Bird strike blues
IIt was one of those ‘good to be alive’ mornings – open roads, sun beaming down, ELO’S Mr Blue Sky pulsing from at least three of the four speakers and… that fat wood pigeon is going to get out of the way, isn’t it? Bang! No, not the face! The impact appeared to be in the area of the Spider’s special-order small numberplate and left-hand Perspex headlamp cover; I didn’t want to look. But miraculously, on inspection the only casualty was the indicator side repeater, which had vanished, leaving a hole in the front wing. It could have been worse – a new one was just £12 from Classic Alfa and was with me two days later.
That was easy enough to resolve, but the starting problems – last reported on in the March issue – returned. As the car had sat for some time during the worst of the winter weather, that was easy to blame on the battery and old fuel. So I charged the former and poured a fresh gallon of Super into the petrol tank. Still all it would do is make a noise like a wounded water buffalo, as if the reconditioned starter motor just wasn’t engaging properly with the flywheel and was getting too little oomph to do its stuff. So I tried a new battery. Extravagant, I know, but they were 30 per cent off at Euro Car Parts that weekend. It was still no better.
Surely there was nothing wrong with this new starter motor? I jacked up the car and crawled underneath to look for clues, to find a nice shiny nut and washer lying beneath the car. Looking up, it was obvious they belonged on the lowest of the starter motor bolts. It had come undone, which is a bit odd, as I’m sure I had done everything up as tightly as possible.
So that was all tightened up and… the Spider still doesn’t want to start. It sounds like there’s not enough juice getting to the starter motor. The engine earth strap is new, so I’m now blaming the long cable that runs from the battery to the starter cable and have ordered a new one.
To fit that, the carburettors are going to have to come off yet again, the thought of which makes my heart sink. It’s my equivalent of editor Phil’s repeated E-type rear axle removals. While I can get at it again, I may as well remove the starter for inspection too. More on that next time.