156 Selespeed

[dragonheart]

Been offered what appears to be a good well maintained 156 2.0TS selespeed, heard plenty of horror stories about this gearbox, but are they really that bad? should they be avoided at all cost?

[waynedear]

Alfa 147, 156 & GT, search that section over on Alfaowner, there are about 26 pages of threads on selespeeds........

[14-7]

I had a 156 Selespeed for 3 years before changing to a GTA.

Never had any problems with the actual gearbox/actuator.

[bobda]

It's the same manual gearbox as all other 2.0 Twin Spark engines, but it uses electronics & hydraulics to change gear position and clutch actuation.

The system works well, they're great fun on a drive (engine speed gets automatically matched when changing down) and can be picked up for considerably less than the manual versions because people are scared of them. Most problems come down to sensors, relays or the hydraulic pump brushes getting tired (which can be refurbed). Very few actuators, accumulators or hydraulic elements actually fail but changing the whole actuator is the easy option for dealers/mechanics when identifying faults so they get a bad name for being expensive to fix if they break.