Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Twin Spark - Unseen-ish
Discussion
A moderately enjoyable time with an old Saab 9-3 Aero has been cut short by a fairly large list of MOT failures so...
...it seemed entirely appropriate to make use of the fact the wife is on a hen do this weekend to nip out and buy another shed for work duties before she gets back.
Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and all that and so it was I found myself looking round an Alfa 147 this morning.
I could pretend I did detailed research and went for an extended test drive but I had two screaming kids in my car so I did the minimum.
- In the bonnet there was an engine and it sounded like an engine
- There was no mayo in the oil
-There were four tyres
- Two at the limit so haggled them off the price.
-Inside has seats and windows
- I could see brake pads
- The boot floor was clear
- MOT runs until August next year
- Mileage is 69000 and MOT history isn't too potted with failures
The front bumper is tatty and needs a respray but a rattle can will fix that.
So there you go, £800 all in and now I just need to start stripping the saab on the drive and get b
kings from the wife over and done with all at once 
Sideways iPhone photos incoming...
...it seemed entirely appropriate to make use of the fact the wife is on a hen do this weekend to nip out and buy another shed for work duties before she gets back.
Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and all that and so it was I found myself looking round an Alfa 147 this morning.
I could pretend I did detailed research and went for an extended test drive but I had two screaming kids in my car so I did the minimum.
- In the bonnet there was an engine and it sounded like an engine
- There was no mayo in the oil
-There were four tyres
- Two at the limit so haggled them off the price.
-Inside has seats and windows
- I could see brake pads
- The boot floor was clear
- MOT runs until August next year
- Mileage is 69000 and MOT history isn't too potted with failures
The front bumper is tatty and needs a respray but a rattle can will fix that.
So there you go, £800 all in and now I just need to start stripping the saab on the drive and get b
kings from the wife over and done with all at once Sideways iPhone photos incoming...
Edited by stewjohnst on Saturday 30th September 20:07
I'd looked at these before the Saab and they were my plan b car anyway.
I've always fancied an Alfa, nearly bought a 156 a few times before but ever quite managed it for one reason or another.
There was a tempting 166 2.5 V6 for under a grand but I needed to be able to get there and back with kids Without much hassle so was looking in a 30 mile radius and it's was 180 miles away
Normally I just search nationally and enjoy the challenge of trying to get to wherever the hell I've bought the car from
I've always fancied an Alfa, nearly bought a 156 a few times before but ever quite managed it for one reason or another.
There was a tempting 166 2.5 V6 for under a grand but I needed to be able to get there and back with kids Without much hassle so was looking in a 30 mile radius and it's was 180 miles away
Normally I just search nationally and enjoy the challenge of trying to get to wherever the hell I've bought the car from
I also think it's a bad time to be buying bangers again, looking for the Saab six months ago there were loads of cars worth toying with at this end of the market but no doubt a few folk have been seduced by the 'scrappage' schemes and wheeled their old but serviceable chariots to the knackers yard.
For clarity, I shall be treating this car as you would an ugly hooker.
I intend to spend the bare minimum in order for it to service my needs - I'm not going to worry about the way it looks or the weird noises it makes and try to ride it out until July.
July means the company cars goes back, I get my allowance back and I'll be swapping both this and my company car for me and the missus.
If I have things lying around for free, I may tidy bits up because it's an excuse to hide from the wife/kids but if it requires hand in pocket, I'll probably leave undone.
I intend to spend the bare minimum in order for it to service my needs - I'm not going to worry about the way it looks or the weird noises it makes and try to ride it out until July.
July means the company cars goes back, I get my allowance back and I'll be swapping both this and my company car for me and the missus.
If I have things lying around for free, I may tidy bits up because it's an excuse to hide from the wife/kids but if it requires hand in pocket, I'll probably leave undone.
Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 1st October 14:08
Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 1st October 14:09
Cash changed hands for the saab this morning at the train station and I got a taxi over to grab the Alfa.
Now that I don't have kids sat in the car screaming I had a proper sniff about.
The clutch is on the high side which suggests a new one will be needed soon but not right away.
It's been stood a bit, the brakes were making the usual crusty/rusty sound for a mile or so but now it stops cleanly with no scoring/scraping noises and it does so in a straight line - always a bonus.
