Hello and HELP!!
Discussion
Hi guys, new here as car has taken 8 years to go wrong (aside of the dozens of issues just after delivery!!) One happy Alfa customer here...sorry to ask for help on first post but desperate. My 'sensible every day run about, from new 1999 Alfa 145 1.8TS) has just been relegated. My TVR is now officially more reliable!
Just started (after service though may be co-incidence) to lose almost all power after a few mins of driving. Fine on start up and cold then loses power for a few seconds...almost stalls (sometimes does if you just leave it for a minute of terribly lumpy idling) and sometimes corrects itself. if you turn off and then straight back on, even on the move, it starts no problems and drives like the day it left the factory. Then the problem comes back after a few mins. Been getting steadily worse over two weeks, from once every couple of days to every time you drive it now.
Any ideas? Checked AlfaWorkshop, and possible Oxygen sensor or Air flow meter...but this is intermittent....loose wire somewhere??
Cheers,
Virgil.
Just started (after service though may be co-incidence) to lose almost all power after a few mins of driving. Fine on start up and cold then loses power for a few seconds...almost stalls (sometimes does if you just leave it for a minute of terribly lumpy idling) and sometimes corrects itself. if you turn off and then straight back on, even on the move, it starts no problems and drives like the day it left the factory. Then the problem comes back after a few mins. Been getting steadily worse over two weeks, from once every couple of days to every time you drive it now.
Any ideas? Checked AlfaWorkshop, and possible Oxygen sensor or Air flow meter...but this is intermittent....loose wire somewhere??
Cheers,
Virgil.
I would start with the air flow meter as an easy to get to and usually faulty culprit. For starters try unplugging the wires to it (just up from the air filter box). Unplugging it runs the car at a default safe value and in 9 out of 10 cases if the AFM is faulty the car will now be running better than it was.
Lambda sensors also fail (it's all these German made bits you see
) but would often show up with poor emission values too.
The other one that can affect running after start up is the water to ECU temp sender which can fail and send misleading messages to the ECU about how warm the car is.
Good luck with it!
Lambda sensors also fail (it's all these German made bits you see
) but would often show up with poor emission values too.The other one that can affect running after start up is the water to ECU temp sender which can fail and send misleading messages to the ECU about how warm the car is.
Good luck with it!
Wombat Rick said:
I would start with the air flow meter as an easy to get to and usually faulty culprit. For starters try unplugging the wires to it (just up from the air filter box). Unplugging it runs the car at a default safe value and in 9 out of 10 cases if the AFM is faulty the car will now be running better than it was.
Lambda sensors also fail (it's all these German made bits you see ) but would often show up with poor emission values too.
The other one that can affect running after start up is the water to ECU temp sender which can fail and send misleading messages to the ECU about how warm the car is.
Good luck with it!
Thanks for the tips. Will try tonight. Very strange - looks def like an electrical gremlin to me...fingers crossed it's an easy one to fix!Lambda sensors also fail (it's all these German made bits you see
) but would often show up with poor emission values too.The other one that can affect running after start up is the water to ECU temp sender which can fail and send misleading messages to the ECU about how warm the car is.
Good luck with it!
Thanks,
Virgil.
The symptom does, on the face of it, suggest a lambda probe failure, but that would probably not be intermittent. I had an engine temperature sender fail; it was giving artificially low readings, causing the engine to run rich - driveability was not affected.
It would be worth looking at the black box mounted on the front of the battery - corrosion & wiring faults there can cause problems.
If it's a faulty sensor it will almost certainly show up on a diagnostic check.
It would be worth looking at the black box mounted on the front of the battery - corrosion & wiring faults there can cause problems.
If it's a faulty sensor it will almost certainly show up on a diagnostic check.
Well, just disconnected the AFM, and driven carefully for a bit...not had the issue once, and it's happened every time bar 2 the last 20 times it's been driven.
Will try it like this for a couple more days just to be sure, and rule out sod's law that it's behaving it'self just to wind me up!!
If not this, then it's going in to diagnostics shop, but I can see that's gonna cost me real money!
Cheers, guys. will post results soon...
Will try it like this for a couple more days just to be sure, and rule out sod's law that it's behaving it'self just to wind me up!!
