Spider occasional starting problems -- computer?

[John May <johnmay@domain.elided>]

My '88 Spider occasionally fails to start.  It cranks just fine,
but it won't catch.  If I quit and come back in a few minutes,
it usually starts fine.  Sometimes when I release the key, it
will catch just at that moment.  This has been going on for years
but has gradually reached the point where I don't trust the
car to start when I need it to.

It seems likely that the voltage drop from the starter is
enough to keep some computer from turning on.  I've replaced
the battery several times, but this hasn't helped.  My
Alfa mechanic, Bob at Import Doctors in San Ramon, CA, says
he's seen this in other cars (including his own) but he
has no good solution.  He believes a transistor in one of
the computers (forgot which one--ignition of FI) is failing
to turn on because of the voltage drop.  A new computer is
$1800, and a rebuilt one might still have a bad transistor
because they bench test at full voltage.

Has anybody found a solution to this problem?  Has anyone
tried to track down this flaky transistor and replace it??

Thanks for any suggestions...
John

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