The car is convinced the boot is open so presumably a switch/sensor issue.
The inside will need a clean as it's been valeted with a £2 a tin dash shine that smells of apples or something and makes everything feel sticky/look shiny instead of clean.
It revs cleanly enough and is quite peppy. Took it up to decent driving speed on the Motorway home, no wobbles or indications of balance issues.
There's a clonk in the front suspension over big bumps but otherwise it seems ok.
Unhelpfully, the sticker on the timing belt cover says 54000km so I either assume that was miles and leave it...or I assume it was km and budget £200 to have someone change it as the car ticked over to 70,000 on the way home.
Biggest issue on the way home was the unscheduled 15 minute stop in the back of a police car...
Now that I don't have kids sat in the car screaming I had a proper sniff about.
The clutch is on the high side which suggests a new one will be needed soon but not right away.
It's been stood a bit, the brakes were making the usual crusty/rusty sound for a mile or so but now it stops cleanly with no scoring/scraping noises and it does so in a straight line - always a bonus.
The car is convinced the boot is open so presumably a switch/sensor issue.
The inside will need a clean as it's been valeted with a £2 a tin dash shine that smells of apples or something and makes everything feel sticky/look shiny instead of clean.
It revs cleanly enough and is quite peppy. Took it up to decent driving speed on the Motorway home, no wobbles or indications of balance issues.
There's a clonk in the front suspension over big bumps but otherwise it seems ok.
Unhelpfully, the sticker on the timing belt cover says 54000km so I either assume that was miles and leave it...or I assume it was km and budget £200 to have someone change it as the car ticked over to 70,000 on the way home.
Biggest issue on the way home was the unscheduled 15 minute stop in the back of a police car...
Driving back I passed a police x5 going the other direction.
I watched him pass and then counted a full ten seconds before he braked and turned around I arrive up my chuff with blues
The Alfa had pinged as no insurance on ANPR which I guessed and offered up as he stopped me.
I didn't have any sale paperwork as I did all that yesterday and just had the keys, a wallet full of cash, my phone and uninsured car on his system
I am so pleased I'd been a good boy and changed the insurance in the dealers car park on the phone after dropping the Saab off at the station.
Managed to get into my email and show him a certificate valid from 11:00 and as all was clear, he asked what I'd paid and we had a brief chat about bangernomics and whether it had leather or not and then he let me on my way.
I haven't been in the back of a traffic police car for maybe 10+ Years - It's funny how it almost makes you feel guilty as soon as you sit there
I watched him pass and then counted a full ten seconds before he braked and turned around I arrive up my chuff with blues
The Alfa had pinged as no insurance on ANPR which I guessed and offered up as he stopped me.
I didn't have any sale paperwork as I did all that yesterday and just had the keys, a wallet full of cash, my phone and uninsured car on his system
I am so pleased I'd been a good boy and changed the insurance in the dealers car park on the phone after dropping the Saab off at the station.
Managed to get into my email and show him a certificate valid from 11:00 and as all was clear, he asked what I'd paid and we had a brief chat about bangernomics and whether it had leather or not and then he let me on my way.
I haven't been in the back of a traffic police car for maybe 10+ Years - It's funny how it almost makes you feel guilty as soon as you sit there
The fuel was reading half a tank when I bought it but I am going to brim the tank tomorrow just in case the readout can't be trusted - Don't want to find myself by the side of road after coughing to a halt.
In other news, the wife returned from the hen do in Newcastle intact and on balance is pleased with my car swapping prowess, plus slightly stunned I managed to squeeze buying and retrieving a car into a weekend with kids in tow.
I decided the best approach was to give her the wodge of fivers and twenty's I'd been handed for the Saab so it felt like she'd got money out of the deal...
...before explaining that she'd need to pop down the bank and deposit that as there was an £800 Alfa sized hole it would partially offset.
Cars are mere modes of transport to the wife and her response "At least you got shot o' one pissin' oil on me drive" (the Saab) proved that I'd done the right thing and also that a weekend up north had restored the Darlington/Geordie twang to her accent.
She has no opinion on the Alfa as long it keeps going without needing work or money spending, no pressure then...
In other news, the wife returned from the hen do in Newcastle intact and on balance is pleased with my car swapping prowess, plus slightly stunned I managed to squeeze buying and retrieving a car into a weekend with kids in tow.
