'91 164L arrived Tuesday - Report and Questions

["Liano Sharon" <liano.sharon@domain.elided>]

My '91 164L arrived last Tuesday at about 5pm.  I hadn't seen the car except
on the 'net, so it was a little tense as they pulled it off the trailer -- I
was ready to be disappointed as everyone I know gave me knowing looks and
warnings about buying a car sight unseen over the internet.

I am happy to say everything turned out pretty good.

The car is white with black leather interior.

The Odometer read just over 63K miles, as expected.

The exterior is so near immaculate (especially for an 11 year old car), as
to make near as no difference.  Not a dent anywhere, and I counted a total
of only 10 paint chips, none of them much bigger than a grain of sand or
two, except one on the lower edge of one of the door handles, which might be
about 4mm long and 1mm wide at most.

Biggest problem with the exterior was the front side of the side mirror on
the passenger side of the vehicle.  Large patch (several square inches) of
the black paint is going revealing aluminum (?) underneath, and more of the
black paint on the mirror is bubbling up.  I'm planning to just replace the
unit.

Interior is also as near immaculate as to make no difference on an 11 year
old car.  There is some ware on the driver's side seat, but no cracking, and
the ware isn't deep enough to be able to feel it with your hand -- so the
ware is only color ware, not the material going bad -- probably just needs a
little leather restorer and some black polish.

Ware on the other seats is non-existent.

Dashboard is perfect with the exception that some of the paint around the
label for the trip-odometer re-set button has been scratched up a little --
I would guess some one with long fingernails stabbed at the button and
missed every once in a while (the previous owner -- one owner since new --
was a woman, therefore the chance the previous owner had long(ish)
fingernails is reasonable...).

The shifter tongue (the black slat of plastic that covers the slot the
shifter slides through -- is there a better name for this?) has a piece
about 2 inches long broken off at the top.  There is a small (~3") tear in
the weather stripping at the bottom-middle of the driver's side door --
right where you'd expect it to be from the driver getting in and out of the
vehicle and sometimes catching this area with a foot.  These are the only
two physical items actually broken on the whole car.

Electrically speaking, there are some bulbs burned out in the dash, and the
forward dome light is out, as is the light under the shifter that lets you
know what position its in in the dark.  The front power seats do not work at
this point, a fuse or relays are suspected because none of the buttons on
either of the front seats work -- does any one know if these are all on the
same circuit?  Rear power seats seem to work, but I really haven't gone and
played with them much to see of they are working properly.  Haven't tried
the bun warmers yet as its been hot here recently.

Other electrical problems:

Power mirrors didn't work at first, but now seem ok, except they will only
function when the car is moving.  If I have the engine on and am standing
still they don't budge, but as long as the car is moving, they seem to work
fine.  Any ideas why this might be, and how to fix this?  Or is this
supposed to be a "feature"??

Gas cap release is not working, so I get to use the red cord in the trunk
for a while.  Suspect is a fuse again, but as I am guessing the gas cap
release can't be on a fuse by itself, its either on the fuse with the front
seat controls, or there is a short some where.  Comments/suggestions?  And
by the way, the trunk is immaculate (except now I've got the carpeting
pulled out from the passenger side because the red cord for the manual gas
cap release wasn't pulled through the carpeting as it was supposed to be).

Rear power windows won't operate from the front controls (between the
driver's and passenger's seats) unless the disabler button is held down
simultaneously with the window controls.  By the disabler button, I mean the
long (~2.5") button just rear of the rear window controls on the panel
between the driver and the front passenger.  Usually, this type of button is
to turn power on or off to the rear window controls on the rear doors (to
keep children and/or pets from operating the windows when they shouldn't).
Are you supposed to have to hold this button down while operating the rear
windows from the front, or is this a malfunction?  I am assuming it is a
malfunction.  Any one know for sure?

Power antenna tries to work (I can here the motor going at it), but does not
budge.

Passenger's side head lamp has moisture and a slight tinge of green moss.  I
plan to just replace it rather than try and clean it out and re-seal it.

