Help!
I am trying to track down other people that have had a similar experience to me with new 156s. I bought my car in July 2001 and it ran fine for 2 years (!). Then developed strange knocking noises which have now been put down to oil starvation requiring a new engine (£3500). the car has been serviced and maintained regularly (last service was April 2003) and has only done 32K miles.........!
Warranty company have refused to meet the cost as there is no obvious component failure and Alfa have followed suit.
Honest John mentions this as being fairly common and could be a problem with the oil pump.......
I an trying to get some people together to put pressure on Alfa via whatever means possible - TV, solicitors, newspapers, internet etc, in order for them to admit that this should not happen in a fairly new car and meet the full cost of repair.
can you help?
Dave Herbert
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Sorry to hear of your problems.
If the car was bought in July 2001 surely it is under warranty? The only reason they wouldnt pay is they must think you're at fault? I hear some Alfa's use a lot of oil. Did you check it regularly?
Can you get an independant inspection done?
Failing that I sometimes use the forum on www.alfaowner.com
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You might like to have a chat with a gentleman by the name of Douglas Wragg, on 01444 811349. He is a consultant engineer who specialises in this sort of thing, may have knowledge of other cases, and could act as an expert witness if you get him to inspect the failed engine.
Regards, Adam Going.
Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.
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Following my experience a couple of months ago when I had to have a new engine in my 2 yr old Alfa 156...........Alfa now confirm that their after sales manual (page 36) advises customers to check oil levels every 300 miles!!! Surely this is just a cop-out to cover up design failings.......ie if your engines dies due to lack of oil and you cannot prove you have done this check.......they don't have to pay out...
Lesson to be learned from this?
DONT BUY AN ALFA
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surely you should be checking it weekly anyway to avoid having a lack of oil
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unfortunatley i dont think this would be just alfa, no warranty under the sun would pay for a engine thats broken because there wasnt any oil in it
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I was at an Alfa/Citroen dealer this morning. The've only recently taken on Alfas, so I asked them how it was going. They pointed to 4 alfas in the workshop, all requiring engines, and there were more outside. In the corner was a stack of crates containing new engines and faulty ones for return. They told me Alfas make Citroens look like the most reliable cars out there.
One Alfa outside had caught alight when it had thrown a rod, and the resultant oil leak had ignited on the cat. They've also had numerous gearbox failures, including one that came straight off the transporter with no second gear.
It seems that most suffer from lack of oil, but some had belt and tensioner failures. They did say though, that Alfa were pretty good about paying, as long as it had FSH.
So you've been warned, don't believe the road testers, as they only drive them for a week or two, not a year or two!
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" They told me Alfas make Citroens look like the most reliable cars out there."
Alfas are made by the same people who make Fiats.. (as are Ferrari! but a different case..)
IMO anyone who buys any Italian car with his/her own money is a believer in the motto " a fool and his/her money....etc"
Bargepole I would not touch with a..
(but if you gave me one foc and paid for repairs..:-)
madf
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(rolls up sleeves) Are you calling one of HJ's moderator's a fool?
No Dosh.... Moderator and proud owner of a 156JTD purchased with his own money.
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Ban him No Dosh!! (kidding)
Greatly exagerrated Id say.
If I avoided all cars I know people have had problems with Id be walking everywhere.
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Yup I've brought a 1 owner 156 JTD Sportwagon with my own money. Turbo went 2 months after I brought it, Alfa price I think was circa £ 600 which I thought not bad as I expected £ 700+ fitting. Spoke to Turbo Technics Techie who said that long service intervals probable cause of failure....
Do I love it, you bet, incredibly quick, looks stunning and very well screwed together. Oh and 39-42MPG and I don't drive slowly.
Currently including the turbo and a 48K service it's costing me 34 pence per mile.
I ran an Alfa 75 Twin Spark LE from 55K miles to 112K miles, cost was 22p per mile in that period and totally reliable and 36MPG. Oh and despite whats written on this site they don't rust unless crashed.
I suspect that most of the blown engines are caused by lack of oil, I've heard of quite a few Puegeots going the same way.....
Jim
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I've thrown the Alfa service schedule in the bin. Oil and Filter every 5-6,000, appropriate Alfa Services at 12k and 24k and I'm getting the 72k service done at 30k (3 years old next month) so I get the cambelt and tensioners done.
Not an Alfa thing, this is how I always treat my cars and it seems to work.
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I have been in a petrol alfa 156 and I was well impressed with how solid it felt. It had done over 100k and is an R reg so you would expect half the trim to have fallen off but inside was perfect. Was your jtd bought with full alfa service history?
With extended service intervals for most new cars I bet a few of most makes will go the same way. It was ok with 6k services not to check the oil very often but with 12k (or more) intervals people are going to be even less bothered as they assume that they can go even longer without checking the oil level.
teabelly
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Yup full service history, comment made by Turbo Technics is that if Turbo fails the oil feed pipe should be replaced at the same time as it sometimes carbons up inside.
Jim
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