I decided the best approach was to give her the wodge of fivers and twenty's I'd been handed for the Saab so it felt like she'd got money out of the deal...
...before explaining that she'd need to pop down the bank and deposit that as there was an £800 Alfa sized hole it would partially offset.
Cars are mere modes of transport to the wife and her response "At least you got shot o' one pissin' oil on me drive" (the Saab) proved that I'd done the right thing and also that a weekend up north had restored the Darlington/Geordie twang to her accent.
She has no opinion on the Alfa as long it keeps going without needing work or money spending, no pressure then...
150 odd miles into ownership, I thought I'd post an update.
The car still is convinced the boot isn't shut - I've tried a liberal application of WD40 and some old fashioned ttting of the boot lock to no avail, I could check the wiring but it was dark and I don't care enough to make more than the above token effort to fix it.
The boot itself locks, it just means the remote central locking won't play and I have to use the key to lock/unlock the car - I can live with that so no further remedial work will take place on this problem - I'll laughingly recall this post in two months when my locks have iced up and I'm marooned somewhere.
The engine has decided that revving above 4500 rpm is not something it wishes to do and also has a minor bunny hop habit when coming from a decent amount of throttle to zero throttle.
Google tells me the hopping might be due to a build up of crap stopping the throttle fully closing so I'll find a minute to check that out and might invest in a tin of carb cleaner to jet wash the manifold in.
It's only a minor annoyance and a smidge of throttle sorts it. It's certainly not as bad as my old Barchetta where the revs dipped so violently on lift off it would stall - a problem I sorted by arriving at roundabouts with all three pedals depressed to some degree...
The not revving past 4.5k is potentially more of an issue - I'm popping back to the garage in the morning to read the odb2 and see if there's anything that it throws up.
Not about to invoke soga just yet and besides even running around under 4.5k, I'm seeing 29-30 mpg which is fine and compares with the saab so I don't really care that much.
We shall see what tomorrow brings
The car still is convinced the boot isn't shut - I've tried a liberal application of WD40 and some old fashioned t
tting of the boot lock to no avail, I could check the wiring but it was dark and I don't care enough to make more than the above token effort to fix it.The boot itself locks, it just means the remote central locking won't play and I have to use the key to lock/unlock the car - I can live with that so no further remedial work will take place on this problem - I'll laughingly recall this post in two months when my locks have iced up and I'm marooned somewhere.
The engine has decided that revving above 4500 rpm is not something it wishes to do and also has a minor bunny hop habit when coming from a decent amount of throttle to zero throttle.
Google tells me the hopping might be due to a build up of crap stopping the throttle fully closing so I'll find a minute to check that out and might invest in a tin of carb cleaner to jet wash the manifold in.
It's only a minor annoyance and a smidge of throttle sorts it. It's certainly not as bad as my old Barchetta where the revs dipped so violently on lift off it would stall - a problem I sorted by arriving at roundabouts with all three pedals depressed to some degree...
The not revving past 4.5k is potentially more of an issue - I'm popping back to the garage in the morning to read the odb2 and see if there's anything that it throws up.
Not about to invoke soga just yet and besides even running around under 4.5k, I'm seeing 29-30 mpg which is fine and compares with the saab so I don't really care that much.
We shall see what tomorrow brings
Had the odb reader on the car back at the garage and got a U1711 code.
Good old Alfa, "let's put the car in limp mode bit not put the EML light on for this code...".
Not taking it up with the garage as I've bough in the arse end of the market and without trying to rev it past 4,500 and no EML you wouldn't really know anything is wrong with it so I can't really pin it on the dealer selling me a pup.
We (dealer and I) did a spot of googling on the code he'd pulled up and suggests it may be a sensor, or running rich/burning oil or a dead cat. If I get chance this weekend, I might buy a tin of carb/brake cleaner and hose down the lambda sensor and throttle body to see if that helps. I'm not about to faff with the cat, it drives perfectly fine under 4.5k so I don't really care.
In other news, I found a Nikon camera battery that eBay informs me is worth about £3 so I'll eBay it for a laugh (in shedding, every penny counts).
