Alfa Romeo 156

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Tue 4 Mar 2003 16:53
Alfa Romeo 156 - Thomas Edwards
Can anyone please advise on an intermittant engine cut out problem on an Alfa 156 2.0 TS.

Brief history is as follows:

Earlier last year engine cut out at low revs on two occasions (Feb and March). In April Alfa dealer diagnosed and replaced faulty idle actuator (cost £120).

All went well until October when problem reoccurred. Then again in November. In December the dealer could find no fault (cost £45). Two weeks later problem occurred again.

In January dealer diagnosed faulty phase sensor (cost £775).
The problem occurred again last month.

The dealer says he will check with other dealers to see if they have come across this problem. Roughly translated that means I will not hear from him again.

The problem is quite dangerous as steering and brakes are lost even if speed is low.

It only occurs about once per month probably because the car only covers about 4,500 miles per year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thomas Edwards
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Tue 4 Mar 2003 19:43
Alfa Romeo 156 - PR {P}
Dont know whether this will help but last sept I was in Italy, and my 156 1.8TS just cut out. I started it up and revved it and it was fine until I took my foot off the accelerator, at which point the engine cut out again, it was as if the computer controlling the idle speed wasnt doing its job, either that or some "dirty" petrol. Anyway after 3 or 4 repeats of this it was fine and didnt do it again, so whatever problem it was righted itself.
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Tue 4 Mar 2003 21:12
Alfa Romeo 156 - Dave E
No great help this but I had a 155 that either,

a) Refused to start

or

b) Started on what sounded like two cylinders?

As it was relatively new the AA came out on one occasion and surprise, surprise, it started straight away. AA man says it is a common fault with lots of modern cars.

It is typically ALFA electric gremlins, if I did not know better, I would say that the one I had was possessed! So glad to see the back of it.
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Tue 4 Mar 2003 22:15
Alfa Romeo 156 - Humpy
PR, I had exactly the same problem in SWMBOs 156 1.8. Whenever the car was coasting, e.g. approaching a junction and the the clutch was dipped, the engine would die, no idling at all. This happened for one journey a few months ago and not since. Perhaps there was a computer fault and it just needed rebooting!
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Tue 4 Mar 2003 22:20
Alfa Romeo 156 - PR {P}
Strange, so it wasnt a freak one off! Ive since replaced the car with a GTA and sold it to my brother, so I know its never done it since.
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