Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Twin Spark - Unseen-ish

[exgtt]

bks, I was hoping the MAF was the unicorn fix here....

Upwards and onwards....

[exgtt]

You can't ignore the ECU messages here, until someone says they saw the same as you when they plugged their Manual in, it looks like you have a Selespeed ECU.

How the friggen cows can a selespeed ECU run on a Manual with the only downside being a 4.5k rev limit though?? If I was you, I'd meet with someone who has a Manual ECU, swap them over.

Edited by exgtt on Tuesday 31st October 00:23

[exgtt]

[stewjohnst]

exgtt said:

You can't ignore the ECU messages here, until someone says they saw the same as you when they plugged their Manual in, it looks like you have a Selespeed ECU.

How the friggen cows can a selespeed ECU run on a Manual with the only downside being a 4.5k rev limit though?? If I was you, I'd meet with someone who has a Manual ECU, swap them over.

Edited by exgtt on Tuesday 31st October 00:23

I know... it's part of the reason I was watching on eBay for some battered old 2.0 manual to rip the ecu out of.

I wonder if I could find the selespeed sensor the ecu is listening for on ebay and just wire it up to something/anything so there's a signal coming in - what's the worst that could happen?

All very odd

[stewjohnst]

More to the point, the thing I'm worrying about is...

...If someone has managed to bodge a manual car into running on a selespeed ecu - How the hell is it going to work if I put a manual ecu in it?

[Mr Tidy]

I just discovered this thread.

Great choice of car, brilliant story and a fantastic write-up!

Thanks for sharing it OP.

I'm looking forward to the next instalment!

[Vitorio]

When i get my ODBII reader in ill see if my 1.6 thinks its a selespeed as well :P

[Brompty]

stewjohnst said:

Classic isn't my usual choice of music but the cup holder design in the 147 means that whenever you have a decent sized cup in there it stores whatever is on at the time into channels 4,5 and 6.

This is really why I want an Alfa. I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S, everything works with no hiccups. But a car that has cup holder that re-programmes the radio is something else.

[davebem]

Brompty said:

This is really why I want an Alfa. I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S, everything works with no hiccups. But a car that has cup holder that re-programmes the radio is something else.

Oh thats nothing, wait until you see the cup holder in a 159!!

[stewjohnst]

I have woken up and found the proverbial sister in my earlier in my bed...and am partly to blame.

Knowing the vagaries of buying cars on eBay I stupidly sent a speculative text to the seller saying if the winning buyer (with a whole 9 feedback) turned out to be flaky I may still take it off her hands.

Well, the buyer turned out to be your typical tool and I'm now deciding how to get an Alfa 147 from Richmond up to Leeds...

Edited by stewjohnst on Tuesday 31st October 23:14

[bearman68]

Is a proverbial sister a female relative who lives in the countryside?


Just wondering why you're in bed with her,and what has that got to do with an Alfa?

[stewjohnst]

I've stupidly doubled my Alfa count,



The owner of this says it needs a new shock as riding low and making a rubbing/grinding noise - I'd have thought it'd be a spring rather than a shock?

£250 of extra Italian on my drive
Anyway, this thing looks like it has been shredded from new looking at the mot history...

[stewjohnst]

There's probably something on it I can use?





Really does seem they've driven it around each year and used the mot as the service interval to find broken bits

[stewjohnst]

My thinking is this...on the original Alfa that started all this madness I needed at least two decent tyres - I would have bought new so that would have been £100 for some Rainsport 3 or something.

There were a few bits of trim I wanted so in my head paying out for the other car made sense as I can cannibalise one of them.

Since then, I've also noticed my front tyre appears to have been mauled by a bear as there are huge chunks out of the tread for no good reason I can think of.

We also established a few posts back that Manuel has buggered my ecu so I'll get one of those and there are various bits of trim I can swap over too - assuming this one doesn't think it's a Selespeed too.

The new kid on the block also has heated leather so it's 50:50 which way the stuff gets transplanted.

I'm told the new one is displaying 'Motor Control Failure' but I have a shiny new MAF that might fix that.

I fail to see how anything could possibly go wrong with such a glorious plan

[Mr Tidy]

stewjohnst said:

I fail to see how anything could possibly go wrong with such a glorious plan

Well, you never know - but I hope it all works out!

[Piginapoke]

This is now the best thread on PH. Press on!

[wseed]

Excellent. I can't see how you'd fail to get £250 of parts from that and still be able to weigh it in. You could probably sell a few bits too if you're that way inclined.

[rxe]

The "riding low and rubbing" is the rear shock - the spring retaining plate is corroded. They all do it eventually - it is 15 years old after all.

ECU and code box can be swapped. Does the new one come with 2 keys? You need the transponder chips out of the donor, or the donor ECU & code box will not start. Reasonably easy, I've done it in a 156.

Here's a prediction. After realising that the "new" one goes well, needs a new shock and handbrake cable (which is easy), you're not going to break it, you're going to fix it. You'll then have 2 alfas, and be looking for another ECU. I've been there. I now have 7 Alfas. Note that Autolusso sell " pre-extracted" ECUs and code boxes (and keys usually).

Good luck!

[stewjohnst]

rxe said:

Here's a prediction. After realising that the "new" one goes well, needs a new shock and handbrake cable (which is easy), you're not going to break it, you're going to fix it. You'll then have 2 alfas, and be looking for another ECU. I've been there. I now have 7 Alfas. Note that Autolusso sell " pre-extracted" ECUs and code boxes (and keys usually).

Good luck!

You are most probably correct but I'll keep all this quiet from the missus, I mean, the last time I scrapped a car on the drive, it wasn't an eyesore at all



My own prediction is that I'll probably patch up the new one, and then run it over winter, avoiding putting miles on the other timing belt at the same time as gaining the pleasure of heated seats (unless the switch has burnt out) and then MOT it in March - if it passes, all good - if it fails, I'll go back to the other one and run that until the mot expires in July.

Of course this will backfire when the other one snaps the belt on restart after three months of being sat idle

[rxe]

Burnt out switch is an easy fix, and toasty seats are nice!

I find that having several cars in the same colour tends to confuse the womenfolk. I got away with my GTA Sportwagon for a week before she realised. I was forgiven when she drove it....