Also turns out the Alfa has a G-meter for left hand turns. All you need to do is have the brake fluid reservoir sat nicely between min and max and then every left hander you take, you get a brake fluid low warning if you attempt the turn too quickly...
The gearbox is something of a clowns pocket too, there's more movement side to side in gear than it would take to cover the whole gate in the Saab but I've not missed a gear yet
Despite all this, it is an amusing little car to pootle about in and I am having a ball
As it stands, if the car blows up tomorrow it's cost £4.49 a mile so far including purchase...I'll keep this stat randomly updated.
Good old Alfa, "let's put the car in limp mode bit not put the EML light on for this code...".
Not taking it up with the garage as I've bough in the arse end of the market and without trying to rev it past 4,500 and no EML you wouldn't really know anything is wrong with it so I can't really pin it on the dealer selling me a pup.
We (dealer and I) did a spot of googling on the code he'd pulled up and suggests it may be a sensor, or running rich/burning oil or a dead cat. If I get chance this weekend, I might buy a tin of carb/brake cleaner and hose down the lambda sensor and throttle body to see if that helps. I'm not about to faff with the cat, it drives perfectly fine under 4.5k so I don't really care.
In other news, I found a Nikon camera battery that eBay informs me is worth about £3 so I'll eBay it for a laugh (in shedding, every penny counts).
Also turns out the Alfa has a G-meter for left hand turns. All you need to do is have the brake fluid reservoir sat nicely between min and max and then every left hander you take, you get a brake fluid low warning if you attempt the turn too quickly...
The gearbox is something of a clowns pocket too, there's more movement side to side in gear than it would take to cover the whole gate in the Saab but I've not missed a gear yet
Despite all this, it is an amusing little car to pootle about in and I am having a ball
As it stands, if the car blows up tomorrow it's cost £4.49 a mile so far including purchase...I'll keep this stat randomly updated.
Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 6th October 12:32
Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 6th October 12:39
Didn't get any time to investigate the engine fault on the car this weekend, mainly due to a huge pile of wood I had to get chopped and stored to give me a clear space to work on the car.
I did have a quick 30 second check this morning and pulled the MAF lead off. It made no difference to the revving so suspicion falls on the lambda sensors again. It was worth a try as the MAF didn't require crawling under the car with a spanner. However, I now have a full blown engine management light on the dash since unplugging (and putting back in) the MAF cable. It is driving no worse than before and fuel economy crept up a whopping 0.3 mpg this morning to 28.3 so it's clearly not terminal.
Aside from the minor inconvenience of having an engine with only 50% of it's rev range available it is an enjoyable place to be. It feels a generation apart from the 9-3 in terms of design and interior finish. The seats in the Saab were more supportive but other than that, the Alfa is a nicer place to be. Flicking the indicator stalk in the Saab made a noise like a mortician cracking open a cadaver's rib cage, it is a silent and softly damped joy in the Alfa.
The cabin is also much more insulated from road and engine noise, the obvious caveat being that I spent most of my time in the Saab mucking about on boost and trying to coerce it into going in a straight line whereas I'm driving the Alfa as if Miss Daisy was in the back until I fix the rev problem.
I know I'm supposed to be treating this one like a shed but I'm sensing the danger signs already and starting to make a small list of the things that need doing. The critical thing for Shed vs Bangernomics will be solving the engine revs, I'll probably give it three strikes and a few bob to try and fix it. If that doens't work, I'll just drive around it until/if it dies.
Assuming I fix the revs, the cambelt/balance belt is coming up to 3 years old so I'll stomach the £300 for that being done (I don't have time to do it myself so don't even suggest it) and keep it running.
So, things to do in some sort of order
- Sort the U1711 Code / engine revs
- Cambelt / Timing
- Two new rear tyres (Why can't I ever buy a car with decent tread left all round?)
- Token poke about for the knocking under the car
- Get a new bumper or spray/tidy the raggy existing one
- Sort out the Boot Sensor
- Get the cruise working (Probably disabled due to the engine issue - I don't use it but I know it isn't working and that bugs me)
I did have a quick 30 second check this morning and pulled the MAF lead off. It made no difference to the revving so suspicion falls on the lambda sensors again. It was worth a try as the MAF didn't require crawling under the car with a spanner. However, I now have a full blown engine management light on the dash since unplugging (and putting back in) the MAF cable. It is driving no worse than before and fuel economy crept up a whopping 0.3 mpg this morning to 28.3 so it's clearly not terminal.
