On the road again

Ianc · #1 (**permalink**) 10-14-2004, 07:16 PM

Well, bought insurance and plates (they go together here) and went for a 30 minute drive. Handles fine. Steering good. Rattle in driver's door. Clutch is pretty bad. Slips a lot. Gears are average. Long as I hesitate in neutral going up and double clutch down, no grunch. Engine, for some reason, is running on 3.5 cylinders. (No obvious miss, but no power.) Had it out a month ago (illegally) and went much better. Can't imagine what I could have done, as I've been working on electrics and the top. No valve noise, apart from lack of power sounded fine.

Pulled the plugs. Number three is pretty black, but others are clean. Attached wires, laid plugs on head, turned engine over. Good sparks. Cleaned plugs, pulled leads, cleaned ends, checked cap (fine) went for another drive. Same thing. Next comes a compression check. I'll report back.

Ianc · #2 (**permalink**) 10-18-2004, 09:17 PM

To make a long story short, I had a bad plug. Took me a long time and a lot of troubleshooting to get it nailed down, but the plug that was fouled just wasn't right. Replaced it and the car goes like a real Alfa. Brand new plug, less than 200 km on it. Worked fine when new, but after sitting for a month just wouldn't fire under pressure. So - replace the clutch, and awwwway we go. But I still want to know which hole the T head bolt goes in for the tensioning wire on the hood (convertible top.)