"Dave Savage" <news (AT) passione (DOT) fsnet.co.uk> wrote

Dear reader,

Although I'm rapidly losing the will to live, here's a further update :

Another week has passed, during which I've had no update from Alfa (well, I
did call them last Saturday, to be hold "it might be the ECU, we're getting
a part in next Monday").

Called them this morning, got a story about "no spare ECU to try out, maybe
we can get yours bench tested - cost to be confirmed".

Thought I'd try another tack, and contacted the central Alfa number. Spoke
to a foreign fellow, who took details / said he'd contact Allams.

The saga continues....

PS In all this sorry tale, I've had precisely 1 call from Allams to update
me - not bad for a car that's been with them for 3 weeks.

Dave Savage wrote:
Take it back, send it to an indy. Don't pay the bill.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

"Zathras" <webnewsgroup (AT) nospamthanks (DOT) hotmail.com> wrote


SNIP....
SNIP...


Well Zathras, I don't know what you currently do for a living, but perhaps
you should consider becoming "Trainer of Alfa Romeo Mechanics".

Having heard nothing for a week, I popped down to the dealer this morning
.....

"ECU is OK (oh dear, didn't we call you to tell you this), it's not the
air-flow meter, nothing's coming up on the diagnostics, we're going to do
compression tests, and update you later this week".

Dave S..... :>((

PS The car's been off the road since 14th October (don't say I'm not
patient).

PPS At this rate, I soon will be a patient (I hear The Priory do a discount
for Alfisti).

On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:28:01 -0000, "Dave Savage"
<news (AT) passione (DOT) fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

LOL. I'm an Electronic Engineer by training. These days I support an
incredibly vast array of technologies across the board in Broadcasting
as my main pay packet.

However, a long time ago I did strip a 1.8 litre Astra GTE engine
down, recondition and rebuild it on my own with just a Haynes manual!!
The rather tough lessons learnt doing that mean I know a little about
basic, fuel injected engines and, in particular, what's going to
affect performance, what's not and to *do the basic tests first*! I've
had some experience with outboard marine engines too.

However, I've been around a long time and have picked up many things
(good and bad) as a result. You could say, well qualified from the
university of hard knocks!

FFS. Tr. "We've done the fancy fixed price tests but now it's going to
take us days to take the spark plugs out, insert a pressure gauge and
turn over the engine." With the time they've had the car, you'll be
expecting a huge bill, they'll be thinking. If they'd said, "we're
going to do compression tests, and update you later this afternoon",
there would have been a little hope.

As I said, oiled plug so compression test *first*? Actually the full
set of initial basic tests are spark, fuel and compression.

Trying to see what their thought processes might have been, I wonder
if some clever clogs has determined that there's no combustion on the
duff cylinder and has jumped to the conclusion that if the ECU is
gubbed (rare on any car), and assuming Alfa petrol engines drink oil
then, the plug would get oiled as a result. However, you'd pull the
spark plug and check for a spark before going down the ECU
route..surely.

Also, while you were at it, a check for fuel isn't difficult. I, once,
came across a guy who tested both at the same time by holding the
spark plug over the hole and getting a mate to crank it on the
starter!!! The resulting automatic-shotgun-style racket on cranking
answered both questions within a microsecond. He's deaf with no hair
on the back of his hands though. With the plug out you can insert a
compression tester. Basics done as quickly as you can access the spark
plugs. Genius?

Oh dear..still doing the basic tests after all that time. That's
extremely poor. Ask them how long it would take them to normally
complete the elementary yes-no engine tests of spark, fuel and
compression?

I'd have written to Alfa UK a while back to try and apply alternative
leverage. The garage now has you marked as a softie. Ask yourself
this, how long would it take a reasonable mechanic to totally strip
and rebuild your engine? The answer is at least 3 weeks less than your
car has been in this shop.

God help you if they find bad compression on a cylinder. With this lot
you can see the "Your engine's broke mister. It'll be x thousand notes
for a new one" ploy coming a mile off..

I hope the next installment is a lot more uplifting than your previous
ones..

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather (sold)
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

"Zathras" <webnewsgroup (AT) nospamthanks (DOT) hotmail.com> wrote

To cut a long story short - compression tests done, no joy (which is good
news of sorts ???).

I was on the verge of putting an end to the saga this morning, but they
want one last go at it.......(though I'm not convinced they have many
avenues left to explore).

To be continued....

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:06 -0000, "Dave Savage"
<news (AT) passione (DOT) fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

No joy? Sorry, does that mean the compression was ok or not?

Guessing the compression is ok, I hope, after all this time, you're
not looking at something trivial like a duff spark plug lead.

Intriguing!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather (sold)
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

"Zathras" <webnewsgroup (AT) nospamthanks (DOT) hotmail.com> wrote


Sorry (amazing how Brits are forever apologising, as in "you've just crushed
my toes with your white van, I do apologise and hope that your tyres haven't
been damaged")

- the compression was OK.

I've suggested duff coil pack (they say they've ruled that out) - got this
theory from AROC UK forum..

It's very frustrating, as they have :
a) replaced gasket which they / AA say was cause of oiled-up plug (possibly
correct according to a thread I found last night in the AROC UK forum),
b) eliminated ECU (bench-tested and OK),
c) tried compression tests,
d) said HT leads and plugs are OK.

They're back to "let's try a new air-flow meter" - to be continued next
week.

Dave S... :>((