Aside from the minor inconvenience of having an engine with only 50% of it's rev range available it is an enjoyable place to be. It feels a generation apart from the 9-3 in terms of design and interior finish. The seats in the Saab were more supportive but other than that, the Alfa is a nicer place to be. Flicking the indicator stalk in the Saab made a noise like a mortician cracking open a cadaver's rib cage, it is a silent and softly damped joy in the Alfa.
The cabin is also much more insulated from road and engine noise, the obvious caveat being that I spent most of my time in the Saab mucking about on boost and trying to coerce it into going in a straight line whereas I'm driving the Alfa as if Miss Daisy was in the back until I fix the rev problem.
I know I'm supposed to be treating this one like a shed but I'm sensing the danger signs already and starting to make a small list of the things that need doing. The critical thing for Shed vs Bangernomics will be solving the engine revs, I'll probably give it three strikes and a few bob to try and fix it. If that doens't work, I'll just drive around it until/if it dies.
Assuming I fix the revs, the cambelt/balance belt is coming up to 3 years old so I'll stomach the £300 for that being done (I don't have time to do it myself so don't even suggest it) and keep it running.
So, things to do in some sort of order
- Sort the U1711 Code / engine revs
- Cambelt / Timing
- Two new rear tyres (Why can't I ever buy a car with decent tread left all round?)
- Token poke about for the knocking under the car
- Get a new bumper or spray/tidy the raggy existing one
- Sort out the Boot Sensor
- Get the cruise working (Probably disabled due to the engine issue - I don't use it but I know it isn't working and that bugs me)
Edited by stewjohnst on Monday 9th October 13:57
It would appear the Alfa is able to read my mind in a manner not dissimilar to my wife. More to the point, it appears to know when I am about to spend money on it but decide against it and punishes me accordingly.
I was hovering over buy it now on a version of EcuScan and the associated ODB cables last night so I could work my way through the body computer and any other fault codes. I decided at the last minute to wait, since the rear tyres being at 1.8mm probably ought to come first.
The 147 must have got whiff of this near purchase wobble and as soon as I turned out of the drive this morning it spat up an ASR failure warning to add to the list...oh, if only I'd bought the scanner.
I have though spent my first bit of repair money on the shed, a whopping £5.95 for a pair of new clips because one side of the passenger dashboard airbag cover had come loose. The other clip was fine but I had to break it off to get in to replace the other.
The original airbag and bits and pieces are all fine in there and it would have been a simple job well done, except that disaster befalls anything I try do. I contrived to flick the old broken clip up onto the dash and ended up watching in slow motion, like a child watching their sweetie money drop through a grate, as the clip rolled along the dash and down into the windscreen vent so now I have another rattle to contend with on my commute.
I've also parted with £7 for some carb cleaner to clean out the throttle body and MAF before I start taking any more expensive bits off.
Based on past performance, expect the next update to include a burnt out shell or a photo of me sans eyebrows due to the Alfa randomly igniting the carb cleaner or something
On the plus side, mpg is up to 30.0 mpg over in the 500 miles I've done in it now.
I was hovering over buy it now on a version of EcuScan and the associated ODB cables last night so I could work my way through the body computer and any other fault codes. I decided at the last minute to wait, since the rear tyres being at 1.8mm probably ought to come first.
The 147 must have got whiff of this near purchase wobble and as soon as I turned out of the drive this morning it spat up an ASR failure warning to add to the list...oh, if only I'd bought the scanner.
I have though spent my first bit of repair money on the shed, a whopping £5.95 for a pair of new clips because one side of the passenger dashboard airbag cover had come loose. The other clip was fine but I had to break it off to get in to replace the other.
The original airbag and bits and pieces are all fine in there and it would have been a simple job well done, except that disaster befalls anything I try do. I contrived to flick the old broken clip up onto the dash and ended up watching in slow motion, like a child watching their sweetie money drop through a grate, as the clip rolled along the dash and down into the windscreen vent so now I have another rattle to contend with on my commute.
I've also parted with £7 for some carb cleaner to clean out the throttle body and MAF before I start taking any more expensive bits off.