It came with powered keys -- they have lights in them -- but they don't
work.  I took the covers off these and the spring which carries the current
from the battery to the LED is nice and green along the first two coils
(right up against the battery), but bright and shiny copper every where
else.  I should just need to clean these up and get some new batteries.

Siren from the alarm system is missing from the car -- the only major
complaint I have against the seller since this was not disclosed to me
before purchase.  Also, the remote access system doesn't work.  The
suggestion is that the siren is part of the circuit for the remote access
system, so it needs to be replaced before remote access will work.  Does
anyone know if this is the case?  Is there some electrical problem that can
be solved by removing the siren and of which I should be careful when
replacing it?  There must be some reason they took it out -- I'm hoping any
malfunction was just internal to the siren and won't show up again when I
replace it.  Any words of wisdom out there??

Engine looks nice, not covered with oil any where.  There is a fair amount
of dust and grime, but nothing like I would expect in an 11 year old
vehicle.  Very clean compared to the engine on my '96 Taurus (which does get
taken care of, but which doesn't get the engine washed as I'll be doing with
the Alfa).  And the engine came with new spark plug wires (nice ones too,
according to Dean Russell, my local Alfa tech).

As for driving, this is my first automatic Alfa, the Sprint Q4 and A33 I had
in Taiwan were both manuals.  I was pleasantly surprised at the pickup and
acceleration.  It moves through the gears quickly and sounds great doing it!
I am thinking of getting some kind of aftermarket exhaust to open it up a
bit out the back and maybe tune the sound a bit, though it sounds mighty
nice as it is on the factory exhaust.  Any suggestions on replacement
exhausts??  What's the cost on a decent system likely to be?

Back to driving it: Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!  I love the acceleration, amazing for
an automatic, and I really like the pedal set-up.  What I mean by this is,
unlike the Ford I've been driving, once the desired speed has been reached,
I can back off on the pedal, and just keep it barely depressed, and this is
enough to maintain speed.  This means that when I want to accelerate from
that speed, I have the full range of motion on the pedal available.  The
result: it feels like I always have more room to accelerate!  Also, once you
get the pedal down near the floor and you get some increased resistance, you
can push past this, the engine tightens, the gears shift almost like you
shifted a stick, and  y o  u     g    o       F      a       s        t
e          r  !  !  !  !

Its almost like having a manual fifth gear sitting right under the
accelerator pedal.  Very cool.

Handling is very nice, though steering seems a little looser than on the
Sprint or the 33.  Is this because its a sedan and they made it that way, or
does the rack need new bushings and some tightening?  Its not really that
loose, in fact I doubt if someone who hasn't driven an Alfa with a new (or
at least re-built as I had on the Sprint) steering rack would notice -- its
certainly tighter than the Ford (gee, that's a surprise), so anyone used to
normal cars would be blown away by it anyway.  Any thoughts on this?

The car came with nice Perelli P4000 tires, nearly new with lots of tread.
Only thing is, when I corner a little tightly, there is a slight squeal that
sounds like the tires are rubbing against the wheel well or something.  I
have heard this a couple of times, and have checked the tires after without
seeing anything (not surprising I guess after only a couple of times).  Are
these tires a tad too large?  Any comments/suggestions?

A few other questions:

The remote controls for the remote access system are, as were most of these
things in the early '90s, square and boxy, not very appealing (except for
the Alfa Romeo script across the top of course!).  Are there aftermarket
units that are nicer?  Maybe even have a nice molded-in Alfa logo, or at
least are not as large and boxy?  I figure, as long as I have to repair the
system, I might as well try to get some nicer accessories for it, if such
are available.

Where is the best place on the net (or around the Detroit area if there is
such a place) to get Alfa accessories?  For the moment I just want a nice
key chain, and perhaps a few other nick-knacks.  Any suggestions?

Wow, am I glad to be back in an Alfa!

Liano Sharon
'91 164L
W. Bloomfield, MI

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