Alfa honeymoon.......OVER!
Discussion
I was loving my 156 JTDm Sportwagon. 4 months of pleasantness.
I must have incurred some bad karma today though as my o/s/ driveshaft turned to jelly and shat itself. The first time in over 10 years where one of my cars has needed recovering.
Bloody thing. grrr!
Hopefully though, santa is bringing me a pair of replacement driveshafts via 24hr courier tomorrow....fingers crossed my utterly fabulous mechanic can fit them on christmas eve.
Just thought I'd share.
I must have incurred some bad karma today though as my o/s/ driveshaft turned to jelly and shat itself. The first time in over 10 years where one of my cars has needed recovering.
Bloody thing. grrr!
Hopefully though, santa is bringing me a pair of replacement driveshafts via 24hr courier tomorrow....fingers crossed my utterly fabulous mechanic can fit them on christmas eve.
Just thought I'd share.
Doh! My Alfa honeymoon also ended this week, after nearly 4 months. Fired my 156 2.0JTS up the other morning to find it consistently firing on 3 cylinders. Drove the girly a couple of miles to work, thinking that it was just damp and would clear when warmed-up. It didn't. Popped the bonnet and found the cat to be glowing like a 3-bar electric fire. Hmmm, that'll be getting some unburned fuel/air mixture then...
Suspected a coilpack, pulled the connector on No1 and found it to be still running on 3 cyls, so swapped it with No2 and lo-and-behold No2 stopped firing, so that ruled out LT leads, injectors, plugs or compression. Luckily the local Alfa independent is 2 miles up the road, and had a coilpack on the shelf.
It took a couple of journeys for the MCS failure caption to go away, and I've managed not to melt the cat, despite it having got rather warm...
Suspected a coilpack, pulled the connector on No1 and found it to be still running on 3 cyls, so swapped it with No2 and lo-and-behold No2 stopped firing, so that ruled out LT leads, injectors, plugs or compression. Luckily the local Alfa independent is 2 miles up the road, and had a coilpack on the shelf.
It took a couple of journeys for the MCS failure caption to go away, and I've managed not to melt the cat, despite it having got rather warm...
Well I seem to have got it sorted.
Was $hitting bricks at the potential of a £700 pair of new driveshafts but it seems it was just a small clip had come away within the outer CV joint causing it to pop out.
Cost me £30 to sort....phew!!!
The recovery driver is a cvvvnt though. Scratched my towing eye cover AND the bumper.....aaaarrrggghhh
I've a thread on Alfaowner if you want to read the whole story.
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt...
Was $hitting bricks at the potential of a £700 pair of new driveshafts but it seems it was just a small clip had come away within the outer CV joint causing it to pop out.
Cost me £30 to sort....phew!!!
The recovery driver is a cvvvnt though. Scratched my towing eye cover AND the bumper.....aaaarrrggghhh
I've a thread on Alfaowner if you want to read the whole story.
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt...
My old 146 used to have a nasty habit of having a handbrake that whas (very) reluctant to release itself when the temp dropped below zero. Just used to make sure the handbrake was off with a brick behind the wheel (& in gear) during the winter.
Funny old things Alfa's... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
That said, I did 120k miles in mine without too much trouble - perhaps it was a good one?
Build quality was like an Airfix kit though... ;-)
Funny old things Alfa's... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
That said, I did 120k miles in mine without too much trouble - perhaps it was a good one?
Build quality was like an Airfix kit though... ;-)
te anyway...
No, only during the snow in January.
It did force me to work from home for a day or two though.
The most annoying part was clearing a foot of snow off the car before realising that it wasn't going anywhere and I needn't have bothered.
Now, the many potholes created by the snow have broken my front shock absorbers
It did force me to work from home for a day or two though.
The most annoying part was clearing a foot of snow off the car before realising that it wasn't going anywhere and I needn't have bothered.
Now, the many potholes created by the snow have broken my front shock absorbers
dave_s13 said:
Potholes have fooked one of my tyres, big buldge in the fecker 
The 156 has been reliable since my drive shaft incident but it's time to wave goodbye. It'll be up for sale this week as I'm moving house to a street with monster speedbumps - it won't last a month on that run to work!!
oooh... The 156 has been reliable since my drive shaft incident but it's time to wave goodbye. It'll be up for sale this week as I'm moving house to a street with monster speedbumps - it won't last a month on that run to work!!
heads up on the spec?
_Batty_ said:
dave_s13 said:
Potholes have fooked one of my tyres, big buldge in the fecker
The 156 has been reliable since my drive shaft incident but it's time to wave goodbye. It'll be up for sale this week as I'm moving house to a street with monster speedbumps - it won't last a month on that run to work!!
oooh... The 156 has been reliable since my drive shaft incident but it's time to wave goodbye. It'll be up for sale this week as I'm moving house to a street with monster speedbumps - it won't last a month on that run to work!!
heads up on the spec?
2.4 JTDm Veloce (175bhp)
2005 (55)
6-7months MOT (might be longer, can't remember)
66k miles
Silver
6spd manual
Momo leather
OEM iPod connection
OEM Bluetooth phone prep (this is very rare)
Cruise control
Dual zone igital climate
17" Multi spokes
OEM Horizontal roof bars
Load cover
Isofix
All tyres have loads left (well apart from the fooked one, getting changed this weekend)
Clutch bites nicely in the middle of the pedal travel - loads left in it (These are bloody££££££)
The exceptional thing about my car is the service history. It's been properly looked after.
Had all the belts, tensioners and water pump done in the last 10k miles. Also had font/rear suspension bushes/arms done in last 10k miles. Front and rear discs/pads recently done too. These are the things that make 156's cheap to buy and bloody expensive to run! Got a tone of paperwork for all the parts bought an other little jobs done.
It's not perfect though, has the odd paint blemish and wheel kerbing (as you'd expect) an an intermittent fault with the SET button (for the trip computer). Needs a new stalk and I'm going to try and get this sorted shortly.
When the trip comp does work it's showing 43mpg average, an that's nearly all round town. Not bad at all really given the thing really shifts when you floor it
There's a pic in my profile.
I'm going to knock up an ad on PH tonight but drop me a PM if you want any more info.
Edited by dave_s13 on Wednesday 17th March 19:07
dave_s13 said:
Car was driven away today by a nice chap from Wales 
My first, and last, Alfa.
You can keep em.
ps. Nothing wrong with my car I just didn't get the alfa thing.
Your right.My first, and last, Alfa.
You can keep em.
ps. Nothing wrong with my car I just didn't get the alfa thing.
I'm going to get rid of my 156 and buying some special.....mmm a Focus Z-tec fits the bill......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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