instrument holder, drilled a 8mm hole at the top of the rev counter, directly above the pot, put a jewellers small screwdriver in the pot and adjusted it while it was running, first remove needle and position it so that it reads 1,000 RPM, when the engine is idling, then adjust the pot, so it reads accurate at high revs, the pot is like an adjustable gain at high revs, it all now seems to work, freinds again... until next time, Colin.

[colcol]

How is this for bizzare, just before the 'price cycle' petrol prices go up, i filled up the 33, on the 39 degree day in Melbourne, and after being at the petrol station about 5 minutes, the 33's fuel had vapourised, and was running a bit rough at the next set of traffic lights, and it was idling about 200 revs too low, and the speedo was jumping from 0 kph to 10 kph, and everytime it the speedo needle 'jumped' the odometer turned a bit, so after sitting at the lights stationary for a few minutes, the odometer told me my car had travelled 0.8 kilometres,...... while stopped at the lights, even a Triumph [car] would be proud of that!, Colin.