Ownership Verified: My 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA

I know the GTA and owner you're talking about. I think the pictures of the fire are earlier in the thread.

I don't carry an extinguisher, but I know where the weakness in the fuel system that caused these fires is. I check the line most weeks, though I haven't this week...
 
It is relatively sensible. :p

my keys don't cost $600 and all the speakers work...

But granted, nowhere as evocative and gorgeous as an Alfa.

That's good to know. So it's a gradual problem that can be caught early? That is relieving.
 
The fuel line splits to serve each of the cylinder banks that, due to the unique way in which Alfa Romeo engineering is conducted, is an integrated piece of plastic and is susceptible to heat damage (as most plastic is). The piece of plastic cannot be singularly replaced and necessitates the swapping of a largish section of the fuel line.

Early symptoms of an issue are fuel vapours in the engine bay, a slow leak (which can be detected by running your finger along said fuel line) and smoke emanating from the engine bay. Of course later warning signs of a full-blown conflagration are an orange glow emanating from the bonnet shut lines and alarmed pointing and waving from surrounding people.
 
Hbriz said:
I don't mean to go all Spectre but... Do you carry a fire extinguisher in the car? Otherwise sensible Renault ownership may be closer to you than before :p
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I still find it weird that fire extinguishers aren't mandatory in other countries.
 
plastic line bits cannot be replaced with bits made from other material than plastic?
 
Can you apply some cladding or heat shielding around the lines to reduce the exposure and prolong their life?
 
Are those intake runners the major source of heat? If so, that's a bit of an unfortunate oversight.

Also, it looks like your chrome needs polishing again!
 
I was left stranded by the side of the road on the weekend. Had to wait for ~45 minutes before roadside assist arrived because it was about midnight.

I dropped someone off to the train station and made it around the corner before the engine started missing and then died altogether. It at least saved me the embarrassment of dying within sight or before I had made the drop off.

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I probably should mention that it's completely my fault and that I lost the fuel game. I managed ~50k with the fuel warning light on before the tank ran completely dry.
 
When I was driving the Commodore to Melbourne, I passed a petrol station with an indicated range of about 150km left, so I thought I'd keep going until I got closer to the city so petrol would be cheaper. But all of a sudden, it dropped to 100, then to 90, then 80 and so on, until within the space of roughly six minutes, I had lost 130km of range. So with 20km of range left on the computer, I passed a sign saying "next services 35km". I managed to hypermile enough that the computer just ticked over to 0 when I pulled into the station. I had never been more relieved, I don't play fuel light bingo any more :p

50km to empty is the point when my fuel warning light comes on... but then after that it refuses to tell you how much you have left, probably in some sort of French attempt to say, "Stop putting it off. Get petrol now, you peasant".

So I don't know how close I've ever gotten to reaching 0 range in that car.
 
My fuel gauge is a bit off - when the needle touches the 1/4 full mark, I am running on fumes.
 
I've driven 30 miles with the Dolly 1300's fuel gauge reading empty, although I was doing 45mph and waving fellow motorists past. When I filled the tank the following day it revealed I was very close to running out! The funny thing is it read half a tank when I set off and had dropped to nearly empty within 30 miles. The gauge is a bit temperamental, I can get 250 miles in the first half of the gauge and not manage another 50 once it passes the halfway point! :lol:

The 1850 has the luxury of a fuel warning light as well as the gauge, I did about 20 miles with the light constantly on and when I filled up I only got 48 litres in to the 57 litre tank before it was full, not bad.

I've had the Corsa to the point where it stops telling you your range and just says "FILL UP" on the display, then it starts flashing, as does the fuel warning light. Did 20 miles like that feathering the throttle, REALLY don't want to run out of fuel in a modern fuel injected car...

Amazingly I've never run out of fuel, despite the fact I despise filling up at stations that aren't the very cheapest I can reach. If I think the car might be able to do another 20 miles to a station where petrol is 2p cheaper I'll attempt it. :roll:
 
Bretton Woods said:
I was left stranded by the side of the road on the weekend. Had to wait for ~45 minutes before roadside assist arrived because it was about midnight.
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BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT MIDNIGHT?!? I can't get 45 minutes around here no matter what time of day it is! The best I've done was about an hour calling in the early morning knowing that there couldn't POSSIBLY be any other cars that needed to be towed yet for the day...
 
I waited less than half an hour for a tow truck to arrive when the Saab broke down. And that was in the afternoon peak. Roadside assistance in Australia is generally very good.
 
Hbriz said:
50km to empty is the point when my fuel warning light comes on... but then after that it refuses to tell you how much you have left, probably in some sort of French attempt to say, "Stop putting it off. Get petrol now, you peasant".

So I don't know how close I've ever gotten to reaching 0 range in that car.
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I've ran out ONCE in my current car, and it also stops giving me range when the fuel light comes on.
The previous car gave me range even on fumes but the trip computer was always way off in all its predictions. :lol:

captain_70s said:
I've driven 30 miles with the Dolly 1300's fuel gauge reading empty, although I was doing 45mph and waving fellow motorists past. When I filled the tank the following day it revealed I was very close to running out! The funny thing is it read half a tank when I set off and had dropped to nearly empty within 30 miles. The gauge is a bit temperamental, I can get 250 miles in the first half of the gauge and not manage another 50 once it passes the halfway point! :lol:

The 1850 has the luxury of a fuel warning light as well as the gauge, I did about 20 miles with the light constantly on and when I filled up I only got 48 litres in to the 57 litre tank before it was full, not bad.

I've had the Corsa to the point where it stops telling you your range and just says "FILL UP" on the display, then it starts flashing, as does the fuel warning light. Did 20 miles like that feathering the throttle, REALLY don't want to run out of fuel in a modern fuel injected car...

Amazingly I've never run out of fuel, despite the fact I despise filling up at stations that aren't the very cheapest I can reach. If I think the car might be able to do another 20 miles to a station where petrol is 2p cheaper I'll attempt it. :roll:
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I got a flashback of the Monaro review on Top Gear, only the Corsa keeps telling you "Fill up you wanker!". :p
 
Pro tip: Put fuel in your car.
 
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