Alfa Romeo 156 power problems

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 18 Aug 2004 21:36
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - buzbee
The car is a '98 2.5 Litre V6 that has little power when cold and when hot the power dies at 5000 rpm. There is also some exhaust popping.

The garage is saying they can change up to four sensors but there is no guarantee of a cure -- just lots of money to them for the changes, no doubt.

Is this vehicle prone to certain sensor faults?

Help appreciated.
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Thu 19 Aug 2004 08:59
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - teabelly
It sounds like it is running a bit lean to me. Their gas analyser would show this. If the garage are on about replacing sensors willy nilly it would be better to take the car to someone that knows what they are doing! If nothing is coming up on their diagnostic machine then the next thing to do would be to check all the air intake and related pipework and make sure it is secure and there aren't any holes in it as this upsets the fuel/air calculations. My car was making popping noises and being a little asthmatic and I found there was a large crack in the intake hose. A bit of gaffa tape and all was well again :-)

Find yourself a local italian car specialist to have a look at it. I know a good one in North Wales if that's any use!
teabelly
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Thu 19 Aug 2004 14:29
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - buzbee
Thanks for that. The person who has the car lives near Newbury (J13, M4) and were wincing at the likely repair cost. I will pass your message on.
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Thu 19 Aug 2004 19:46
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - tr7v8
If they live near Newbury get them to try Black & White garage out on the A4. They were Alfa dealers for years although I believe are now independant but still doing Alfa. They'll know what they are talking about. The other one is Alfa Aid in Maidenhead, who go highly recommended.

Jim
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Thu 19 Aug 2004 21:21
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - buzbee
Thanks for the garage names. I have passed them on.

I will post here when I know more about what the cause was.
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Fri 20 Aug 2004 19:12
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - buzbee
I have had some feedback. The local garage has had a go at a problem on the car in the past and their preference now is for someone with Alfa specialist knowledge.

I have suggested they use their one-man service outfit who does their usual services and look for the Teabelly's air leaks and then, perhaps, change the engine temperature sensor and also the O2 one, but use parts (less costly) obtained from a direct source. What they save on the parts will probably pay their friendly service man. Then go for your maidenhead garage if that is not a complete cure. Or go there direct.

I don't know how difficult it is to get these parts direct but this has been discussed before on HJ (not for Alfas though).
I would guess the O2 one on the car is probably well worn by now.

Even less how easy these are to get at.

When temperature sensors fail, do the fail as when hot or as when cold, usually? I assume they are some sort of thermistor.
If they fail as when hot, this would give poor cold performance.

Ahh for the days of the contact breaker and distributer.
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Thu 9 Sep 2004 20:55
Alfa Romeo 156 power problems - buzbee
Just to complete the story on this car, the fault was found to be the airflow metering. £175 for a new one plus garage time. They did let the local garage handle it, in the end. But they got a 'free' O2 sensor when it turned out not to be the fault.
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