Based on past performance, expect the next update to include a burnt out shell or a photo of me sans eyebrows due to the Alfa randomly igniting the carb cleaner or something
On the plus side, mpg is up to 30.0 mpg over in the 500 miles I've done in it now.
Bluehawk said:
You're no good at this shedding stuff...£7 for a tin of carb cleaner?!
A true Shed owner would be down tool station handing over £2.70 (assuming you have one locally, if not, ignore me)
I hadn't thought of them, I've spent four years in and out of my local Toolstation renovating my house...A true Shed owner would be down tool station handing over £2.70 (assuming you have one locally, if not, ignore me)
Unexpected bonus time
You shamed me into processing a refund for my carb cleaner from Amazon so I could get the cheapo stuff from Toolstation and Amazon have refunded the money and told me to just keep the carb cleaner anyway.
You can't get better shedding than free stuff.
Would be nice to get five minutes to clean the thing now and save me some notes on buying a new maf.
All in so far, I'm at 507 miles and an average cost including net fuel costs (expenses covers work travel) of £1.72 a mile.
That will obviously take a beating when the timing belts, bobbins and tyres get done in December - or do i just ride it past 3 years on the belts and pretend it will be ok?
Edited by stewjohnst on Thursday 19th October 13:07
RicksAlfas said:
ASR warnings are often a sign of a poor battery voltage. They need a tip top battery voltage reading to satisfy the computer. Sometimes a quick rev of the engine on a cold morning will turn the errors off as the volts creep back up from a cold start.
Boot lid - fold down the rear seats so you can see into the boot and make sure the boot light is going out when the boot is closed.
Squeaky clutch pedal and front suspension knocks are standard.
Cambelt - ideally you want to do the waterpump, tensioners and balance belt at the same time. I appreciate it's going against the grain of bangernomics, but it's usually the waterpump or tensioners which fail and then cause the belt to snap. The belt in its own right is not the weak point.
See if there is an Alfa specialist near you. They will have all the gear to read codes etc.
Thanks for all that, it was a colder morning when the ASR came on, so probably voltage as it's gone again now Boot lid - fold down the rear seats so you can see into the boot and make sure the boot light is going out when the boot is closed.
Squeaky clutch pedal and front suspension knocks are standard.
Cambelt - ideally you want to do the waterpump, tensioners and balance belt at the same time. I appreciate it's going against the grain of bangernomics, but it's usually the waterpump or tensioners which fail and then cause the belt to snap. The belt in its own right is not the weak point.
See if there is an Alfa specialist near you. They will have all the gear to read codes etc.
I need the car to last until July so I can't see a way around coughing up for the all the belts and pump, etc. I know it's going to set me back a fair few hundred but it will be good for another few years once done so it's better than being stranded by the side of the road in a few months time and having to wheel it off for scrap.
Nothing beats being woken up on a Saturday morning by the dog going apest at the postman...
...not that I mind as he's delivered this to me today in exchange for about £15 via Amazon.
The missus is out on the tiles tonight so there's every chance of me getting intimate with the Alfa tonight.
To be continued
t at the postman......not that I mind as he's delivered this to me today in exchange for about £15 via Amazon.
The missus is out on the tiles tonight so there's every chance of me getting intimate with the Alfa tonight.
To be continued
Finally managed to get outside for a minute as one of the kids is snotted up and making wheezing sounds like a racehorse with a punctured lung so I kind of felt bad not letting her stay up for a little bit.
I left her alone for two minutes in front of my touchscreen laptop to get the calpol (she's two and a bit) and she'd managed to add 3 Autodelta supercharger kits for the Alfa to my shopping basket for a princely £15k, good lass!
Anyway - On to the codes...
There were some codes on there for the Lambda and the MAF but they're not current and are almost certainly from when I was unplugging bits and bobs to see if anything made a blind bit of difference so I cleared them off.
The one that is still there is the U1711 showing an issue between the ECU and the automatic transmission control unit.
This is slightly odd as the car is a manual...
Further checking discovered the ecu thinks the car is an auto and in third gear?
The mileage on the ecu is also way off, at 210,000km and at this prompted me to get out in the pissing rain and hurriedly check all the vin numbers on the slam panel and wing (of course I did that when I bought it *cough*).
