Value of an Alfa 156
Discussion
It's a 2.0 Twin Spark 2001 in great condition with only 21000 miles and a years MOT. Standard trim.
An elderly neighbour stuck it on the local WhatsApp for £400.
I wanted to scratch an Alfa itch and thought even if falling apart and full of rust it would be a bit of fun.
Only problem it had was a flat battery but the engine fired up as soon as I stuck some jump leads on it. First turn of the key.
Everything is working and it drives fine.
The dear old boy who owns it is 89 and says he's unable to drive anymore and wants rid of it.
He's had it over 10 years and looking at the MOTs it appears to have done 1000 miles a year.
All MOTs passed with no advisories so it seems he had all work done prior to the test. He mentioned the cambelt has been changed.
Engine bay is clean like new.
Anyway I told him that I couldn't buy it off him as I would be stealing but he says he can't be bothered with eBay or dealing with people turning up to see it.
Says he's happy with £400.
I have morals so we have decided that he think about it over night.
I know nothing apart from what I have read about these cars today and a bit of looking on eBay and Autotrader.
I think it's worth more than £400, a lot more.
I sold my e36 owned for 23 years early this year and thought I'd get £500 for it. A 323 with 150k miles and pretty battered, as it was my daily.
It went for £2000.
As to offering more money I can't. This morning I had no need for another car and when I saw the ad, I thought I could budget £400 for a laugh.
So is it a steal or have I got my values wrong?
An elderly neighbour stuck it on the local WhatsApp for £400.
I wanted to scratch an Alfa itch and thought even if falling apart and full of rust it would be a bit of fun.
Only problem it had was a flat battery but the engine fired up as soon as I stuck some jump leads on it. First turn of the key.
Everything is working and it drives fine.
The dear old boy who owns it is 89 and says he's unable to drive anymore and wants rid of it.
He's had it over 10 years and looking at the MOTs it appears to have done 1000 miles a year.
All MOTs passed with no advisories so it seems he had all work done prior to the test. He mentioned the cambelt has been changed.
Engine bay is clean like new.
Anyway I told him that I couldn't buy it off him as I would be stealing but he says he can't be bothered with eBay or dealing with people turning up to see it.
Says he's happy with £400.
I have morals so we have decided that he think about it over night.
I know nothing apart from what I have read about these cars today and a bit of looking on eBay and Autotrader.
I think it's worth more than £400, a lot more.
I sold my e36 owned for 23 years early this year and thought I'd get £500 for it. A 323 with 150k miles and pretty battered, as it was my daily.
It went for £2000.
As to offering more money I can't. This morning I had no need for another car and when I saw the ad, I thought I could budget £400 for a laugh.
So is it a steal or have I got my values wrong?
That's a good idea, although I want to use it not sell it, but if I have to (circumstances change)
Original idea was to have it as a run into the country car. I sold my BMW as it wasn't ULEZ compliant and all my real reasons to drive into London just inside the South Circular are work and my girlfriend. So I bought a Dacia Duster. A great car, I've been all over the UK in it but I miss the fun on A and B roads as it has no acceleration and it gets very upset if I late brake into roundabouts
But, I'm surprised to find that the Alfa is ULEZ compliant despite being a 2001 car. I thought it excluded all petrol cars older than 2007.
Original idea was to have it as a run into the country car. I sold my BMW as it wasn't ULEZ compliant and all my real reasons to drive into London just inside the South Circular are work and my girlfriend. So I bought a Dacia Duster. A great car, I've been all over the UK in it but I miss the fun on A and B roads as it has no acceleration and it gets very upset if I late brake into roundabouts
But, I'm surprised to find that the Alfa is ULEZ compliant despite being a 2001 car. I thought it excluded all petrol cars older than 2007.
croyde said:
We'll have I truly joined Alfa ownership. Got a couple of miles and all the lights came on, kept stalling then died.
I'm stuck on a street corner going to have to wait ages for the RAC.
Before this happened I noticed the Speedo wasn't working.
Alternator?
Oh dear! You're right about Alfa ownership. Mine decided to throw a code light last Saturday whilst at the filling station. Eventually got it to read the key after 15 mins with a huge tailback at the pumps I'm stuck on a street corner going to have to wait ages for the RAC.
Before this happened I noticed the Speedo wasn't working.
Alternator?
.I reckon you could be right or possibly the battery. The RAC guy will almost certainly read the codes so that might give some pointers.
Hope you get it resolved quickly. Sounds like it promises to be a good buy if you get over this problem.
croyde said:
We'll have I truly joined Alfa ownership. Got a couple of miles and all the lights came on, kept stalling then died.
I'm stuck on a street corner going to have to wait ages for the RAC.
Before this happened I noticed the Speedo wasn't working.
Alternator?
"It's an Alfa, they all do that, sir." I'm stuck on a street corner going to have to wait ages for the RAC.
Before this happened I noticed the Speedo wasn't working.
Alternator?
Joking aside, check the earth strap somewhere in the engine bay. Mine corroded and left me stranded like that.
Cheers
Have to laugh as I though I was spending peanuts and getting a hell of a bargain.
Insurance was a shocker as a second car as no NCB to use despite having decades on my main car.
And now nearly 2 hours and still no sign of the RAC.
What's a new alternator plus labour, gulp.
Still she's a pretty thing even when standing still. I'll upload some pics.
The other side has a scuffed front and rear wing so I didn't photograph that
Have to laugh as I though I was spending peanuts and getting a hell of a bargain.
Insurance was a shocker as a second car as no NCB to use despite having decades on my main car.
And now nearly 2 hours and still no sign of the RAC.
What's a new alternator plus labour, gulp.
