Just Purchased an 81 Spider

[Fiatbrit]

Hello,

Thanks to everyone involved with this site. It is a very informative site. I recently purchased an 1981 Fiat Spider 2000. Pretty decent condition overall but definitely not a show car. A couple of issues I wonder if i could get some advise on? 1. When the prior owner drove the car to me it stalled on the exit ramp to my home. We towed it home. It seems to have some sort of electric issue. If I turn off and on the ignition key the guages will intemittanly come on and allow the car to start. Sometimes it will then just quit on it's own as if it was turned off. It seems that if I try running any items such as lights that can trigger it to quit too. It always cranks over but unless i see the guages come on won't start. Also the headlights are no longer turning on. I wonder if it is a ground issue? Where should i look? I cleaned the battery ground and know that is good and the starter does always engage. Issue 2. When it was running I notices that sometimes when i had a slight incline the oil pressure would drop oil light would light and then the oil pressure would return once on flat. Oil is topped off and clean but I did notice a dent in the pan. Pressure at warm idle thru a mechanical guage is @ 25 psi. Is this likely a bad pump or possibly bent pick up tube that occassionally sucks air? Thanks in advance for any advise.

[narfire]

Hi there. Glad you found the site.
Electrical issue...pop the top off the distributor. The pick up inside has two wires that often get brittle and frayed. These will stop the car real quick if broken. If so , time to replace.

If the oil pan has a prang in it and your oil pressure light comes on when on an incline or going around a corner quickly, I suspect the oil pick up might have broken off. The pickup sits perhaps 3/8 inch from the bottom of the pan closer to the front.
Drop the pan by undoing the motor mounts and jacking the engine up (@ tranny) and having a look.
Going to get to know your car now
Chris

[Fiatbrit]

thanks, chris. I will check them. Would they also cause the loss of power to the guages? Once it is running it seems fine but will randomly quit. Seems to especially occur when i turn on an accessory like the PW or radio. Jiggling the key does not seem to make any difference. I thought perhaps the extra draw caused the loss of ground and then caused it to die. Other than the battery terminal where are the main grounding points. Thanks again.

[4uall]

this may help

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

[Fiatbrit]

Jay,

Awesome very helpful. Thank you. I will get some permatex copper and clean all the clusters.

[4uall]

Our cars are prone to electrical gremlins, some, more than others shhhhhhhhhhh it's a secret

[2ndwind]

Welcome. I have an '82-- Basically the same car. I had numerous electrical sudden-death, sudden-no-start problems until I completed 3 things:
1) cleaned all ground pods(as already suggested). Helped a little.
2) Put a Radio Shack relay in line for the starter (check the archives for this procedure) Made a huge difference in reliability but still the occasional trouble. Then it got worse until one day, while at the body shop, it was permanently dead. I had been suspecting the ignition switch for about a year and bought two used ones. Fortunately the body shop was around the corner from my euro mechanic.
3) So I brought him both used switches and he chose the "better" one. What a relief. It has started every time since then and no sudden-death.

You would think jiggling the key in the ignition would get it to touch off but that just NEVER happened. Occasionally, wiggling the wires behind the ignition switch while holding the key in start position would work.

Good luck.

[Fiatbrit]

Great advise everyone! I have Mg & Triumph cars too and I think their electrics are even worse! I have started cleaning the pods and will coat them with the copper Permatex as advised on this site. I also noticed the positive post was lose and that has helped (may be happenstance). Is it best to search out a used ignition switch or buy a new one? Is there a reliable way to test the switch? Thanks everyone for the guidance, what a great community!

[Fiatbrit]

Hello, car is getting better. Is it normal for the head lights not to work unless the engine is running? My guess is the alternator must need to provide the addad output. Battery is new but fairly small. Thanks again

[2ndwind]

The "new" ignition switches available are of significantly poorer quality, fail sooner than the originals, and are expensive. I'm sure you can test them with an ohm meter (turning the switch to different positions). I will try that on my known failed one and my 2nd spare. Might even crawl under the dash to compare with my installed 1st spare.

It is normal in our (later) cars for the headlights not to work without engine running/key on.

[Fiatbrit]

Steve, thank you for letting me know

[giuliot60]

Hi. I've got an 81 as well and had very similar issues with the electrical no start situation when I first bought it last spring. The gauges did the same thing, but I used my clock to tell me if it would start. If the clock was running, the car started. It turned out in my case that there was a loose connection in an after market amp meter the PO had installed. Once I found and tightened, all has been well. But it drove me crazy for a while. I also rebuilt the ignition. The PO had a push button modification that I didn't like. Took me 3 casual hours to do with all parts and a good soldering iron. See link below. I also started the electrical restoration using the other link below. Some of this may be in the post that Jay posted earlier.

The car has been starting and running with no issues since I did these things. Most electrical issues with these cars are connection or ground related, so clean them all. The ignition relay setup Auto Ricambi will also extend the life of the ignition as well. Talk to Csaba.

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/switch/index.html

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/el ... estore.htm

Good luck and keep us posted.