Re: Re: Spica Pump failure

[Robert_A_Brady@domain.elided (Robert A Brady)]

Kevin M wrote: " Bob-- Is this the same pump that the control arm failed on 
at Lime Rock last Nov.? If so, is there a connection?"

Bob replies: 

Yes, it is the same car/pump.  As far as I can tell, the failures are 
unrelated.  Wes Ingram thought this failure was a bit of a fluke and that the 
injectors are typically very reliable.  (BTW, that is my experience as well 
with SPICA systems).

At Lime Rock, I remember remarking to a friend (Bill Shields with the green 
GTV) that I thought mine was not quite as fast as it should have been.  Then, 
the arm broke.  Afterwards, it was slower still and on the drive home it ran 
very poorly.  Once home, I replaced the arm with a spare which improved 
things somewhat, but it was still way down on power.

After some diagnosis, I replaced my coil and ignition module (thanks Brian 
Shorey and Bruce's Parts Bin) which got rid of three of four wet spark plugs. 

Finally, just before getting ready to hang it up for the night, I swapped out 
the injector on the #3 cylinder (the remaining wet plug).  After about 100 
yards out of my driveway, it cleared its throat, and viola! I was back on 
four cylinders.

When I picked up the injector I pulled, it had a rattling sound which turned 
out to be a broken plunger assembly.

So, that's the story.  Are the failures related?  I don't think so.  More 
likely, just some harmonic convergence.  I think the real lesson is not to 
let the car sit for more than a week at a time.  Alfas, at least the 
pre-Bosch ones,  need to be DRIVEN and letting them sit for any length of 
time just causes problems (leaking fuel delivery pumps, sticky brakes, leaky 
brake/fuel lines, etcetra.... )  

That's probably more than you wanted to know, but that's my story and I'm 
sticking to it.

Bob Brady, DVAROC
Yardley PA
'74 GTV (in the garage on an oriental rug, but not on the road where it 
belongs :(
'88 Verde (who doesn't mind sitting for long periods, in fact it seems to 
start better, but nonetheless is my daily transportation unit)
'73 GTV (was to be my "winter" GTV until "Hun" decided that she didn't like 
driving it, so it was sold to Bruce Giller to pay for the aforementioned 
Verde)

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