Re: Intermittent no start

[christian147@domain.elided]

I have never owned a spider so I can't say this fixed my car, however I
was a tech at an ALFA dealer from 86 to 93 and went to the national
service competition 3 years (got 4th, 3rd and 2nd).

I made an assumption that the tech has duplicated the problem and had
ruled out the easy stuff like ign. switch.  That left the oddball stuff. 
If it is so intermittent that honest tech said he can't make it happen
then all bets are off.

I haven't worked on spiders since 93 to I am a little fuzzy on some
things.  The main relay supplys current to the injectors its controlled
current comes straight form the battery on the small red wire from the
battery post.  Next to an in line fuse that is highly suspect (replace
with bladed fuse and holder use dielectric grease).  Then to the relay. 
The control current is suppled by the ign. switch and the ground is
through the jetronic ECU , probably through a FET( I never cared enough
to open one and trace it down).  The ground doesn't need to be switched
because the power is so you can connect it directly to ground.  This is
an official mod , service bulletin dated sometime in 83 I think.

The ign.ECU is very voltage sensitive and lots of connectors to corrode
and cause IR drop.  To check back probe the ECU connector on the heavy
black/green wire and crank the engine.  If the voltage drops below 9.6v
starting problems can occur.  best fix I have found is to cut the
black/green wire and solder it to the output of the main relay.

hope this answers your questions if not just ask.

chris hall

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