New addition to the “fleet”.

Doesn’t look too shabby for an old shed.

 

Can't believe that.

 

I couldn’t take a before photo, it was too embarrassing.

 

Serviced the Alfa today, did the oil/filter/air filter/fuel filter, also dabbed some silicone grease on the suspension bushes, refitted the under tray with new bolts, degreased the underside and checked the oil leak. Couldn't find anything obviously wrong, no split hoses or broken jubilee clips, looks to be the main crank seal.
The MOT is booked for the 11/01/24, looked over the underside to check all seems to be in place, couldn't see anything to worry about, fingers crossed.
Whoever designed the air filter housing needs a good talking to, nightmare. Ended up having to remove the locating lugs, move the main box over to access the supposed opening hatch. Bit of head scratching on that one before I got it sorted.
Plugged the Topdon in, no error codes, rest the oil/service schedule. Quick test drive and all seems good.

 

About to drop Alfie down at the MOT station, fingers crossed!

 

Good luck!

Kev

 

Like I was at all worried….. (phew!)

 

The only thing I was slightly worried about was the headlight alignment. Although I’d put the brand new second hand light on the original fixing points, I wasn’t sure whether there might need to be some adjustment.
Very happy with the pass, shows that with a very modest budget and some tinkering, and older car can be kept running.
Some slight surface rust just starting to show on the sill edge, some muppet in the past has tired to jack it up in the wrong place. I will get that treated and painted in the spring.

 

The car is showing signs of a weak battery, I know the cold accentuates any battery discharge, but I did charge the battery a week ago, and have given it a good run to Banbury and back this week. However, I checked today and it is only holding 12.2V, jumps to 13.9V when running, so I'm happy the alternator is doing the job. Suspect the battery is on the way out, 12.2V is less than 50% charged.
Looking for a reasonable replacement, I shall get one ordered tomorrow once I've double checked the dimensions of the 096 in the car.

 

I'm sure you have a supplier in mind but I can recommend this company https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/096/

 

Funnily enough those are the exact same folk I have ordered off. All being well it should be here tomorrow.

 

Excellent service from Tayna, ordered and delivered within 48 hours. Fitted yesterday and all good.

 

Update on the little Alfa.

New battery has helped all round, showed how duff the old one was. Starting is spot on now, previously it was a little sluggish, I'd thought it was the glow plugs or glow plug module. Obviously a dropping/low voltage issue.

Gave it a good wash/vacuum a few weekends ago, used the AG products and it came out really well.

Topped up the tyre pressures this morning, then drove to Kettering for work. Filled up prior to the return and reset the Trip A computer. Stuck to 60ish on the A14/M6 and then drove sensibly on the A/B roads home. Over 60 miles (forgot to reset at the garage so missed one mile!) I managed 69.9mpg. Exactly what I bought the old car for. The service I did included the fuel filter, I've also added some injector cleaner since then, between them the fuel system seems to be running well.

 

Warming up nicely (or about to implode in 2K miles…..):

 

A question seldom asked, can you fit two size large road bikes in the back of an Alfa 147? The answer is yes. And I only had to take the front wheel off the Giant TCR. Seriously, who needs an SUV….?!

I can get one, with the front wheel removed, in the back of the G22, with seats down. But needed to take both for a service at the same time.

 

Small update on the Alfa. Now up to 98572 miles, should roll into 99K+ by the end of next week.

The rattling in the passenger front door was beginning to drive me slightly mad over the past few weeks. Had a little spare time today, took the door car off and had a look. Sometime in the past there has been a new window motor fitted, which was nice, but the person that did this only refitted one of the three screw fixings for the door opener rod retainer. This was causing the casing to rattle against the inner door skin at certain revs. Found two likely screws and tightened the whole unit up, rattle gone. Nice.

The rubber coating on the door shut and window switches has completely gone bad, feels tacky to the touch. Really not nice. I've ordered a small bottle of IPA (not the beer variety) and will attempt to clean these off. Have read loads of blogs/comments about using this to clean the old rubber off and take the part back to the plastic. Worth a try.

 

Seems there is a few ways to clean these switches....

Alfa still looking great..

 

There are a few ways for sure. I’ve looked at pretty much most of them, will try the IPA first and see how I get one. Will need my to take the switched out and dismantle them, hopefully I don’t drop the tiny white plastic pins that operate the switch itself, I was very lucky to find them yesterday! And given how rare these are becoming, I didn’t fancy the cost of a second hand replacement.

 

Good luck, hate pulling things like this apart, always prone to small parts flying out and plastic breaking....that rubber coating is horrible when it goes sticky (plenty of BMWs suffer with the same issue)