Re: Need help with '91 Spider

[John Turvill <John.Turvill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 14:43:00 -0400
>From: Bill Bain <BBain@domain.elided>
>Subject: Need help with '91 Spider

>A freind of mine just bought his first Alfa - a '91 Spider Veloce, 40K
>miles.  He's having the usual assortment of minor problems that Alfas
>seem to like to "test" their new owners with and he's asked for my help.
>I don't have a Motronic Spider, so I'm appealling to the wisdom of the
>collective:
>
>1.	The airbag light keeps flashing.  It seems like there's some
>sort of code.  I remember a thread some time ago about how to decipher
>the codes and reset the air bag light, but I couldn't find it in the
>archives.
>
>2.	The speedo doesn't work.  It only responds at highway speeds and
>then never gets above 45 mph.  It appears to be electronic, unlike the
>mechanical ones I'm familiar with in the earlier Spiders.
>
>3.	Occassionally, the car makes a sort of groaning noise when
>moving from a standstill in either first or reverse.  It seems to be
>related to letting the clutch out but it only happens moving away.  It
>the clutch surfaces were to be glazed (after all the car hadn't seen
>much use) would that account for the noise?
>
>He loves the car, but he's a bit baffled by these little niggly
>problems.  Please feel free to help.
>
>thanx!
>
>
>Bill Bain
>President - AROC Atlanta
'>83 Spider - blissfully L-Jetronic!

Bill,
Even thogh the speedometer is electronic, the connection between the gearbox
and the car is mechanical. There is a bowden cable that runs from the
gearbox to a transducer mounted on the left hand side of the chassis. I'd
check this first - IAP (and others) sell replacements if required. The
workshop manual makes no reference to this - I only discovered it when I had
to replace the clutch. When mine failed the odometer died before the
speedometer, so your symptoms are quite possibly due to a broken cable.

Re the airbag light, I do own a copy of the procedure courtesy of the
digest, but the electronic copy is currently inaccessible due to a computer
failure. Let me know if you don't get another response on this, and I'll
work out how to forward to you.

As for the groaning - can't help you.
Rgds
John Turvill
Houston, TX
92 Spider

  

------------------------------