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Cutting Out Gremlin Caught and Crushed!

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:25 am
by GregoryV
:D The intermittent Cut Out Gremlin has been caught, thrown in a bag and CRUSHED! You know the one, car is running perfectly then just cuts out and dies or surges for no apparent reason. And of course it wouldn't just die for good. Nooo, that would be too easy to diagnose then!

A few years back it was the Bosch Injection Relay acting up and that seemed to take a number of months to figure out. This one had me for the past six months :evil:

I thought I had checked the underhood wires all around when the problem first came up, but yesterday while the v6 was idling I wiggled the bottom wires of the resistor (next to the ignition Amplifier) and the car just died :D Man, was I happy! Trying it again sparks arced to the other terminal which was also lose, and the car died again. Crimping them down with pliers didn't help, so the old connectors were cut off and new ones crimped on.

Time to run it through the gears! GV

Re: Cutting Out Gremlin Caught and Crushed!

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 4:32 pm
by ghnl
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post a reply & thank you.

My GTV6 started exhibiting an occasional hiccup. So brief I couldn't tell if the tach was dying first (likely ignition fault) or the hiccup was first (likely fuel fault).

Yesterday it hiccuped then a few miles later it died. I coasted to the side of the road and tried the starter & it started right up. It wasn't running right so I nursed it back home and began the search for a solution. A link from the AlfaBB lead me to the above post. Voila - one of the connectors at the resiister was loose. Not just loose but actually off the terminal and just touching it.

Re-connected and all is well with the world.

Truth be told I have myself to blame. A week prior I had R/R'd the alternator. To do that I had to remove the coil & its bracket to squeeze the alternator out & in. I must have knocked that connector off the resistor. It was amazing that it ran fine for a few days then only the occasional hiccup for a few days before it decided to finally reveal itself.

Re: Cutting Out Gremlin Caught and Crushed!

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:24 pm
by GregoryV
Haven't been on the site for some time - glad the post was useful!

GV

Re: Cutting Out Gremlin Caught and Crushed!

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:16 am
by GarthW
I had a gremlin today, and i couldnt believe what it was.
My car has been running really well, but i knew it was missing something...
So today when i went to start my car it started straight away like it always does, but after around 60secs she just died.
I was standing in the garage doing something and turned around and looked at the car in shock. When i went to start her again, there was no fuel there, it took a few turns of the engine before she fired up again.
So i knew it was fuel. But not only that, i heard this weird noise coming from the TPS switch believe it or not, a clicking sound, but it only clicked when i had my hand near it??? By now i'm getting really worried so i run to the back and switch off the battery. I disconnect the TPS, then i start looking around...

I found one of the (5 pronged)fuses which powers the injectors or fuel, i'm not sure exactly what it does, but i looked at it, and pushed it down back to where it should have been, it was nearly all the way out! I pulled it back out and noticed one of the prongs had been either burnt, or corroded, it had white stuff on it. I cleaned it as best as i could, put it back and made my way to the auto store to buy a replacement fuse.
The car started beautifully and felt, and sounded different...
Driving there the felt like i was driving on ice, hardly any throttle and the car was just moving, i thought she's back, because before i was going to take her to get looked at by the tuner.
But halfway there all of a sudden the fuse decided it had enough, and i chugged and stuttered about 300m before i arrived at the auto store. So i bought the fuse, the computer was happy, so i went for a long drive to make sure everything was ok. I cant believe what that fuse did. It was actually affecting the fuel map, or rather everything couldnt keep up with the map because the fuse wasnt connected properly.
Now it drives so much better its fantastic. What a difference....but thats not the only fuse i bought from the auto store...
You know that rule of 'dont fix it if it aint broke'? Well i thought why not buy another fuse to replace the other one that was working so well? Well when i left the auto store i wondered why i had no instrument readings, nothing except the boost gauge.
Either that fuse was faulty or the car didnt like it, so back in with the old one and back to normal. What a day. So bye bye gremlin. :)
D