[Lemon]

The problem was bad batch of genuine Bosch condensers and possibly NGK spark plugs

After buying a brand new electronic distributor and ignitoin coil £175 it started straight up immediately as nothing was wrong.

So going back to original distributor it failed giving all the problems i wrote about previously. I ran out of genuine OE spares so tried a cheaper condenser from the local parts shop and started immediately as it did a year ago idled and ran lovely.

Out of curiosity all 8 condensors i had binned all didn't allow the car to start but tested ok in car and on the bench according to the manual. I could time it up, use test light and got blue spark at all plugs basically no reason why it should not start and run. Replacing Bosch with the cheap £2 condenser in worked straight away again. All the spark plugs i tried were faulty, somewhere was earthing oddly causing the plugs to foul up black as if it was flooding or mixture too rich but now i think the spark plugs were just not firing long enough to ignite all the fuel because of an earthing problem within the spark plug itself.

Now the car is running great again i have all new jets floats and gaskets that was previously recommended, is it worth while swapping them out?

The float level is still bothering me if set the float height 8.5mm then the other measurement down tube holder is well off, which is the preferred measurement to go by?

Thanks everyone and hope if anyone else has similar problems look at the igntion condenser first if it tests ok replace it anyway!
Bosch ignition condenser 1237330295 or compatible alternatives

 

[6alfas]

Very interesting to have multiple new parts fail like that. Thanks for posting the final resolution.

Chuck

 

[DPeterson3]

Possibly not identically failed condensers. More likely something was shorting through the distributor body, and with enough fiddling you changed its angle of dangle, and it stopped shorting.

 

[alfaparticle]

So far I ended up replacing the entire ignition system and followed the manuals checking everything and i confirm i got a blue spark on all 4 cylinders

That led most of us to think that you had a carb problem. The good news is that you have now the correct jets as well as sparks.

 

[Lemon]

Possibly not identically failed condensers. More likely something was shorting through the distributor body, and with enough fiddling you changed its angle of dangle, and it stopped shorting.

Im sending all the parts away to the company who built me the electronic distributor for diagnosis just to conclude the exact faults and i will update the thread.

That led most of us to think that you had a carb problem. The good news is that you have now the correct jets as well as sparks.

It was all very confusing and stumped the all pro mechanics and alfa specialists too.
Although carbs ran great on the old jets i will swap them over, with regards to fuel float level just to clarify what numbers should i aim for?

Thank you for all the help

 

[alfaparticle]

Condensors must be used with points distributors. I don't know of any electronic distributors that need them. Having said that, I would not be very surprised to hear that you got two new ones that were bad. They were most likely from the same batch and sat on a dealers shelf for the same length of time.