Re: Who wants a new Alfa?

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

I don't doubt that many 164's have fine ABS systems. I have heard that 
Alfa went to another system sometime in '91 and perhaps this system is 
more long lived. But I know at least one person in CA. who had to 
disable the ABS in his early 164, and it seems to be chronic on Milanos 
(75s).

But my point was not that any particular ABS system was either good or 
bad, my point was that there are enough old ABS systems on the road 
today to act as a bellwether for the continued reliability of all of 
these alphabet-soup technologies being used in modern cars. Older cars 
are difficult enough to keep up with and I wonder what bodes for 
today's cars with as many as 20 microprocessors and microcontrollers in 
them as well as other complex circuitry. While its true that 
electronics are generally very reliable, especially after the so-called 
infant-mortality stage, but an automobile is an extreme environment. 
Cars get over 200 degrees F under the hood on hot days, and go well 
below freezing for long periods of time in the winter. Who knows how 
these electronics will fare under such conditions. semiconductor 
manufacturers sell Mil spec'd parts to the auto industry which are 
supposedly guaranteed over a much wider temperature range. But after 
almost 30 years in the semiconductor industry, I can tell you that if 
the government and government contractors weren't buying the parts at a 
5-to-1 or greater ratio (five bought and tested to get one usable 
part), most of the advanced technology in our planes, ships and tanks 
wouldn't work as reliably as they do. I'm not sure that automobile 
companies can afford to be so critical of parts quality.

George Graves


On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, at 11:40  AM, Glenn Wasserman wrote:


> In NJ they check if the brakes are working, not if they're ABS or not. 
> I
> had the ABS in my Milano removed, but the system in the 164 has not 
> been
> problematic, and I believe, is worth keeping.
>
> I haven't heard of anyone having chronic problems with 164 ABS.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Graves [mailto:gmgraves@domain.elided]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 1:23 AM
> To: alfa@domain.elided
> Subject: Re: Who wants a new Alfa?
>
>
> It may well be against the law in California too. But I know a number
> of people with Milanos (V-6 75s) and early 164s who's antilock brake
> mechanisms have become faulty and do not seem to respond to being
> fixed. These people have had no alternative but to remove the anti-lock
> bits. Since we don't have anything in California even remotely akin to
> the British MOT exam, people's cars are NEVER tested by the state (or
> the Feds, for that matter) for any road-worthiness issues. When I used
> to live in Virginia many years ago, they had state road worthiness
> inspections EVERY SIX MONTHS, but I don't know if they still do it. But
> I suspect many states do.
>
> George Graves
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, September 10, 2002, at 08:27  PM, alfa-digest wrote:
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 17:32:37 -0400
> > From: Keith Walker <100662.3423@domain.elided>
> > Subject: Re: Who wants a new Alfa?
> >
> > > > Anti-lock braking has been
> > around long enough now, for us to see that while it works very well
> > when new, on cars 10 years old or so, it becomes dangerous, and most
> > people end up having to disable the feature.<<
> >
> > Which in the UK is illegal. It is treated as driving with faulty
> > brakes and
> > carries quite a heavy penalty
> >
> > All thebest
> >
> > Keith
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