Why no 33 love? (Cranking over but no spark)

[iuserealwords]

Hi all
I've got an '89 33 1.7IE which has been garaged for about 10 years that I've been driving for the past 5 years and I must say, for the reputation Alfas get it has been an absolute charmer, requiring no serious attention other than the usual maintenance. I am deeply in love with this little car, which is why it breaks my heart that this has happened.

Once before I had taken it out for a drive with no problems on the road. It was only after stopping for a cigarette that I noticed; when I tried to head home the car couldn't fire a spark! It would crank over as usual but even with a push down the hill it would crank over but never fire. SO a tow truck and auto-elec trip later I found the only thing they did was disconnect and reconnect the battery which was said to reset the ECU. Had no problems after that until now....

These days, it seems we're back in the same position.  Was advised to reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery which I did.   On the first attempt to start after reconnecting the battery it sounds like it is about to fire but then just continues cranking. On the next attempt I do not get the sound of it indicating that it is about to fire, instead I just get the standard cranking sound.

Is this a problem many others have dealt with?
Please help my little baby
Thanks! - Johl

[blazingsud]

Not sure if you got it going, but if you could borrow a known working ecu and see if that fires up the car?

Some tests I've done on my 928, all pretty generic
Did you pull a spark plug & check for spark?

TDC (top dead centre) sensor tells ecu that motor is turning, which then starts spark, then tells fuel pump to pump. TDC sensors fail due to age, wiring getting brittle or corrosion at connectors.
I'm pretty sure if you have no spark and you put a test lead on fuel pump it wouldn't be running either. This stop flooding and fires :-)) it's just a circle and then all the other sensors adjust fuel maps to suit.

Clean ALL earths, till smooth & shiny & use deoxit ( from Jaycar) to clean - red, then deoxit gold to ensure protection against corrosion. In fact clean earths before you start anything!!