[alfakent]

First let me say I have had an Alfetta for 30 years and always have been able to fix it myself. I have owned the 164 for 3 years and have never been able to fix anything that breaks, including something as simple as a turn signal that wont blink on the left rear.

This week's adventure started when my 164 began to get hard to start. it normally starts within a couple of cranks. Yesterday my wife drove it to the store about 5 miles away, when she came back out the car wouldn't start. When I got off work about 4 hours later, I went to the car it cranked over a little longer than normal than started. Once started, it seems to run well, it idles evenly and seems to have no odd sounds or anything. When it was running, I could hear what I assume is the fuel pump from the trunk area of the car. I turned the car off and it absolutely refused to start.

So far I have checked for fuel delivery by removing the fuel line going to I guess the fuel rail? on the top front of the engine. When the key was turned on (but engine not cranking) I had no fuel. When the engine was turning over I seemed to have plenty of fuel coming thru the line.

I pulled a spark plug and cranked the engine looking for a spark. When cranking, the spark was more of a yellow spark rather than the blue spark I was expecting. I then checked the Distributor Cap and rotor. (the cap and rotor are probably 18 months old but only a couple of thousand miles) The rotor itself looked black, burnt, sooty on the end and all of the contacts on the cap had a black burnt looking line where the rotor would have spun. I cleaned the rotor contact and the contacts on the cap and put it all back together.

After much cracking, the car started and again seemed to run fine, but when I turned it off and tryed to restart it the car was extremely hard to start.

can anyone tell me does the car need the new cap and rotor or is the black arcing normal? Does it seem like i am on the right track? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[alfakent]

Thanks everyone for the help. The center button on the cap does stick out about 1/4 inch and is spring loaded I guess my biggest concern was the carbon buildup on the rotor tip and inside the cap. I have a late night at work tonight but tomorrow I'll get into it and see what is happening

 

[alfakent]

I worked on the 164 this evening, took all the trunk lining out and removed all of the hex screws. The deeper I got into this the more I realized it is a weekend project not a after work project.

I do have a couple of questions: Do i need a specific hose or will any parts store fuel line work? How bad does a crack need to be to affect the operation?

 

[alfakent]

Hard starting 164L

Got the pump out of the tank this morning. You all were right, the short cloth covered hose was cracked, the Pan was full of sand/mud/gunk the clips on the side of the pan were broken so the PO had two sheet metal screws through the spring and into the pan clearance was definitely an issue. After slicing the tip of my finger, I also found the spring must be made from the same material as a gingsu knife. I also managed to break one of the wire connectors for the fuel pump. The PO told me he had removed the tank just before I bought it and had it boiled and coated and a new fuel pump installed. I can tell someone had been there before but I'm not too impressed with their skills.

Now the questions:
- Are these parts available thru the usual aftermarket suppliers?
- The hoses on the outside of the tan are all hard and brittle how difficult is it to replace these?
- Does anyone sell a complete kit, from the cover to basket and all the internal hoses?