re: Milano ownership info

["Ian Lomax" <ilomax@domain.elided>]

Aaron writes...

>When I test drove the car, the Antilock light was on the entire time. When I
>asked the mechanic who was selling the car (on behalf of a customer), he
>said
>that it was a short somewhere between the light and the engine compartment.
>He further said  the ABS system is working because you can hear the "ABS
>relay" clicking. (Something was clicking every time I pushed the brake pedal;
>my guess was a tail light relay.)

I would be veeeery careful with this mechanic!  The clicking you hear is the
brake light switch, not the ABS relay.  If the car really needs ABS work, you
could be in for some serious cash, or time spent debugging.  I know at least
one Verde that was parted out because the owner found the ABS to be too
expensive to fix.  Sensors and accumulators are fixable, pumps and master
cylinders seem to be quite expensive to repair.

>Any thoughts on the likelihood of the light being caused by a short? Any
>thoughts on the clicking being indicative of the ABS system working?
>
>Thanks,
>Aaron
>
>P.S. I read the ABS debugging article at
>http://reality.sgi.com/sikand_mti/milano.html, and will follow that
>procedure
>with a different mechanic before making an offer on the car.

That's a good plan.  If your results indicate a bad master cylinder or pump,
I'd walk.  Don't get me wrong, I love me Milano (even more so now that the
summer tires are back on and the brakes aren't grinding) but mine is
displaying the symptoms of a bad accumulator (pump runs every few times I hit
the brakes) and the ABS light comes on while driving occasionally.  I just
hope it's just the accumulator...

Other than that, just remember it's a 10 year old car.  All the problems I've
had with mine lately are mostly due to age.

Good luck!
Ian Lomax
88 Milano 3.0
71 Spider
Ann Arbor, MI

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

End of alfa-digest V7 #746
**************************