My Spider is DEAD !!!! Engine just stopped runing ...

[Cool Jesus]

Wow troops, its been eons since I've even been able to just have a sneak peek at the goings ons of the Alfa kind. Very busy fixing up a little surprise Jeep Wrangler for the young blokes 16th, had absolutely no time to jump online and was faced with 18 pages of new unread posts. Arghhh, Spider hard tops, RHD Montreal for sale, hell I've missed heaps.

Anyhow, back to my dilemma.
Driving home in the Spider, after a long day of working on the Wrangler, the TS engine sounding awesome when all of a sudden... nothing. No warnings, no dash lights blinking whatsoever, the engine just stops running and I roll to a halt by the side of the road. The engine would then just turn over with the starter motor, but nothing. Anyhow, busy with the Wrangler surprise, could only leave the spider sitting in the garage until I finally had some time today to run through possibilities only to find that the battery was dead, couldn't check a damn thing. Anyhow, while I figure out what to do about the battery, any thoughts on my engine failure?

PS. It's a 1998 2 litre TS.

[Craig_m67]

Sounds like a dead crank sensor. It's at the back of the block, above or below the starter motor. It may start tomorrow when it's cold, then die when it gets hot.

[Cool Jesus]

Thanks Craig, you've confirmed what I hoped was the cause. Once I get the battery sorted ill see if it starts up. Although I tried it the day after, cold, and there was no indication of it wanting to start. Couldnt even check for fuel pressure ir spark. Pulled the sensor off a spare 147 motor I have only to find it had changed from the wiring being built into the sensor to the wiring now plugging into it. Damn it! Also found out that multiecuscan doesn't support the ecu in my spider, errr, would have been nice to be able to confirm the sensor failure or otherwise. Anyhow I'll post back hopefully with good news. Hell, I might even splice the 147 sensor into the spider if the dimensions aren't changed. Disappointing that it didn't break the 100K barrier.

[colcol]

As Craig said, crank sensor, but they usually die when the engines hot, lift the bonnet, to cool down, then an hour later it will run....for a short while, you may have one that has permantly died.
There are many versions of crank sensors, early-late twin sparks, JTS's, you need to get the correct one, they vary in price a bit too, from 30-120 pounds.
I purchased a new Genuine Crank Sensor for my JTS,as its done 115,000klms, 11 years old, change it before it fails,....couldn't get big fat hands down to change it, can see, just can't get to it, have to wait now for cam belt change, to remove some of the plumbing, would be easier to get to from underneath with a hoist, Colin.

[Cool Jesus]

Thanks Col, sounds like they have a life span of around 100K. May as well just change it regardless and cross my fingers  . I've had an initial price of 50 GBP shipped from the UK, for my unit. Might price it locally just in case its comparable or better in price, stranger things have happened =).

[Cool Jesus]

$378 locally for a crankshaft sensor, oh but it's genuine Alfa. Nup, ALFA WORKSHOP it is $80 delivered. Come on aus suppliers, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at these places to see how many enquiries don't end in a sale.

[Domenic]

Hey John,

Are you sure $376 for the sensor?

Last time I checked with the dealer the TS one was about $130 and the JTS was just under $100.
Unless the dealers in Sydney have a massive mark up on their parts?

[Cool Jesus]

Yep, $372 actually and I asked per the part number so there was no mistake. He prep'd me by saying those things are pricey, then tried to justify the price with saying it was an Alfa geniune part. I won't mention the shop, cause they do have a good name around here, I guess they're just trying to recoup their cost on the item. I can't imagine otherwise.

Pity I was so short on time last we spoke, I could have used one of those bits you had for the Spider gear change assembly. I ended up getting reemed $90 for that little rubber grommet  made a huge difference though.

[colcol]

And then the Australian Alfa Romeo Dealers moan about all the sales EB and the Alfa Workshop are taking away from them, the only persons who would buy from the Stealers would be persons who don't have computers, whats that a 400% markup?, Colin.

[Cool Jesus]

Hazza, on the road again...

This little episode has really brought home how one should go through the basics and not skimp and assume things are in order or not. Although the sudden engine failure didn't result in crank shaft sensor symptoms, per wise advise it was probably due for precautionary replacement. I'll keep the old one as a spare. Anyhow went through the basics of a crank, no start motor being no fuel, ignition with the associated branches of diagnosis that result in the no fuel or spark. Anyhow, I was quickly able to diagnose that I had spark, ask my the three little singed homer hairs on the top of my forehead. sprayed a little carby cleaner through the throttle plate and she kicked over no worries. So no fuel, I ultimately felt I had no fuel pressure, however I could hear the pump humming and a little fuel was coming through, but not enough to squirt through the injectors. Blockage maybe, started blowing through tubes, replaced the fuel filter, still nothing. Blockage may still be from filter into the tank. Figure the fuel pump must have died so ordered a new high performance pump and it finally arrived.

I'll just add here that the removal of the fuel pump assembly from the tank was relatively painless and easy. In the spider its located under the carpet in the roof stow area. I had a ford intank pump removal tool for that big plastic nut, but I believe a couple of soft blows along the circumference would also have seen me through.

Anyhow, pull the assembly out, let the fuel drain off first back into the tank, sat down to start assessing how to re-engineer the new pump into the unit and the hose (with clip) falls off the end of the pump. All this time, all I had to do was to put the hose back onto the pump. Aaarrghh... as it turns out, it was probably for the best that this issue arose. The rubber gasket that holds the pump in the basket was perished and had started to decompose to the point that the pump was bouncing around, which is possibly way it pulled itself from the hose. Anyhow, black rotten rubber all over the place which would have caused a blockage sooner or later.