Just bought a 1991, 61k miles, auto trans to replace a car my wife had to sell in the 80's... No service records... only driven 1200 miles in the last 6 years.. always a CA car... I live in the San Fernando Valley area and can use a shop suggestion but also might take this on as a car to maintain myself. What's a good source for parts and a service book or cd? Right away I want to change oil, filter, fuel filter and auto trans fluid / filter if there is one..maybe coolant also.. Pics to come as soon as we pick it up.... Thanks!!
New Alfa Spider Owner: Help?
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I bought a CD/DVD that contains copies of the Alfa Shop Manuals, Owner's Manuals, etc (also has some period advertisng) from Car Disc. I think many of the usual Alfa parts suppliers also sell the disc. There is a 'Suppliers' thread with lots of listings to Alfa parts suppliers in the 'anything about Alfa Romeos' section.
I suggest you join a local Alfa club. Members can point you toward good mechanics or help you become a DIY'er.
We will be waiting for those photos...
I suggest you join a local Alfa club. Members can point you toward good mechanics or help you become a DIY'er.
We will be waiting for those photos...
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I just noticed that Alfa Parts has the shop manual CD's on sale.
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You might as well start by buying a set of Metric combination wrenches and socket set if you don't already have such. You will need a 27MM 6 point socket for the engine drain plug, so get a set of big Metric sockets or buy a loose 27MM first off. You will also need a 12 MM allen wrench for the plug on the differential. The auto trans I don't know about.
AutoZone sells a loose 27MM socket, chrome with a nice red stripe around the base which makes for a great engine drain plug socket. I keep the 27MM socket and the 12MM allen in a zip lock bag in the glove box so it is never lost when it is oil change time.
Bear in mind that the differential and the manual transmission use Shell Spirax oil, so don't let some uneducated person put in 90 weight hypiod oil which is what most vehicles take. There is also a Redline product which can be substuted for the Spirax, but you will have to find or order these in advance as no regular shop or quick lub place will ever stock either of these 2 products. Check out the Sticky post at the front of this thread, it will answer a lot of your questions. Also the search function will get you to a lot of directed search answers.
You can score a lot of points around this BB if you make a $$ donation to Simon, the webmaster, to help fund the BB. And according to Eric and Murray, a photo of your Alfa is REQUIRED, although I don't remember seeing that requirement in any writing from Simon.
Welcome and good luck, Robert Hill in Memphis Tn
AutoZone sells a loose 27MM socket, chrome with a nice red stripe around the base which makes for a great engine drain plug socket. I keep the 27MM socket and the 12MM allen in a zip lock bag in the glove box so it is never lost when it is oil change time.
Bear in mind that the differential and the manual transmission use Shell Spirax oil, so don't let some uneducated person put in 90 weight hypiod oil which is what most vehicles take. There is also a Redline product which can be substuted for the Spirax, but you will have to find or order these in advance as no regular shop or quick lub place will ever stock either of these 2 products. Check out the Sticky post at the front of this thread, it will answer a lot of your questions. Also the search function will get you to a lot of directed search answers.
You can score a lot of points around this BB if you make a $$ donation to Simon, the webmaster, to help fund the BB. And according to Eric and Murray, a photo of your Alfa is REQUIRED, although I don't remember seeing that requirement in any writing from Simon.
Welcome and good luck, Robert Hill in Memphis Tn
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It's an unwritten rule. You could look it up. (well, you could if it were written anywhere...)
Thanks for all the comments so far... Hope to hear more about the auto transmission...... I will donate to the board and post a photo but I don't have the car "in hand" yet! This all came about Friday morning as I was getting ready to leave for Bogota.... Get the car next week.... Re-sorting my tool chest to get into metric mode again....
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I will be interested to see what the car is like when you get it. I bought one in a poor state last year and have spent quite a bit of time and cash getting it somewhere near decent.
Experiences of the auto:
Its good to drive although as I'm used to a five speed modern auto box on my daily driver the three speed takes a bit of getting used to. First gear is low and third is not very high so motorway driving at 80mph, the engine is at 4,000 rpm compared to the manual version which would be at 3,500.
The box changes pretty smoothly. As you are planning to do, I had all the fluids changed - brake, coolant, diff., auto box as it had no service history.
I don't know whether it is because of the auto transmission radiator which needs cooling too, but the electric fans cut in more often on this than on my manual gearbox one. It doesn't matter what the outside temp. is, after a minute or two at standstill the fans cut in. There is no overheating, though, so I assume its normal.
Fuel economy is not bad, only slightly less than the manual (I reckon it is about 25 miles per US gallon) but I guess you guys don't even think about such things with your cheap petrol
(over here its now hitting the equivalent of $8.30 for a US gallon)
Experiences of the auto:
Its good to drive although as I'm used to a five speed modern auto box on my daily driver the three speed takes a bit of getting used to. First gear is low and third is not very high so motorway driving at 80mph, the engine is at 4,000 rpm compared to the manual version which would be at 3,500.
The box changes pretty smoothly. As you are planning to do, I had all the fluids changed - brake, coolant, diff., auto box as it had no service history.
I don't know whether it is because of the auto transmission radiator which needs cooling too, but the electric fans cut in more often on this than on my manual gearbox one. It doesn't matter what the outside temp. is, after a minute or two at standstill the fans cut in. There is no overheating, though, so I assume its normal.
Fuel economy is not bad, only slightly less than the manual (I reckon it is about 25 miles per US gallon) but I guess you guys don't even think about such things with your cheap petrol
(over here its now hitting the equivalent of $8.30 for a US gallon)1 - 9 of 9 Posts
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