ALL IS WELL.....ALLL IS WELL
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:44 pm
Hey hey there!! My father and I spent a few hours working on the Alfa. Finally found the engine hesitation problem. After thousands of dollars , a new rebuilt engine, almost all new ignitionj system, and countless hours...the problem ended up being.,................................................. drumroll please . .....................................................FREE rust particles and a 99 cent piece of plastic
Yep...all that shit n hassle and all it ended up being was a little rusty in the bottom 1 inch of the tank making enough tiny particles to clog the INTANK (which I never knew about) filter
I also removed the one way aluminum valve just before the injector manifold and wired up a fuel pump relay.
At least for the 1985 model year, there is a nylon mesh filter in the tank. doing a real thorough net search, I found that many other Alfa years also have in-tank filters and there are many people with my same problem.....
If you have not cleaned this out and you have hesitation, I posted some pics on how to do it. I really did not feel like resealing the tank and stripping everything out of the inside since only about 1 inch on the bottom had very light rust...but enough particles came out to clog everything!!
SO. before doing anything...get a fire extinguisher ready and remove the battery (remove it so that you don't accidentally short the tank on it when taking the tank out of the trunk).
I drained out the gas through the tank outlet hose so that it was filtered (about 10 gallons in my case...and I only kept this gas after confirming that the IN tank filter was indeed still intact).
undo the charcoal and filler hose clamps, undo the wiring, undo the band clamps (which jusdt unhook when loose enough)
jack up the car and support well.
You will need long socket extension , 17mm short socket 6point, 32mm socket 6 point, and 1 1/16 socket or equivalent.
you can leave the hoses attached to the banjo's under the tank. Just remove the Banjo bolt to the return fitting (the smaller one)...and then remove the drain banjo bolt. With some effort, you can gently pry the tank out. When you get it out far enough, undo the breather clamp (on in reverse in my case)
I left the 32 mm nut in the bottom of the drain outlet because it was hard to undo under the car. Once the tank was out, I had more leverage and off it came. This 32mm nut was attached to the nylon in tank filter.
I decided to cut off the in tank filter and replace with an external 1/2 inch filter from NAPA auto parts. This will be easier to change in the future.
So now take that empty tank and fill it with a gallon of acetone. swish and drain. then repeat. this really cleaned the metal. Some rust remained but it was very minimal. I hooke up my shop vac in reverse to push air through tank for 2 hours. This really dried everything out...because you don't want acetone in the fuel system!! If it was warmer out, I might have washed tank out with water and then the shop vac thing... YOU SHOULD SEE THE PICS OF THE FINE RUST CLOGGING UP EVERYTHING
Installation is the reverse of above...BUT i gently filed flat the old copper washers for the banjo bolts and resealed these fittings with a fuel proof sealant (brown stuff from NAPA)
final step was to install new external filter..see pics.
I reused the old gas because I knew it was new and filtered...and I did not have anything else. Added 5 ounces of stabilizer and some more fuel antifreeze anit water additive.
started right up and the pump was humming like it used to!!! took her for a ride in the snow with some looong burnouts...NO NO NO hesitations any more!!!!
I guess Christmas can come early!!!
PICS NOT REALLY IN ORDER
Yep...all that shit n hassle and all it ended up being was a little rusty in the bottom 1 inch of the tank making enough tiny particles to clog the INTANK (which I never knew about) filter
I also removed the one way aluminum valve just before the injector manifold and wired up a fuel pump relay.
At least for the 1985 model year, there is a nylon mesh filter in the tank. doing a real thorough net search, I found that many other Alfa years also have in-tank filters and there are many people with my same problem.....
If you have not cleaned this out and you have hesitation, I posted some pics on how to do it. I really did not feel like resealing the tank and stripping everything out of the inside since only about 1 inch on the bottom had very light rust...but enough particles came out to clog everything!!
SO. before doing anything...get a fire extinguisher ready and remove the battery (remove it so that you don't accidentally short the tank on it when taking the tank out of the trunk).
I drained out the gas through the tank outlet hose so that it was filtered (about 10 gallons in my case...and I only kept this gas after confirming that the IN tank filter was indeed still intact).
undo the charcoal and filler hose clamps, undo the wiring, undo the band clamps (which jusdt unhook when loose enough)
jack up the car and support well.
You will need long socket extension , 17mm short socket 6point, 32mm socket 6 point, and 1 1/16 socket or equivalent.
you can leave the hoses attached to the banjo's under the tank. Just remove the Banjo bolt to the return fitting (the smaller one)...and then remove the drain banjo bolt. With some effort, you can gently pry the tank out. When you get it out far enough, undo the breather clamp (on in reverse in my case)
I left the 32 mm nut in the bottom of the drain outlet because it was hard to undo under the car. Once the tank was out, I had more leverage and off it came. This 32mm nut was attached to the nylon in tank filter.
I decided to cut off the in tank filter and replace with an external 1/2 inch filter from NAPA auto parts. This will be easier to change in the future.
So now take that empty tank and fill it with a gallon of acetone. swish and drain. then repeat. this really cleaned the metal. Some rust remained but it was very minimal. I hooke up my shop vac in reverse to push air through tank for 2 hours. This really dried everything out...because you don't want acetone in the fuel system!! If it was warmer out, I might have washed tank out with water and then the shop vac thing... YOU SHOULD SEE THE PICS OF THE FINE RUST CLOGGING UP EVERYTHING
Installation is the reverse of above...BUT i gently filed flat the old copper washers for the banjo bolts and resealed these fittings with a fuel proof sealant (brown stuff from NAPA)
final step was to install new external filter..see pics.
I reused the old gas because I knew it was new and filtered...and I did not have anything else. Added 5 ounces of stabilizer and some more fuel antifreeze anit water additive.
started right up and the pump was humming like it used to!!! took her for a ride in the snow with some looong burnouts...NO NO NO hesitations any more!!!!
I guess Christmas can come early!!!
PICS NOT REALLY IN ORDER
!! That is down right scarey - the tank is one of the few things I haven't messed with on my car ... maybe it's near time to do so - 5-star info. thanks!