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#1
07-19-2005, 09:02 AM
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Sluggish Performance / rpm problem - 1967 Fiat Dino 2.0 (early model)
Okay, I am a little shy about asking this question on FerrariChat.com as I only have a lowly Fiat Dino 2.0 Spyder - so cut me some slack and hopefully someone can help me out.
I experienced very sluggish performance coming back from San Diego the other day. It was my first real road trip with the Dino as its restoration is nearing completion (120 miles ea. way). Driving to SD was no problem until the very end of the trip. Making it home was a challenge. It seemed to occur when I was driving up hill and had to hit the gas to maintain the rpms. The Dino could barely hit 3000 rpms (it stayed closer to 2000) and I had to stay in 4th gear – otherwise I think the Dino would have stalled. 3rd gear was very shaky and I experienced some back fire. I would have to pull over, turn off the engine (just for a moment - cooling was not an issue) and then start up and everything would seem a little better until I got to an incline / hill then she would hesitation as I throttled to keep the rpms at 3000. I switched the Dinoplex (early large unit) to the emergency setting and checked the ignition related wires but nothing seemed out of place. Checked oil and it was low so I added a quart and also tanked up to see if it was a fuel issue - none of that mattered. It seemed as if the Dino was either starved for fuel or not firing properly. I also believe (hard to tell over the road noise) that there was a buzzing sound coming from under the passenger side of the dash. The fuel relay is located there and it looked fine - all wired connected. I am not sure if it would buzz anyway. checked for other loose wires but did not really find anything - I will take a harder look today as I am convinced the buzzing sound is related and may have been a loose contact. Of course, that does not explain why it would only happen on the slightest inclines. I have experienced this once or twice symptom before when I tried to run the engine past 4000 rpms on some test drives down the Malibu coast and but it was basically hesitation that would go away when I slowed down / lowered the rmps. It was transitional. This time the problem stayed with me all the way home. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions? 
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#2
07-19-2005, 10:45 AM
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Everything points to fuel starvation. Inability to hit high RPMs, the buzzing relay...probably that relay is the issue but it could be a clogged line or fuel filter. Try idling and see if you can redline. If so, then it's almost certainly fuel flow.
Ken
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#3
07-19-2005, 11:23 AM
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AJ:
Ken may be right, but, if not......this is not an uncommon problem with the Fiat Dino. For what ever reason these cars have either Dinoplex issues or ignition advance issues inside the distributor. This results in the car running fine a idle, OK with no load, but as soon as you drive and try to get to the upper part of the rev range, all power goes away. Dennis McCann in Ohio is the technical advisor for "The Other Dino", a good publication if you are not already a member ($25/year, Wally Clarke in CA, editor.). He may be able to assist you with this problem. http://www.allferrariparts.com/ The Fiat Dino is a fun car, engined by Ferrari at the Factory so that they could go Formula 2 racing. Hope this info helps!
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#4
07-19-2005, 12:23 PM
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Quote:
Advance is easy to check, although maybe not if at idle it still only goes 2000 RPMs. Ken
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#5
07-20-2005, 12:37 AM
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how much of a incline are we talking about ? I would think the relay would either work or not and why it would buzz I am not sure, but I wonder if you have a loose wire that moves to ground when going uphill.
When I first got my Dino, I had float problems and they were poorly adjusted, going uphill the car would stall, downhill it ran great of course, so great that when pointed downhill it idled at over 2,500 RPM, a float adjustment fixed the problem. I wonder if the relay buzzing indicates that it is not passing full voltage to the fuel pump ? bypassing the relay and passing full battery voltage to the pump should be easy to test. Good luck
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#6
07-20-2005, 08:54 AM
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My mechanic thinks that the carbs need to be checked out as the loss of
power happens on an incline and he recalls (he was a mechanic in Italy) that being a problem with the webers used in Dinos. He knows some people at Weber and is going to call them today re a specific fix. He also recommended that I rebuild the carbs anyway as it was probably (if at all) done back in the early 90s.
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