How D R Y is your TC - this is almost a HATE question!!

[KevJ+2]

So...not your favourite Alfa-Male then?

Kev.

[rgh0]

All Alfas have water leaks ...... generally through the rust holes in the body

cheers
Rohan

[alan.barker]

So that means Alphas are at their fastest just before they are scrapped "light is right"
Alan

[el-saturn]

and btw boys and girls: most of us wouldn't mind having a gta 1300 or 1600 - they also ROAR if prepared properly! sandy

[rgh0]

I can generally stay ahead of the 1600 and 1750 alfas the 2 litres get a bit harder
The light weight ones ( rust or not, legal or not) are harder still

cheers
Rohan

[2cams70]

Just let the Lotus leak it's oil. That will get rid of any Alfa's on your behind!

[The Veg]

At least it's not the speedo-drive oil leak that is taken as normal with the Citroen transmissions used in the Esprit. As it was explained to me, the 9xx engine turns in the conventional direction but the unit in the Citroen SM (from which the transmission was sourced) did not.* As a result, the internals spinning in the opposite direction causes oil to splash on the angle-drive.

Before I knew this, I took mine apart trying to stop the leak. I found that there were a couple of grooves around the drive housing along the part that inserts into the trans housing. The grooves looked like O-rings should be in them, but no rings are specified in the parts book. I took the thing down to the auto parts shop and the clerk and I rummaged through the O-rings and found that nothing in standard sizes fit...until we dug into the last box, which had green O-rings made of some special stuff compatible with R134a for aircon systems. One of those sizes fit, and I had not a drop of leakage ever since.

*And there's another whole funny story about the big oopsie that this almost caused during the Esprit's development (ahhh, Gallic and English quirks melding!), but that's another story for another time and place.

[mark030358]

As a bump to this thread, I did the gearbox speedo drive mod today. I hope the pictures make this clear. Thanks to "ElanDNA" for the suggestion....


cheers
Mark

[Certified Lotus]

All Alfas have water leaks ...... generally through the rust holes in the body

cheers
Rohan

Just to prove the point...... a short video I shot of Alfas?s rotting away....

https://youtu.be/JbGuxB_4cs0

[JonB]

Lovely video.

Now to be fair, ANY car would rot entirely away if left like that in a damp wood. Although I'd expect the Alfas and Lancias to rot first.

Back on topic - my TC leaks oil like a sieve and I have a small diff leak (at the O/S output shaft). I am not sure if the gearbox leaks or not as there is too much oil down there to detect individual leaks.