MILANO WITH A COUGH

[John Hammer <johnhammer@domain.elided>]

I'm coming out of lurk mode with a question.  Oh great wrench bearing
Alfisti lend me your knowledge.  Today I went to start my '87 Milano
Platinum(clear weather, sunny & 70), turned the key & the car was VERY
hard to start.  Almost acting like it was flooded.  There has been no
problems with the car since I had the alternator replaced a couple of
months ago...With a couple of taps of the throttle, it did fire up but
ran very rough for a couple of minutes.  I drove the car a few miles &
it seemed fine.  Then, off to dinner a few hours later, car started up
fine & drove fine, until I got to the expressway ramp, merging I
downshifted to 4th & that's when I noticed the misfiring again.  She
coughed & sputtered but continued to run, just very poorly.  My brother
said he noticed some greyish-white smoke from the tailpipe, but just a
bit.  Also, under the hood, drivers side near the firewall I can hear
what sounds like an electric solenoid or a pump or something making a
"clicking" type of sound.  I can't tell exactly where it's from, but I'd
not noticed it before.  My neighbor is coming over tomorrow
morning(Easter!) to do a compression check & see if we've got antifreeze
in a cylinder or if this is an ignition problem...do you have any ideas
for us to check on?  Fuel pump pumping too much?  Bad injector? Any
guesses will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

- --
John Hammer
Production Director/Z Morning Crew
WHZZ Lansing, MI
Vice President, Miata Owners of Mid Michigan
'94 Mazda Miata R-Package + Toys
'87 Alfa Romeo Milano Platinum

As a matter of fact, I do own a lot of metric wrenches!

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