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Re: Who wants a new Alfa?

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:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 1:23 AM
To: [email protected]
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 <[email protected]>
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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