Alfa Pages

[turkey]

hi all-

thought I would see if anyone has any info on this before I go replacing a distributor. the inside of my distributor cap has a long gouge running around half the circumference of the inside of the cap - about half way up the cap. also two of the metal ht terminal contacts at the top of the cap have a nice gouge taken out of them too - so it seems something (rotor arm and base of rotor arm?) are scrapping the inside of the cap when rotating. if it makes any difference it corresponds to the the left side of the cap which connects to cylinders 2 and 4 and the other half of the cap is perfect.

there doesn't seem to be any unusual sounds being made- i would say the car runs okay although perhaps a bit slow and doesn't like to be revved much over 4000rpm. i was just going through a few basic things- replaced plugs, oil, air filter and was looking at the inside of the cap when i noticed this. the timing was also advanced a bit by previous owner.

tried replacing the cap but it did similar damage within a week. the car is a 87 model 1.5 twin carb and it is a marelli distributor. is it possible this is fixable or definitely get a whole new distributor? also is it an alternative to use the bosch distributor instead of the marelli as so far i have been unable to source a new marelli distributor here in brisbane australia.


on another topic - with alfa control would the green light normally be on at all times if everything is running ok- i only ask cause i have never actually seen it. red a/control light comes on when i switch the headlights on but no light at all with the headlights off.

thanks for any help you can give.

regards-
david

[33alfa33]

In regard to the second question about the Alfa Control, I am also curious here.

The red light comes on with the headlights or parking lights with my '88 1.5. I have always put this down to Alfa electrical gremlins, as I have changed all the globes and cleaned any suspicious looking connections, but the red warning light remains on. Is this actually by design or is it a common fault?

[Matt Stolton]

The control one is easy, if curious....

Basically, you need to replace lamps as pairs, and not individually as they blow!!! The control system for lights (normally the rears are the problem) measures a difference in current flowing to each rear light. It assumes any difference is from a blown lamp. However, an older lamp will conduct differently to a new lamp, so having an old and new lamp fitted confuses it!! However, fitting pairs of lights is only a short term solution, as one will always age quicker than the other, leading to a current difference......

Much as it sounds like Alfa Control is flawed, I always liked the faults, as it does (IT SHOULD) make you paranoid enough to check the systems it is protecting. It is better to have a warning light come on, check the fault and decide the warning is wrong, than not check. It is good to be a little paranoid.

Regarding the cap, it sounds like either the cap is not sitting properly (make sure both retaining clips do clip properly), or the rotor arm is the wrong arm, or the rotor arm's rev limiter is broken (the springy bit is too 'springy'). Worst ways it is possible for the distributer to be bent, or it is spinning eccentrically, but that would take some doing to bend it, perhaps dropping the engine with it in place or something, and knocking it against the bulkhead.

The Bosch and Marelli are interchangeable, as complete units, but I don't think the caps or arms are interchangeable between makes. Saying that I used to carry two types of rotor arm, one with rev limiter (about 6500) and one without, so if I went out on a burn with the Clovetech crew, I could loose the rev limiter!! I believe one is Bosch and the other is Marelli, and you could interchange them, but probably best to stick with one manufacturer's complete system.

I would have to say that you may have a problem if the car doesn't like 4K plus revving, that is where all the fun is, and boxers love it!!! Whilst you have spotted a HT problem, you may also have a fuelling problem (dirty injectors or main jets depending if i.e. or Ti) or general timimg issue. Unless you have the gear to set it up properly, and some knowledge, it can be quicker (and cost effective) to get a Alfa specialist to tune it up, or at least cast an eye. If you around London, I still swear by ( and at) Lloyd at clovertech. He on his hols 'til next week, but worth a trip.

Try Clicking here for his site.

Have fun[/url]
_________________
Regards

Matt

Ex Alfa 33 'GTA' (P4 with Knobs On)
Now cruising in a 166 3.2 Ti!!

[Eddie W]

Hi Turkey,
The plastic dust/water shield under the rotor must be located carefully into the same slot as the cap, otherwise the cap could be tilted slightly.
If you change dissie types then check your loom to the coil as they have different plugs at the dissie end. Your rev limitations do seem to point tothe rotor as the first place to check,otherwise timing and float levels.
Lead and plug problems would probably show up with misfiring. If the carbs are Dellortos the floats should weigh 10gms,much above this will make it run rich,eventually to yhe point of dribbling from the rear mains on idle.
Good luck Eddie

[Adam H]

My last 33 (A 1.7ie) had an Alfacontrol that often used to light up red for no reason. Also, switching off the ignition and restarting the car usually used to switch off the red light.

My wife's Lancia Dedra has a similar system that checks everything - restarting the engine will always put out the oil level light that inevitably stays lit first time.

No surprise to find me more than happy with my newer 33 (A 16v) that does not have an alfacontrol.

Motto: Ignore warning lights, unless it has the word 'Toyota' on it, or is followed by a loud rattling noise!

[turkey]

thanks for all the replies - from further inspection it would appear most likley the distributor problem is being caused by the springs that control the counter weights (or in my case- sorta control the counter weights) under the rotor arm. they are not very good at returning the counter weights to their correct position. no luck sourcing these seperately yet and i doubt that will be possible so i'll just go for a second hand dizzy and see how that goes. no one has new dizzys here that i know of anyway.

appreciate the tip on the alfa specialist in london but i am in brisvegas australia so the plane fair is probably worth more than the car !- i think i know of one good specialist in brisbane so if all else fails they will be next port of call. i do think/hope the distributor is the source of 99% of problems so will attend to that first. i thought it was actually running ok - except that i keep reading here that they love to rev etc hence i started looking for problems.

i checked the bulbs of brakelights and headlights for alfa control and all are correct ratings but if the varying age of the bulb gives different current readings then that could be the problem. Has anyone every seen the green alfa light or is that like the loch ness monster or something?
if everything was all clear would you get the greenlight at start up or constantly on whilst the car was running?

thanks again for all replies- much appreciated.

david

[33alfa33]

Re Alfa Control, I changed both tail/brake light bulbs with two identical bulbs - bingo!, no more red light on Alfa Control with the lights on. Thanks to Matt for this.

I do see the green light very briefly when I start the car before the system does its self check, then all the lights go out.

[Matt Stolton]

Don't worry, the red light will return, just when you least expect it.
_________________
Regards

Matt

Ex Alfa 33 'GTA' (P4 with Knobs On)
Now cruising in a 166 3.2 Ti!!

[Rob (not an ARNA)]

Seeing that no-one has answered one of your original queries, I can advise what the Check Control does (on my old series 1 Alfa 33, at least).

When all monitored systems are working (not very often!), the green light in the CC will come on for about 10 seconds, along with a yellow light and red light in the instrument cluster. Then all three lights will go off, so you don't have any lights distracting you from the serious business of driving your 33.

However, if the CC detects a fault, the red light in the CC will come on and STAY ON (which is most of the time for me, seeing that I can't get my coolant level sensor to work properly any more).

Cheers,

Rob (Perth)

1984 33 1.5 8V

[turkey]

thanks for the info Rob- well i've seen halleys comet in my lifetime - it would probably be too much to expect to see the green , yellow and red alfa lights all work as described- maybe I can just aim for one of them to come on....gotta have a goal in life.

new distributor ($145aus second hand!!?) due tomorrow so hopefully that will make a big improvement in the cars revving which is somewhat limited at present.

thanks again-
david