Re: Alfa Parts content and Stepper Motor Idea

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@domain.elided>]

On May 24, 12:50am, Carl Prochilo wrote:

> Speaking of parts content, in starting to get intimate with my 164 (no
> comments please :) ), I couldn't help but notice the high number of
> Bosch components in my 164, the most infamous being the stepper motor
> assembly.  I don't know if a breakdown of parts content by source
> country was ever published for this car, but I am curious if in general
> this is considered a good thing by hardcore Alfisti.

Well, I'm not sure I qualify as "hardcore", but I'll venture an opinion.  If my
wife's VW Passat (1992 vintage) is anything to judge by, then it's not a good
thing.  The electrics of the VW seem to be mainly Bosch sourced, and I have had
quite a bit of trouble with them since we have owned the car.  It is not
entirely clear to me whether the fault is with the quality of the parts or the
environment the VW engineers chose to put them in (eg. power wondow motor,
which corroded due to excess moisture).  I tend to agree based on the VW and my
father's BMW, which experienced a total engine computer failure on a 3-year old
low mileage car, that the German reputation for quality is more hype than
reality.  But it would be true to say that this is nased on a rather small
sample size, and it is just possible that I'm a little biased ;-).

I also have a question regarding the all too common stepper motor problem.  I
gather that what happens is that the teeth get stripped off the plastic gears.
 I have heard of a similar problem in the headlight motors of certain GM models
featuring pop-up lights.  Some owners had found that they could avoid buying a
replacement motor by disassembling it and rotating the stripped gear by 180
degrees.  It seems that the gear in question never rotates more than 180
degrees, so the bad teeth are not a problem once moved to an unused portion of
the rotation.  Is it possible that this trick would work for the 164 stepper
motor, or does the gear rotate more than a half turn in normal operation?  Of
course this is not a complete fix, but it could double the life of the gears.
 It would be nice if this trick could work for the 164. Does anyone know the
answer?

Dave J.
1982 GTV-6


- -- 

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