On the wiggle issues... When one applies strain to the 164 engine
mounts, there are only a very few places which get stretched. One is
the air cleaner to throttle hose, as mentioned by one of your
respondents. This is a very common 164 issue, and if you haven't
examined it carefully, you should. I have had some cracks so subtle
that I didn't find them the first couple of times I looked. They are
typically at the bottoms of the valleys in the bellows. A bit of brake
cleaner will reveal them fairly quickly.
Another place which gets stretched is the brake servo tube on the rear
of the intake plenum. It could be cracked or leaky, although I've only
seen one break while I've had my clumsy hands on it, trying to
re-connect it.
The last area I'd mention regarding applying strain to the engine mounts
is the grounds at the dog-bone mount end of the intake plenum. They are
stiff wires and might be wiggling a bit. If the connections are iffy,
you may be making or breaking the contact with the small amount of
motion you are inducing.
Intake hose cracks are a problem that commonly surfaces when the front
passenger side motor mount is failing and allowing for unusually large
motion of the engine. This over-stresses the (usually aged) intake hose
and cracks it at the bellows valleys. But it -may- be that you have a
slipped connection from the hose to either the throttle end or air
cleaner end, rather than a break. Check the integrity of the hose
clamped connections to be sure.
Michael
Eric wrote:
...,
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I really appreciate that you've take the
time to write them out!
I think I forgot to add one salient point regarding this particular 164: it
only has about 63K miles on it and the former owners took good care of it. So
lots of things which are typically cracked and broken on other older Alfas are
in great shape on this car.
"Rockin' the engine" has been a big subject of discussion. I will clarify. The engine moves hardly
at all, the mounts all seem solid. At first, I noted the engine RPM change when I put a lot of my weight (I
am 170 or so) on the plenum while leaning over to inspect the idle air controller and back (1-2-3 cyl. or
"passenger side" for 116 owners) plug wires. "Ah-HAH" I thought, suspecting one the hoses
attaching to the plenum of allowing un-metered air in.
Further study revealed this to be an early 1991. The plenum is solidly screwed
to the valve cover...zero wiggle room.
Then I noted that I could re-create the RPM increase by pulling up or pushing down on the
edge of the front (4-5-6/"driver side") cylinder bank. Or any other portion of
the engine by which you can grasp it and apply strenuous force. Recall that the engine
barely moves...just what is natural with healthy motor mounts
All of this sent me on a poking/prodding/wiggling (p/p/w) spree....
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