Physics Defying Milano...

[Paul Witek <zagato@evansville.net>]

Well, it seems my Milano is intent on defying the laws of physics and logic,
and so I turn to the Alfa Digest for assistance again.

Here's the scenario:  The timing belt broke.  Valves and pistons did their
unholy dance.  Heads were pulled, replacement heads installed.  Everything
reinstalled.  But now, it will not run well.  It's missing on cylinder 3.

All the usual culprits have been checked.  No coolant or oil leaks. Checked
for vacuum leaks.  Checked all those ground wires. Checked the coolant temp
sensor connection.  Checked the cam timing.  Checked the ignition timing.
Checked that cylinder 3 is getting spark.  Pulled the injector connector and
verified that the injector is getting a pulse.  Tested the injector and it's
spraying fine.  Checked the intake runner gaskets and injector seals.  Ran a
compression check on cylinder 3.  Put in new sparkplugs again, and rechecked
all the above again.

I simply don't get it.  Cylinder 3 is getting fuel, spark, air, and
compression.  Yet it refuses to fire.  The irksome thing is that this
injection ran the car just fine prior to removal of the heads, and nothing
has been changed. 

Logic would seem to indicate that most of the "usual suspects" would affect
more than one cylinder, i.e. a bad coolant temp sensor or leaking brake
booster hose.  Yet those components unique to cylinder 3 (sparkplug, wiring,
injector, intake runner, etc.) all seem to check out. 

Suggestions, other than an exorcism?



Paul Witek
            
zagato@evansville.net		
Shemp Mo-Din Italian Motorsports 
http://evansville.net/~zagato/