RE:2000GTV charging problem & GROUNDING

[Les Singh <Les.Singh@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From: David Ziglin <davidz@domain.elided>
>Subject: >
>AlfaMe1 has a "charging problem" which he has been unable to trace to a bad
>alternator, battery, etc.  This leads me to ask a question that I have been
>wondering about for a while.
>
>Will someone on the AR list please discuss *grounding* on this vehicle and
>other Alfa Romeos; for example, where can ground straps be found, how many
>can be found, what condition must they be in in for proper functioning,
>what are the symptoms of a poor grounding, ......  and any other pertinent
>comments or information to that point.

Here goes. Unless the US  2000 GT Veloces, (John Hertzman please note - I
got it right!) were radically different, and I doubt this, there should be
three main ground points. The first and obvious one is from the battery to
the front top cross member. The second is from the engine to the body: this
is an earth(ground) strap that runs from the bellhousing/gearbox area at
the bottom right (passenger side for you US types). The third is often
missed. It runs between the inlet manifold and the carbs on carburetted
cars where the flexible rubber mounts tend to isolate the carbs from the
rest of the engine. if you ever see small sparks between the screwdriver
and the adjustment screw when tuning carbs, I'll bet the small braided
strap buried beneath #2 is missing. Leave it alone and one day the whole
lot will catch fire.  Don't know whether Spica misinjected cars had this.

Re charging problem - does the battery go flat, or is it just the red light
coming on? I changed the alternator when my  red light came on and stayed
on. The red light still stayed on. Meanwhile my wife kept saying "Its the
fuse!". Don't be silly thought I, not daring to say that to her, of course.
Guess what? She was right! Jiggled the fuse under there and the light went
out. Meanwhile I had done two alternator changes seeing that the only thing
I know about electrics is that one must never let the blue smoke out of
those coloured tubes!

Les - suitably humbled by a superior intellect.....and ... its still bloody
cold! At least Fossett did the right thing by staying well to the north of
us....
 

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