L.A. 81 FI spider owner

[fiatphantom]

Hey all,


I bought my first 1981 Fiat Spider 2000 over a year ago and
when I've had it running it was a joy to drive down PCH with
the top down playing my favorite 80's New Wave songs over the
stereo. It was also nice to drive it to special occassions
like a couple of my friends' weddings.  I got the car
for a decent price but, unfortunately, have had quite a few
problems with it since I bought it including an early
overheating problem that was fixed after a temperature sensor
and radiator was changed along with some maintance done to
the suspension and some other safety odds and ends that ended
up costing $$$ (so I have been hesitant take it back to that
same mechanic).




Nonetheless, afterwards she ran pretty well until she broke
down a few months ago. I took it back to the mechanic who
originally serviced it and unfortunately he did not have the
time to fully diagnose and solve the problem I've been having
completely since works on 500s now. However, he did change
the fuel pump, ignition switch and I believe the fuel relay
sensor (I not certain of that but believe its on the original
invoice somewhere); the last two he said were
damagedbthcurrent output of the failed fuel pump. However, in
the limited amount of time he was able put into working on it
he was not able get the car to stay running consistantly nor
completely diagnose the problem.


After being tired of waiting for a very long period of time
I decided to pull the car from the shop and garage and
attempt to research and work on it with the help of friend
who is technician at car dealership ;when he has the spare
time. So while I intially wanted to join this forum when my
car was running to get advice on tweaking some of the smaller
issues I had with it I now find myself looking to hopefully
get some input from the community on some potential solutions
to my delema.  I look toward to hearing from you all
hopefully being back up and running again as this has
unfortunately recently become my only car and the public
transportation here is not exactly a joy.  




Thanks in advance for any insight you guys might be able to
offer up. So far on my 1981 FI manual trans Spider we have
checked a significant portion of the wiring and sensors and
haverecently replaced a faulty ignition coil. Currently I
have spark, good fuel pressure, there seems to be no leaks in
any of the vacuum hoses, checked all of the connectors we
could see for potential poor contact/corrosion, checked the
timing, but the best we can get out of it is for it to
sometimes start and idle roughly with the rpms dipping to the
point of eventually stalling if the fuel isn't applied
consistantly along with some small occassional backfires.
 Most recently it was not able to be started at all. Is
it possible that a bad ecu might be the source of my
problems? Or is there something else I might be missing?


























































L.A. 81 FI Fiat Spider Owner

[narfire]

I can see one problem right off the bat..... Try 60's music....British invasion... Car loves that era.

Can you get the car out to Ontario? Mark Allison the moderator here has his shop there.
I have found the FI car relativily easy to sort out, however I've had a few years to do it.
I'd be thinking Mark would be able to set the car straight, or perhaps he might be able to offer suggestions in techs closer to you.
Once I had problems in starting, it would crank but no start. That was an easy fix, The ground on the battery was loose.
Chris

[SunnySideUp]

Welcome to the forum!

Couple of things to check are the magnetic pick-up circuit to the distributor and the ignition module (black horseshoe thing usually mounted in the heat sink of the coil) Also check to make sure that that big black rubber plenum/hose from the black air box on the passenger side to the aluminum intake housing has no holes or cracks. It would also be wise to make sure the fuel injectors are working properly.

Good luck - let us know how it goes and if you need more help!

[giuliot60]

I've got an 81 I just purchased this spring, and you're in the right place.

Download Brad Artique's FI maintenance and trouble shooting guide. His link was just posted in another 81 post that is currently active.

Between the two I've been able to workout most of my issues

Good luck!