flyblo5

If anyone has the space and time there's a decent looking 156 SW 1.6 ts with 10 month MOT and a knocking engine on ebay at the moment. 18 hours to go and sitting at £51.00. Even allowing for a few more bids you could get a nice cheap car if you play your cards right and put a bit of effort in. they are pretty close to each other too. I'd have a go myself but don't have the time.

Can't get Carers for Saturday (suprise suprise) but will be going on Sunday although i can't get there early so hope to see you there. Touch and go if the Sele will be ready in time, All the gremlins seem to be sorted (hope i've not buggered it by saying that) but not sure if i can get the MOT and Tax sorted by then, so i may have to sneak in the back door with the Land Rover.

Deffo for Sunday, although it may be in the Disco if the drugs don't numb the pain for long enough to finish the Alfa on time. As for Saturday i'll know i a week or so. got new Carers starting next week and they seem a bit more flexable than the last lot so i'm hope to blag a couple of hours Saturday night as well to show my face. Won't be staying though.

Cheers Smaky, It will be a couple of weeks at least before i get back over but i'll stick it back together and see what happens. Going to stick with it though as apart from a 156 GTA Selespeed sportwagon (less common than rocking horse poo) i don't really want anything else.

Yep, There is an inspection/stick your fingers through and fiddle cover but to be honest it's only half a dozen or so screws to take the glove box out and it makes the whole thing much easier.

You can't go, your car doesn't lock, Some bugger will nick it.

I had this a few weeks back (see electrical gremlins thread) had some advice from Smaky which sorted the problem. Assuming it doesn't work on the remote or with the key in the lock,if it's not the fuses it could be a dodgy drivers door connector or relay above the glove box.

If i get her sorted in time i'll be there, but it looks doubtful.

Update. Haven't been able to get over to work on her for a few weeks so my finish deadline of SAD 2013 has well and truly bitten the dust. Didn't have long this Sunday but i removed the Master cylinder and vacuum pipe. Master Cylinder looks fine, but then again they usually do don't they. No signs of leaking but that doesn't exclude the possibility if the fluid getting by the internal seals, but as it pumps up hard when the engine is switched off i'm thinking more servo related. Vac hose has a few marks on it but does not appear to leak when pressure tested. (thumb over one end, submerge in water and blow hard) but for what they cost i'll probably replace it anyway. So it would seem to be servo, although when i seperated the master cylinder from the servo there eas a woosh of air as the vacuum was released, so its holding something. So do i change the master cylinder and hose, refit both (a bit messy but no a difficault job) and try again? or do i bite the bullet and remove the servo to check/ repair/ replace as well? Removing the servo doesn't look like that challenging, more of a pain in the arse than techincal. Are there any common problems with servo's on these and are they repairable? I'm half tempted to change the lot and be done with it once and for all but it's getting to the point that even I am having problems justifying it to myself and i still have to sort the sqeaky clutch and replace all 4 coil springs again (changed them for Eibach's and now it looks like a tossers car, see twat of the day thread) so they have to go. Any (constructive) thoughts welcome.

Saw Q1 re-run this afternoon before it was abandoned but already i'm finding Suzi Perry a bit annoying. Should have given Jakie boys boots to Lee Mckenzie. more knowlegable, knows most of the drivers, hotter and no annoying voice.

Not a nice job? that will make a change. The only thing that smells worse than Brake fluid is gearbox oil, and now i have to deal with both.

So, bled the system again and there is definatly no air anyware. Did Smaky's breake switch thingy and went for a nice careful and slow drive, only took her up to about 15-20mph because of the lack of brakes. ABS light stays off and there are no fault codes generated but still no pedal pressure. Like before it pumps up a bit (but still not as it should be) when static but as soon as you start the engine the pedal goes straight to the floor, so i'm now thinking it must be servo related. There is no fluid loss and no visable leaks. But i now have a much bigger problem! See the Twat of the day thread.

Or the ball joint lasts about 6 months

Good point. I'll be taking my life in my hands at the weekend then.

Just a couple of quick questions Smaky, 1. Should the above fix restore brake pressure to the pedal. I have bled the system to death and run all functions on MES but obviously with a non functioning ABS pump the results are limited. 2. Instead of driving the car can i run it on axle stands or does it need some resistance. I only ask as it's next to a busy raod with the A1 at one end and a roundabout at the other, has no brakes (except hand brake) and at the moment has no MOT, Tax or insurance.

Thanks Smaky, i'll give it a go next weekend.

OK so that didn't work as well as i'd hoped 'cos you can't see the voltages. listed top to bottom the are, Left hand coloum as you look at it not used, 2.6V, 2.45V,Not used, not used,0.7V, 0V,12.19V, 12.19V, 0V Middle, Not used,not used, not used,not used, 0V, 0.07V,0.07V Right, 12.11V,0.02V,Not used,not used,11.65V, Not used, 0V,0v,0V,0V,0V,0V, Not used,0V,0V. Hope this makes sense.

Another Sunday another day of frustration. Radiator fan now works perfectly, a small step forward. CD player has stopped working again, a small step back. ABS still not sorted. My feeling now is that it is the ABS pump, or rather the circuit board and electric bits attached to it. Took the pump off and put 12 directly across the power lead and it kicked in perfectly. There is power to certain pins on the multiplug connector but when you run the tests on MES the pump does not kick in, so my conclusion is the gubbings between the multiplug and motor but just to check i've posted a photo of the plug with the voltage for each pin, with the ignition on. Can any techies out there tell me if all is as it should be? (can't think who i'm aiming that at ). Answers on a postcard please.

That's an offer you don't get every day.

Update. Rear door now opens and shuts when it's supposed to. Think i've found the ABS fault but can't be sure until next weel when i take the lapto over. Even the CD player workd now!

going to have a bloody good go this year. I'm even nearer than last year. Will deffo do the show and will try the evening (if you're doing it) but can't stay.

I've used this guide and it's pretty good, but the actual job is a lot more awkward than you think.

Bit of an update. After spending what little free time i have outside in the pissing rain, with what feels like someone hammering in my head while simultainiosly shoving razor blades down my throat and placing a hosepipe where my nose used to be, i have made a little progress. Electric windows was indeed down to a wirinng problem in the drivers door connector shorting out a constantly blowing fuses. took ages to find and about 5 minutes to fix. Central locking was down to a sticky relay. Would work a couple of times then stop. Changes relay and now works every time. The rear door that wouldn't open now does but now it won't stay shut. I'm sure this car hates me. So next sunday will be sorting the door and playing with the abs.

Does she polish big ends ?

Thanks guys. Looks like a bit more investigating in the electrical side. reading through Smakys words of wisdom i'll start with the drivers door as it could be the cause of both the central locking and the window problem can be caused by this. Don't think it's the motors as everything failed at the same time. Hopefully the ABS will just be the Vac hose, but at least i have a few more ideas to go on, so a bit more prodding to be done. Rad fan is no real problem. Again reading Smaky's reply i think the box will have to come off for peace of mind if nothing else. Don't want to do all this work for it to fail on me within a couple of weeks. Clutch was purchased from shop4parts. had a fair amount of stuff from them and never had a problem. Thanks again for the advice. I'll let you know what happens but i won't be able to do anything until sunday.