Hi All just thought I'd share my recent experience with the my previously fault free GT, it's a '07 Blackline Edition bought for my wife about 8 months ago. All my mates thought i was mad and asking for trouble buying a Alfa but a late model car, nice condition, nice spec, full MOT for £750 seemed a no brain'r and so for it's been a joy to own. The first thing i did was service it I always do this when I get anther car, just to be sure it as decent oil and familiarise myself with the car so new oil, filters basic stuff plus cambelt w/pump tensioners etc (a gates kit came with the car which was nice, the previous owner had intended to have it fitted but didn't get round to it) with the basics taken care of I discovered the front brake pads were v low and a O/S drop-link was rattling sorted these and the car has been totally reliable until last week.
I started to notice a puff of smoke, this was first noticed at night and showed up in the headlights of following cars. Well the smoke has gotten progressively worse over the last week to the point it was clearly visible during the day under normal driving also there is a noticeable drop in power.
It is a grey/black smoke so I figured most likely over fuelling, the excess diesel been burned off, white smoke tends to be water/coolant, blue smoke oil so I was pretty sure it was fuel related.
The weather has been great and yesterday was the first day I'd had time and it wasn't raining so I thought I'd have a look, first job check the MAP sensor (easiest jobs first) this turned out to be caked in oily sooty crud, quick wash with carb cleaner and refit, test drive and... still smoking OH well on to the next item. The infamous EGR !! removed this to find it has blanking plates fitted, the ones with small holes which if I understand this correctly allows blanking without triggering the MIL, so I guess it's a partial blanking solution ? Refitted test drive and ... still smoking NEXT.
Lets have look at the MAF, unfortunately this is inconveniently situated down under the battery, as I don't have the radio code I was reluctant to remove the battery so decided to call it a draw and leave the MAF for another day. But before packing up I thought I'd have look at the hoses, the lower boost hoses are again sited down in the depths and to access from above would again need the battery removed to get at so I had a look the best I could and all seemed OK, next the top boost hose also looked OK until I had a proper feel around and found a 1" long split at the back just before the inlet. I removed the pipe and had a better look and discovered the pipe to be quite badly perished, now obviously I didn't have replacement pipe to hand so it looked like game over. But not to be deterred I had a look through all my boxes of bits and bobs ( yrs of jap turbos means I've got a decent range of various lengths of silicone pipe and plenty of alloy link pipes) but unfortunately I could cobble together a replacement pipe so now to a proper bodge.
After cleaning the pipe with carb cleaner I applied a liberal amount of Sikafex adhesive/sealer to the spilt (if you've not used it this stuff will stick almost anything and once stuck it stays stuck!!!) OK it's not a permanent solution but should be OK till I source a new pipe.
I allowed the sealant to set overnight and refitted the pipe this morning, the smoke is no more and the lost power is restored so it appears the split boost pipe was the cause of the problem, new pipe now ordered which I'll fit once it arrives and hopefully I'll have permanent fix. However given the state of the upper boost pipe I have fears the lower one won't be in great shape so once I've got the radio code I'll have the battery out, clean the MAF and replace the lower pipe at the same time.
This isn't a definitive solution to the smoking issue there are other potential causes but may help point people in the right direction to at least eliminate some of the likely culprits.
I started to notice a puff of smoke, this was first noticed at night and showed up in the headlights of following cars. Well the smoke has gotten progressively worse over the last week to the point it was clearly visible during the day under normal driving also there is a noticeable drop in power.
It is a grey/black smoke so I figured most likely over fuelling, the excess diesel been burned off, white smoke tends to be water/coolant, blue smoke oil so I was pretty sure it was fuel related.
The weather has been great and yesterday was the first day I'd had time and it wasn't raining so I thought I'd have a look, first job check the MAP sensor (easiest jobs first) this turned out to be caked in oily sooty crud, quick wash with carb cleaner and refit, test drive and... still smoking OH well on to the next item. The infamous EGR !! removed this to find it has blanking plates fitted, the ones with small holes which if I understand this correctly allows blanking without triggering the MIL, so I guess it's a partial blanking solution ? Refitted test drive and ... still smoking NEXT.
Lets have look at the MAF, unfortunately this is inconveniently situated down under the battery, as I don't have the radio code I was reluctant to remove the battery so decided to call it a draw and leave the MAF for another day. But before packing up I thought I'd have look at the hoses, the lower boost hoses are again sited down in the depths and to access from above would again need the battery removed to get at so I had a look the best I could and all seemed OK, next the top boost hose also looked OK until I had a proper feel around and found a 1" long split at the back just before the inlet. I removed the pipe and had a better look and discovered the pipe to be quite badly perished, now obviously I didn't have replacement pipe to hand so it looked like game over. But not to be deterred I had a look through all my boxes of bits and bobs ( yrs of jap turbos means I've got a decent range of various lengths of silicone pipe and plenty of alloy link pipes) but unfortunately I could cobble together a replacement pipe so now to a proper bodge.
After cleaning the pipe with carb cleaner I applied a liberal amount of Sikafex adhesive/sealer to the spilt (if you've not used it this stuff will stick almost anything and once stuck it stays stuck!!!) OK it's not a permanent solution but should be OK till I source a new pipe.
I allowed the sealant to set overnight and refitted the pipe this morning, the smoke is no more and the lost power is restored so it appears the split boost pipe was the cause of the problem, new pipe now ordered which I'll fit once it arrives and hopefully I'll have permanent fix. However given the state of the upper boost pipe I have fears the lower one won't be in great shape so once I've got the radio code I'll have the battery out, clean the MAF and replace the lower pipe at the same time.
This isn't a definitive solution to the smoking issue there are other potential causes but may help point people in the right direction to at least eliminate some of the likely culprits.