If not this, then it's going in to diagnostics shop, but I can see that's gonna cost me real money!
Cheers, guys. will post results soon...
Maranellohouse said:
Sounds like the airflow meter to me as well. We've owned 4 156's and 2 did what your explaining. Does it lose power and feel like it's going to quit when you excellerate?
yeah, exactly...driving along quite normally with a steady throttle and then suddenly feels like someones pulled the handbrake gently, then when you press the throttle harder, nothing, or as you say, it loses power, not gains. When pulling away it'll be fine then half way out the bend suddenly lose power and try to die. When Idling it will idle perfectly smoothly one minute then start to lose revs, then catch up, then lose etc etc. You can see the rev counter 'bouncing' between 500 and about 1200 rpn. Sometimes it corrects itself, sometimes it gets worse and worse until it stalls. This can take from symptom starting to stalling in 30 seconds, or can tidle terribly for a few mins. Turn the engine off and straight back on and it's like it's re-set everything and perfect until it does it again, which could be a couple of mins to several minutes. very occasionally it drives ok for longer (15-20 mins) but very unusual for the last couple of days.
looks like it to me, and will be very happy if it is that, as looks like a £117 fix...
Cheers, and fingers crossed!
Beware the ones on Ebay. A lot are recon ones and seem to cause more problems than they solve. I would try and get a genuine one from a main dealer, a Bosch agent or an Alfa specialist
e.g. http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/alfa_romeo_air_flow....
e.g. http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/alfa_romeo_air_flow....
virgil said:
Cheers guys, Alfa workshop have them at £117 inc vat.
Not keen on e-bay - as mentioned above could be a cheap import or re-con...
Tried my old Alfa dealer (not vauxall etc etc but still do Alfa and Fiat) and the guy says they do them on exchnage basis only....not keen on that!
I've had two afm's from off ebay in an attempt to fix the same problem you're having. 1st worked for a few months then packed up, 2nd one has been going strong since the summer..Not keen on e-bay - as mentioned above could be a cheap import or re-con...
Tried my old Alfa dealer (not vauxall etc etc but still do Alfa and Fiat) and the guy says they do them on exchnage basis only....not keen on that!
It may also be worth (if you havent already) cleaning out the throttle body. They can get pretty dirty which causes idle problems also..
BTW, I though I was the only one daft enough to to try and live with a 145 and a Griff
adam_rbts said:
virgil said:
Cheers guys, Alfa workshop have them at £117 inc vat.
Not keen on e-bay - as mentioned above could be a cheap import or re-con...
Tried my old Alfa dealer (not vauxall etc etc but still do Alfa and Fiat) and the guy says they do them on exchnage basis only....not keen on that!
I've had two afm's from off ebay in an attempt to fix the same problem you're having. 1st worked for a few months then packed up, 2nd one has been going strong since the summer..Not keen on e-bay - as mentioned above could be a cheap import or re-con...
Tried my old Alfa dealer (not vauxall etc etc but still do Alfa and Fiat) and the guy says they do them on exchnage basis only....not keen on that!
It may also be worth (if you havent already) cleaning out the throttle body. They can get pretty dirty which causes idle problems also..
BTW, I though I was the only one daft enough to to try and live with a 145 and a Griff
To be fair, the 145 has always been the reliable sensible every day car the wife drives, had it for 8 years and has put in 7 1/2 years of good sercice (we had a difficult first 6 months ut it was ok after several trips back to the dealer to fix most of the car
) . My Griff has been pretty reliable too, to be fair to it. Had two range rovers before that so I obviously like living dangerously!Oh Dear...
£117.50 later and after looking very promising, same old same old. Actually does not happen as much as before and took 3 runs to show at all, but def still there...
Getting to the point that I can't justify spending any more money on it as i'll soon have paid out more than it's worth...
Anyone want a '99 145 1.8 3 door black with tan leather and <40k miles on the clock. 1 owner from new.
£117.50 later and after looking very promising, same old same old. Actually does not happen as much as before and took 3 runs to show at all, but def still there...
Getting to the point that I can't justify spending any more money on it as i'll soon have paid out more than it's worth...
Anyone want a '99 145 1.8 3 door black with tan leather and <40k miles on the clock. 1 owner from new.
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