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Issues with my Alfa Romeo Spider & my visit to a car workshop

14th July 2022, 17:15 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I noticed peculiar spots on the front window while driving. So, I stopped & opened the bonnet & it was a mess.

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am very annoyed with myself! Really made a mess of my Spider the other day.

I had gone for a day of touring, a gorgeous day, my wife was doing some other things, so I decided to go touring. After a while, I noticed some peculiar spots on the front window. I thought it might have come from trees or so. So I pulled over at a petrol stop and removed them. Drove on, but the spots were coming back. Stopped and cleaned them again. Only after it happened a third time, I decided to investigate a bit better.

I opened the bonnet and the problem was immediately very clear. Just before I had set off, I had topped up the engine oil and forgotten to put the oil cap back on! Oil had sprayed everywhere! Luckily, the oil cap was still there, wedged between a spark plug and the valve cover. I found a nearby self-car wash and cleaned up all the oil and hosed down the engine bay as best as I could. Surprisingly small amount of oil had disappeared from the engine, but it was still a huge mess.

I am still mopping up and cleaning more. When the Spider is parked, oil keeps leaking out of nooks and crannies. Very annoying.

On the upside, it is oil and a bit of extra rust protection is never a bad thing on an old Italian car!

Whilst I was mucking out the engine bay I also noticed the cover of the air mass flow meter being a bit loose.

So I removed it, it is held in place by nothing more than a liquid gasket. So I cleaned everything and applied some new gaskets.

This is the first time ever, I have seen the internal bits of this sensor. I almost wish I had not. It doesn’t look all that great. But I am not going to mess with it. These Bosch air flow meters are incredibly sturdy, so I am just leaving it.

Yesterday I went to a workshop about car respraying, polishing and similar things. A very interesting company.

It was organised by the KNAC (Koninklijke Nederlandse Automobiel Club). It is one of the two National car owners clubs/associations. I used to be a member as for many years my classic cars were insured through them.

Many people turned up in their classic cars.

I took my Jaguar, about a 40-minute drive, just about all motorway.

We got a very interesting two-hour talk about the theory of car paint, paint damage and restoration and so on. Followed by a very typical Dutch lunch. (Bread rolls with meats and cheese). During the afternoon they gave a number of demonstrations on spraying, polishing and so on.