It all matches on the panel, V5 and the suspension top mount so I'm left suspecting it has borked an ecu at some point and an auto ecu has been put in?
I still haven't cleaned the maf as it was raining and pitch black outside so maybe I'll get to that tomorrow as long as the wife isn't too hung over to watch over the two year old pretending to be Shergar on his deathbed upstairs.
I left her alone for two minutes in front of my touchscreen laptop to get the calpol (she's two and a bit) and she'd managed to add 3 Autodelta supercharger kits for the Alfa to my shopping basket for a princely £15k, good lass!
Anyway - On to the codes...
There were some codes on there for the Lambda and the MAF but they're not current and are almost certainly from when I was unplugging bits and bobs to see if anything made a blind bit of difference so I cleared them off.
The one that is still there is the U1711 showing an issue between the ECU and the automatic transmission control unit.
This is slightly odd as the car is a manual...
Further checking discovered the ecu thinks the car is an auto and in third gear?
The mileage on the ecu is also way off, at 210,000km and at this prompted me to get out in the pissing rain and hurriedly check all the vin numbers on the slam panel and wing (of course I did that when I bought it *cough*).
It all matches on the panel, V5 and the suspension top mount so I'm left suspecting it has borked an ecu at some point and an auto ecu has been put in?
I still haven't cleaned the maf as it was raining and pitch black outside so maybe I'll get to that tomorrow as long as the wife isn't too hung over to watch over the two year old pretending to be Shergar on his deathbed upstairs.
Seems I was in a bit too much of a hurry in the rain last night, the wife pointed out a small mistake I made in my rush to get out of the rain.
Fortunately, the unbeatable combination of being old, an Alfa and being worth peanuts has provided the kind of anti theft protection Golf R and Audi RS3 owners can only dream.
In other words, it is still on the drive despite spending the night with the key in the door like this...
Fortunately, the unbeatable combination of being old, an Alfa and being worth peanuts has provided the kind of anti theft protection Golf R and Audi RS3 owners can only dream.
In other words, it is still on the drive despite spending the night with the key in the door like this...
I finally got some time last week to put the carb cleaner to use on the maf, nice sunny day and the arse end of storm Ophelia or whatever meant the maf dried out pretty quickly after a spray over with cleaner.
Alas, the maf was still borked so I shelled out on a new Bosch unit for the not too horrific price of £66 and it should be here tomorrow.
With half a can of free carb cleaner in my hand (and a rag in the other to stop overspray everywhere) I figured I'd clean off the engine bits and bobs and fluid bottles, etc.
Scrubs up well
Apart from the fun to be had spraying carb cleaner all over the non perishable bits of an engine bay (is there anything it doesn't shift?) there is method in the madness of cleaning the shed's engine bay up a bit.
I've topped off the brake fluid as the left turn induced fluid alarm was getting tiresome and checked over all the other fluids so having everything clean for a bit will let me see if anything is leaking out anywhere.
I bought a litre of dot 4 as the brakes are pretty spongy so although I've topped up for now a proper change of fluid wont hurt.
Not much else to note, the coolant pipe is crusty but that looks like old crust and as long as I don't touch it, it probably won't fall to bits...
Im coming up to a 1,000 miles in it now and I'm interested to see what it will be like when it's running properly
Alas, the maf was still borked so I shelled out on a new Bosch unit for the not too horrific price of £66 and it should be here tomorrow.
With half a can of free carb cleaner in my hand (and a rag in the other to stop overspray everywhere) I figured I'd clean off the engine bits and bobs and fluid bottles, etc.
Scrubs up well
Apart from the fun to be had spraying carb cleaner all over the non perishable bits of an engine bay (is there anything it doesn't shift?) there is method in the madness of cleaning the shed's engine bay up a bit.
I've topped off the brake fluid as the left turn induced fluid alarm was getting tiresome and checked over all the other fluids so having everything clean for a bit will let me see if anything is leaking out anywhere.
I bought a litre of dot 4 as the brakes are pretty spongy so although I've topped up for now a proper change of fluid wont hurt.
Not much else to note, the coolant pipe is crusty but that looks like old crust and as long as I don't touch it, it probably won't fall to bits...
Im coming up to a 1,000 miles in it now and I'm interested to see what it will be like when it's running properly
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