Milano Meltdown - Help!

[two-point-o]

So the battery was dead that fateful night but she got the car started with a jump. Drove a few blocks and suddenly the dash lights went very bright, headlights burned out and the car stalled. Got it to the shop and the battery had gassed itself dry and was hopelessly dead. Replaced it. The coil looked horrid from the battery gasses and was replaced though the wireing cleaned up well and looks good. Now it cranks over well, has good voltage to the coil but no injector pulse nor spark. Swapped out the ECU from a GTV6 (both green label Jetronics) but no change. I was hoping to get it to run momentarily to see how much the alternator was wildly overcharging and causing trouble. Should I disconnect the alt and then try to start? Is there a fuse hidden somewhere I don't know about (all the underdash fuses are good, which seems odd they didn't blow). Hope someone has run into this before and can talk me down to the runway, hunting this sort of electrical gremlin is not my best sport. Thanks for any input.
Cheers,
Ken
'91 164L
'74 GTV
'67 GT Jr.

[Hit an Apex]

- Car should be able to run without alt for a little while.
- Check/clean all grounds - INCLUDING battery > engine ground and battery > chassis ground

[FlyGirl]

Sounds like my baby is giving you a run for your money...

The car was running fine...expect for the bright dash lights and dead battery up till about 2500RPM and that's when she died. Don't know if this could help figure out the problem or not.

[nizam]

Hmm, two dead cars with symptoms I once saw on "Men in Black". Both in AZ. At almost similar times.

Did you see any lights in the sky when this happened?

[FlyGirl]

Yeah I wish it was something like that nizam...then that would explain something!

Ken, found this in the Milano Service manual I have...in group 00 page 44. It gives some probable cause to our no spark problem. Here the 8 things it has listed...

• Electrical connections interrupted - Identify the interruption and repair or replace connection (helpful right?!)
• Coil ignition distributor cap punctured by high voltage or by discharges - Replace Distributor cap
• Rotor arm punctured be high voltage or by discharges - replace rotor arm
• Ignition coil cap punctured by high voltage or by discharges - replace ignition coil
• Ignition coil primary winding short circuited or discharged - replace ignition coil
• Ignition coil secondary winding interrupted - replace ignition coil
• Ignition electronic module faulty - replace module
• Advance control unit defective - replace control unit

Like to believe it's the coil or distributor due to their reference to high voltage. If you already looked at this stuff, then disregard. Now you know why her new name is Pita (pain in the a$$...$ being the key part!)

Jenn

[SamW]

Sounds like you are on the right track, maybe the voltage regulator died and let too much voltage through. I would disconnect the alt for right now and put in a full charged battery. Check to see if you are getting any spark to the plugs, if not, work backwards until you find out where the problem is. It is very odd that both would have the same issue, usually when they go, they die and give nothing, mostly in motorcycles do I hear about the overcharging of batteries. In them, usually a corroded electrical connector near the regulator/rectifier.

[two-point-o]

So far have replaced battery, coil, distributor (used), cap (new), rotor, and combination relay, checked grounds, removed alt for testing (regulator stuck and it is overcharging - no surprise there). The car cranks like mad, fuel pump kicks on, cold start injector fires up but NO spark and NO injector pulse. Have also removed the ECU and placed it in another car and it worked fine (whew). Inspected the wiring as far as visual and it looks fine, checked contunuity from relays to coil - okay, from relays to coolant temp sensor - okay so seems the wiring is okay. Any direction? I am crawling in the dark here. Fly Girl can you get your manual to me next time you're nearby? HELP...
Ken

[nizam]

Ken - Craig has the manual online. Go here: Craig's Place, Alfa 75 Manuals and Information

[slyalfa]

I would check the hall in the dizzy it might have smoked. if there is no pulse from the hall there will be no inject pulse or spark pulse. then from there check the spark box next to the L-JET ecu and the hall amp under the coil.

[FlyGirl]

Ok with talking with my dad for a few hour last night and looking at a few electrical diagrams (oh fun!!!)...we came up with a few things. First the fact that there is not injector pulse doesn't matter at this point. The ECU will not allow the injector pulse to happen if there is no pulse from the ignition distributor. So at this point our only problem is that there is no spark. It could be the I35 relay on the fuse panel...it's the relay on the top row, second from the right (this may be bad if the radio doesn't turn on or the windows don't roll down with the key turned on) and it's a very common relay...probably have one in the gtv. Information on this relay can be found on craigs page (web address given by nizam) under group 40 on pages 75-40-06 (location) and 75-40-10 (specs). We think it could also be the ignition switch. It ties right into the ignition coil so if you can test the ignition switch...the wire that goes to the coil from the ignition switch is Green/Black. If it's not either of these two items, then we agree with slyalfa that it could be the spark box next to the L-JET ecu or the hall amp under the coil. Probably check the relay and the ignition first because it would be the easiest tests. Hope this helps...and I'm really hoping that it's just the I-35 relay.

[jontg428]

Sounds perplexing, I hope my 164 makes it back on one piece from Tucson and does not come down with all the electrical gremlins this town seems to cast on alfa's!