Classic Alfa Forums

As some of you will know I have been having a number of problems with my car. The engine was running fine but was removed to carry out some engine bay repairs and when re-installed it wouldn't run. It cranks over fine but it seems that there is no spark and no fuel.

I have checked all of the electrical connectors and earths and everything seems fine. I have rigged a bulb to the fuel pump so I can see if power is going to the pump while cranking but at the moment it isn't. I have changed the following:

Crank sensor - no difference
ECU - no difference
ECU relay - fuel pump runs continuously whether the ignition is on or not. This seems to me to be an earthing issue but I've checked all the earths again (4 close to the starter motor, and one close to the bonnet catch plus the 2 on the left side in front of the suspension turret close to all the relays) all seem ok.

Any ideas?

Hi chap

When I did my 16v conversion a million years ago . I had the same problem. It would crank but not fire. It turned out to be the fuel pump relay or injection relay. There was no power getting to it. As soon as I did jump a live to one of them . It fired straight up. Sorry I can't remember which one tho
You can put a jumper wire across the fuel pump relay to see if it's pumping too when the ignition is on.
Hope this makes sense. It's been a long time!!

Do you have power out of the fuel pump relay ? - this should be on the pink/white wire of the relay pin 87 (you could move your bulb tester to here to try)

If power comes out of that ok then the wiring diagram shows the pink/white wire goes through 2 connector blocks on the way to the pump at the back of the car

If no power on the pink/white wire at the relay then check if you have power on the thick red wire at the relay pin 30

If this is ok then I would remove the relay and join pins 30 & 87 together with a wire (with a fuse in it if you can) and this should then make the pump run all the time - then try to start the car with it like this

The other 2 pins of the relay should be a thinner red wire on pin 86 and a grey/black wire on pin 85 - 86 sould be a live and 85 goes back to the ECU pin 20 for an earth signal

Yep that was what I was trying to say , but I've forgotten what wires and numbers they where. This is what I think your problems are

Thanks very much for the information and suggestions, I will take another look and try a few things. It took a long time to find another fuel pump relay but I have finally found a new one now so I will fit that next week and will see what happens.