Interested in buying a Alfa Romeo 75 T.SPARK

[Terence]

Hi I am thinking of buying a T.Spark, any advice on what I should be looking for. It has a 125,000 on the clock, 1989.
I previously owned a 2ltr Belina many years ago and loved the car.
Cheers
Terry

[Beatle]

Terence,

a TS after the Berlina seems like a natural progression to me.  A 75TS is a great combo of economy and performance and is very well balanced.

The 75 is all Alfetta underneath so the usual Alfetta stuff applies.  The TS engine feels a lot like the older 2L except that it's more consistent in power delivery (in stock trim) and the FI means it starts and idles almost like a Japanese car.

I had a TS for a year or so (got it by default) and I loved it.  EXCEPT for the ARC and a few of the electrics/switches which nearly drove me barmy.  Check ALL the switchgear and also confirm that the ventilation moves from external to recirc and back consistently.  Pulling the dash on a 75 is a pain in the bee-hind !
Window and sunroof switches felt dodgy from new.

There is a goodly amount of tech help out there now to help with the electrics, and a lot of people simply live without the ARC by disconnecting it.

PS racks can leak and are a bit expensive, but the 75s PS system is one of the best of used/felt.

The TS has Bosch 'digital' FI/ignition and is a lot less fiddly than the 'analogue' system on the V6. 

I'm pretty sure all the TSs got the LSD standard as well.

In all a good TS is a bloody fantastic car and this is borne out by the TSs pulling more dollars than a 2.5 of the same vintage.  The TS was only about 8hp shy of the 2.5 anyway.

If you do buy a 75, ensure the FIRST thing you do is clean out any leaves from around the fan/resistor pack and put a screen over the inlet plenum (if it's not already done).  Leaves in the system have caused many a fire !!!!

[JasonC]

Hi Paul,

its interesting that you mentioned in your reply the prospect of a leaking PS rack. In the past few months my PS fluid has been dropping, but for the life of me, I cannot find where the fliud is leaking from.

Any suggestions as to where to look?

Jason.

[JasonC]

Apologies for replying to my own post - but it turns out that my power steering pump is the source of my leak.

Thanks.