Some 164L questions

["J. Greg Williams" <totally@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings,

I just purchased a '91 164L w/70K miles, unfortunately it seems to have a problem burning oil that I
was not aware of when I bought it.  First off let me state that it is beautiful and I have
absolutely no buyers remorse.  Now, I've read some of the posts on the digest and understand that
Alfa's can burn a lot of oil compared to other cars but mine seems to be a bit excessive (2 quarts
every 4 or 5 days of driving to work).  Weird things is that it will be fine for a couple of days
(i.e. no oil consumption at all) and then it will burn it up really quickly.  The performance of the
engine seems to be related to it.  Sometimes the engine feels strong and pulls very nicely and
others it is feels a bit sluggish on acceleration, this is usually followed by a small cloud of
smoke in my rear view mirror.  There is hardly any oil dripping from underneath and the only fluid
under the hood seems to be a bit of fuel from the injector seals. I know it's all going out the
tailpipe.  I brought the car in to a local suburu/used-to-be-Alfa dealer and had them check it out
but they either didn't seem to think it was a problem or didn't believe that it was using that much
oil, since it was full when I brought it to them (after putting two quarts in the day before).

I'm currently waiting on parts to have the fuel lines and injector seals replaced.  I noticed a fuel
smell and that's why I had them look at it. The smell from the trunk area (when the tank is filled)
has been looked at before by them and they were unable to resolve it (it has had the recall done).  

I've also had some problems with the Alternator gauge dropping below 10volts and having the rear
defrogger flicker on and off until I sped up a bit to generate more juice.  I'm guessing the battery
is in need of a replacement and isn't holding a charge properly, although a volt meter hooked up to
the battery (while car was off showed 12volts no problem).  My questions are:

1) Can a drop in voltage cause problems with spark resulting in intermittent performance problems.
2) Would fuel flow problems cause strange detonation resulting in burnt oil?
3) Could it be something simple? or is it really as bad as I think it might be and I will need to
have the engine rebuilt.
4) Is there a better place to take this to in the Tampa area.  I figured an old Alfa dealer should
be pretty knowledgeable about these (and I've seen many 164's in their parking lot.

okay trivial question that doesn't impede reliability at all:
5) What is the best way to clean the lug (bolts) and keep them from rusting up again. (it seems to
be a common problem)

Like I said, it's a beautiful car and I'm really excited about owning such a unique and spirited
vehicle!  Alas, I'm about to move to the Boston area and I'm trying to get it to the point where I
feel I can trust it.  

Any thoughts or idea would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for being so patient with a new Alfisti :)

- --
J. Greg Williams
Tampa, FL
'91 164L

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