ALFAGTV6.COM

Hello to anyone who can help,

I have an 83 gtv6, great running car (while it runs)! Then, for no apparent reason, ti totally quits and won't start back up again. Then again, for no apparent reason it starts again and runs as though nothing ever happened. Totally unpredictable.
Can anyone give me some ideas on as to what to look for? or is there a particular part that is known to fail on these cars, either electrical or fuel injection related?

Thank you!
Edison

A start would be to track the ignition circuit and look for poor contacts and grounds. Do one at a time. Electrical and then fuel.

I'd check the coil, fuel pump & fuel pump relay. This is symtomatic of these items failing.

I had this problem for a while, with a slight twist. The car used to cut out totally when I hit the rev limiter and would not run for a while, then it would start up and run fine as if nothing had happened.

The problem was eventually traced when I was giving it an 'Italian tune-up' one day and the motor totally cut out with a bang as I hit the rev limiter in second. Fearing the worst, we towed the car home the next morning when it still refused to start, although it turned over fine. I started to trace the electrics to see if there was a fault with the HT and was astonished when I removed the distributer cover to find bits of debris where the rotor used to be. What had ahppened was that the rev limiter mechanism in the rotor (spring operated contact) had broken when I hit the limiter with predictable results.

I replaced the rotor with a solid item without the limiter and it has been fine ever since.

Happy hunting!

Thank you all, for your responses!

Looks like I have some work ahead of me!

Thanks again!

Edison

Check you're ignition switch and wiring that leads to ignition.Good luck

We'll do! and thank you!

What I really don't understand is ...how can the car run so flawlesly, ...when it decides to run! and then it quits so dramatically!

I noticed that the tach needle dropped very suddenly, is that an indication that the problem may be electrical, or does it do the same thing when the problem is fuel related?

Thank you!
Edison

Edison

I noticed that the tach needle dropped very suddenly, is that an indication that the problem may be electrical, or does it do the same thing when the problem is fuel related?

Mate there is a serious irony here (if you have sense of humour to match) with your name being Edison, your ancestor would be grumbling in his grave !

Let me say this much to perhaps shorten the duration of your frustration. If you do not know the answer to the above question, the chances of you personally solving you car problem would be purely accidental. Do yourself a favour and seek the advice of a competent auto electrician.

funny stuff! I heard something along those lines from a Mechanic before (maybe a mech that I should stay away from!).

The bottom line is that I am desperatly looking for some common problem that these cars may have, and may be someone out there figuered it out!

Whereas for my ancestor, the poor bastard must be rolling in his grave on that one! In retrospect I shoul have never put that on there to begin with!!!

Edison

Edison, you're half way there mate-you got a sense of humour !!

My experience of exactly this problem was a result of the dual core wire running to the distributor fraying as it entered the dist and the two cores touching. I would go over a bump and the engine would simply die. Once I found it, 2 cents worth of insulating tape fixed it.