You may recall I posted last week about a timing belt failure on my tintop Alfa 147. Well becasue it was going to be £1900 from the main stealer and even local bods wanting over £1500 I decided to do it myself.....anyway, in the mean time I bought a little Fiat Cinquecento from the auction to run around in. Well tonight it won't start and has been abandoned in the work carpark.

I'm after suggestions as to what to do/look for? Mainly because I'm going to have to try sort it out in a limited time frame tomorrow lunch time......and in my suit

Anyway, there appears to be fuel getting in as it flooded after the 2nd attempt so I took the air box apart to help the vapours out a bit, and it was trying to start and the battery is new and was also recently charged. I did manage to bump start it and held the revs for a couple of minutes but it just didn't want to hold at idle??

I reckon it's probably just the spark so was going to take a bit of sandpaper to run through the contacts, and maybe a few basic tools to see what I can do, but if anyone has any ideas that would save me masses of time that would be greatly apreciated???

put a V8 in it

Could be the timing belt ?

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Originally posted by novacaine
put a V8 in it

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call the AA, they get high percent of cars going again, if not they'll get it home so you can work on it properly.

otherwise, buy another small car

^^ What he said. 40 Quid would be well spent.

ATB

Simon

Yeah I actually have cover but couldn't really be bothered hanging round for them again (2nd week running!!) tonight.

The only problem is that the car is 3 stories underground??

After problems experienced with one Italian car - he goes and buys another... are you totally bonkers??

Serves you right... get a proper car!

Sorry I cant help you...

Steve

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After problems experienced with one Italian car - he goes and buys another... are you totally bonkers??

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Originally posted by whitestu

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After problems experienced with one Italian car - he goes and buys another... are you totally bonkers??

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Of course he is, but the important thing is he's bonkers with style!

I'm with Clarkson on this one - you can't be a real petrolhead unless you've owned Alfa's


Stu

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cinqs have a habbit of the crank position sensors going intermitant meaning sometimes they start sometimes they dont. take the air box off and when turning it over if it backfires out the injection manifold that will be your problem.

done lots of work on cinqs and italian metal in general lol.

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Originally posted by ashg
cinqs have a habbit of the crank position sensors going intermitant meaning sometimes they start sometimes they dont. take the air box off and when turning it over if it backfires out the injection manifold that will be your problem.

done lots of work on cinqs and italian metal in general lol.

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And don't forgot, you will need to

Fix It Again Tomorrow

Hope that's been of use.

[Edited on 11/9/08 by grazzledazzle]

you just need a new crank position sensor. quite easy to access can be purchased from the likes of partco etc.

you virtually have to destroy the old one to get it out then sand the hole with a bit of emry cloth to clean it up then put a little bit of copper grease (if you have some) on the new one to fit it then put the little 10mm bolt back and connect the plug.

Cheers mate, I've actually ordered one now, £22.

the crank sensor on my volvo died recently - AA man disconected battery so that the sensor was not powered so any magnetic bits would drop off.

sounds like a good theory but did not work.

maybe worth a try although don't hold your breath.

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Originally posted by whitestu

Of course he is, but the important thing is he's bonkers with style!

I'm with Clarkson on this one - you can't be a real petrolhead unless you've owned Alfa's

Stu

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Originally posted by Simon

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Originally posted by whitestu

Of course he is, but the important thing is he's bonkers with style!

I'm with Clarkson on this one - you can't be a real petrolhead unless you've owned Alfa's

Stu

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Cool, I'm a proper petrolhead.

Bought a Sud for fifty quid for resto, bit of further investigation revealed most of bulkhead was missing so scrapped it.

Did at least 5 miles in it.

Still, at least I've owned an Alfa

ATB

Simon

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Huge thanks to ashg for a spot on diagnosis, problem now solved and back on the road. Not sure the recovery company would be so pleased if they found out a £20 part and 10 mins labour on a £350 car led to a bill for hundreds for specialist recovery to drag it out of the underground carpark!

The missus is over the moon her little cinq is back on the road though, reckon i might be on for a bit tonight

[Edited on 12/9/08 by eznfrank]

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Originally posted by eznfrank
Huge thanks to ashg for a spot on diagnosis, problem now solved and back on the road. Not sure the recovery company would be so pleased if they found out a £20 part and 10 mins labour on a £350 car led to a bill for hundreds for specialist recovery to drag it out of the underground carpark!

The missus is over the moon her little cinq is back on the road though, reckon i might be on for a bit tonight

[Edited on 12/9/08 by eznfrank]

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quote:

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Originally posted by eznfrank

quote:

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Originally posted by whitestu

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After problems experienced with one Italian car - he goes and buys another... are you totally bonkers??

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Of course he is, but the important thing is he's bonkers with style!

I'm with Clarkson on this one - you can't be a real petrolhead unless you've owned Alfa's


Stu

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Yeah 2 Alfa's, a Fiat, an Italian wife and now the Indy to add to my woes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - glutton for punishment!!!

Breakdown people on the way now so will let them sort it, it'll be electrics I guarantee it!

[Edited on 11/9/08 by eznfrank]

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They can be a bit of a pain in the ass but Alfa's are pretty cool.

ONly problem is missus wants to get rid of teh 145 and get a Lancia Delta Evo instead - which i envisage being the biggest headache ever!!!!