Spider Engine light

[b.joseph]

Currently I have a 2004 spider 2.0 JTS. I got in 2nd hand with about 70000km last november. A litte history before i get to my problem. It has had no problems and has had servicing every 10000 km. Catalytic converter was replaced at 60000km. Before buying the car we had it NRMA inspected. Scored 9/10 for body and 8/10 for mechanical. The points off for mechanical were that the tyres were a bit bald and that the mufflers had collapsed internally and needed replacing soonish (when performance started to falter).

For the past 2-3 months there have been no problems but recently the engine light came on. The manual says that it has to do with the supply/injection system. It also says that it can cause high exhust emmisiions, lack of performance, poor handling and high consumption levels. The manual says that driving is possible without heavy effort or high speeds.

Now after reading this I thought that it was the muffler problem. I took the car to a muffler specialist and he said it was perfectly fine. He then revved heavily to see how performance was and black exhaust came from the muffler. Driving home the light switched off. Problem solved but no, the light came on the next day.

I need to take it for a service somewhere but being in newcastle there are no alfa dealers so I've come online to see if anyone can recommend a place to get it serviced or has anyone encountered this problem and has any solutions.

Sorry about the long post but this is really troubling me.

[b.joseph]

Ahk. Nah I'm in New south wales in Newcastle. What did they do to fix it? And how much did it cost if you dont mind me asking?

[b.joseph]

Yeah. That's the light that has come up.

[colcol]

The 2 litre JTS has FOUR Lambda Sensors that sit in the exhaust system and they 'sniff' the exhaust to make sure the mixtures are ok, i beleive part of the excellent fuel consumption of the JTS is due to the accurate measuring of the mixtures, but when they go wrong then you may be getting black smoke as the engine managment system richens up the mixture to be on the safe side,as running it too lean would result in overheating and burnt pistons, however when it runs too rich it will ruin the catalatic convertor which i beleive are about $3500+, so get this attended to urgently, take it to an Alfa Specialist with the correct diagnostic tools, so that they can find out what the problem is, if you take it to someone without the correct equipment, they will keep replacing [expensive] parts until it works, look on the sponsors page for places with experience with Alfa's, Colin.

[b.joseph]

Okay thanks for the help choderboy and colin, I really appreciate it. I'll book in on monday to get it fixed.

[colcol]

Some manufacturers replace the Lambda Sensors every 50,000 kays as a normal service replacement item, i have read that if you are planning on doing it yourself, you can get them from England at about half the price in Australia, you need a special tool to remove the sensor called a crows foot spanner, one place to purchase these is a special Alfa Romeo tool place in England called "TOTALLY ALFA", but then unless you have the proper diagnostic equipment, why would you replace them unless you knew they were faulty anyway?, Colin.

[b.joseph]

ahk. Well I'm definetely not going to try and change it myself. My knowledge of cars is slim to none and I don't have the equipment but thanks for the info colin.