Still she's a pretty thing even when standing still. I'll upload some pics.
The other side has a scuffed front and rear wing so I didn't photograph that
Edited by croyde on Thursday 21st October 14:46
croyde said:
Cheers
Have to laugh as I though I was spending peanuts and getting a hell of a bargain.
Insurance was a shocker as a second car as no NCB to use despite having decades on my main car.
And now nearly 2 hours and still no sign of the RAC.
What's a new alternator plus labour, gulp.
Still she's a pretty thing even when standing still. I'll upload some pics.
Is it starting up then dying, if so then could be it has the power to start but the fuel is starved and it dies.Have to laugh as I though I was spending peanuts and getting a hell of a bargain.
Insurance was a shocker as a second car as no NCB to use despite having decades on my main car.
And now nearly 2 hours and still no sign of the RAC.
What's a new alternator plus labour, gulp.
Still she's a pretty thing even when standing still. I'll upload some pics.
Edited by croyde on Thursday 21st October 14:37
If the car has been sat for a while it could be a fuel pump failure. The RAC can check the fuel flow from the pipe in the engine (with a bucket) when you start it up.
Do share the outcome and good luck,
Cheers. I did drive it when I looked at it yesterday and it all seemed ok. That was after jump starting.
Had to jump start it on collection today and I left it running for half an hour before driving a couple of miles.
Then I noticed ABS light coming on and others, then it stalled in the middle of the main road.
RAC just called. 20 minutes away.
Had to jump start it on collection today and I left it running for half an hour before driving a couple of miles.
Then I noticed ABS light coming on and others, then it stalled in the middle of the main road.
RAC just called. 20 minutes away.
Ok update. According to RAC guy and computer the battery was effed, despite being only 2 years old.
Mind you the car was barely driven.
But new battery and still the battery light on, so new alternator.
Got car to a local garage I know. £476 for a new alternator, fitted
So my £400 bargain when I had no need for another car has turned into £1076 incl new battery and a day freezing my nads off whilst waiting for the RAC.
Mind you the car was barely driven.
But new battery and still the battery light on, so new alternator.
Got car to a local garage I know. £476 for a new alternator, fitted
So my £400 bargain when I had no need for another car has turned into £1076 incl new battery and a day freezing my nads off whilst waiting for the RAC.
Croyde, welcome to Alfa ownership! They certainly get under your skin.
I've found electrical gremlins are usually due to bad earths or dirty contacts as others have said. I've had to clean contacts in the rear light clusters (the dashboard "bulb failed" warning light used to flicker on and off in time with the indicator when the brakes were on) and the multi-plug that goes into the front passenger side door - the connection to the temperature sensor in the passenger side mirror was dodgy so the car would occasionally report a temperature of -45C, which disabled the air conditioning. This usually happened when the passenger door was slammed while the engine was running. I took it apart the other day and squirted some contact cleaner in there, touch wood it's OK now.
Check the condition of the spring pan on the rear shocks, they can rust through and collapse. I had one go, the spring dropped down and ground away the edge of the tyre. If the car seems to be running cool, check the thermostat. They also seem to be very sensitive to battery condition. If the battery is marginal, expect weird and alarming messages like "motor control system failure".
It sounds like a lot has gone wrong with my car but there's not really anything you wouldn't expect from a car of this age and I've been able to do most of the work myself. The engine is fine and I've even done the timing belt myself (check the interval, mine's a JTS but I think the TS might be 3 years/32000 miles too). Get some RIBE and some Torx bits and they're not difficult to work on.
Your car looks great, it's a steal for £400!
I've found electrical gremlins are usually due to bad earths or dirty contacts as others have said. I've had to clean contacts in the rear light clusters (the dashboard "bulb failed" warning light used to flicker on and off in time with the indicator when the brakes were on) and the multi-plug that goes into the front passenger side door - the connection to the temperature sensor in the passenger side mirror was dodgy so the car would occasionally report a temperature of -45C, which disabled the air conditioning. This usually happened when the passenger door was slammed while the engine was running. I took it apart the other day and squirted some contact cleaner in there, touch wood it's OK now.
Check the condition of the spring pan on the rear shocks, they can rust through and collapse. I had one go, the spring dropped down and ground away the edge of the tyre. If the car seems to be running cool, check the thermostat. They also seem to be very sensitive to battery condition. If the battery is marginal, expect weird and alarming messages like "motor control system failure".
It sounds like a lot has gone wrong with my car but there's not really anything you wouldn't expect from a car of this age and I've been able to do most of the work myself. The engine is fine and I've even done the timing belt myself (check the interval, mine's a JTS but I think the TS might be 3 years/32000 miles too). Get some RIBE and some Torx bits and they're not difficult to work on.
Your car looks great, it's a steal for £400!
croyde said:
Good point!
Maybe make it my daily, seeing as it's mysteriously ULEZ compliant and sell the Duster as WBAC are offering a lot more than I paid for it back in Feb.
I’m thinking not much work/effort it being applied to ensuring the correct cars are within the threshold for this release of the ULEZ boundary.Maybe make it my daily, seeing as it's mysteriously ULEZ compliant and sell the Duster as WBAC are offering a lot more than I paid for it back in Feb.
The next update will probably tighten the rules and there will be less resistance than if they were tighter now.
Although from a technical side some later Alfa’s were given extra cats to get through tighter emissions. Unfortunately not mine
waynedear said:
Still a beautiful car, I did the alternator on a couple of Alfa twinspark 2.0’s, what a ball ache.
I guess that's why the labour charge is so high. You may know why a 21000 mile yet 20 year old alternator might fail?
The car had done 11,000 miles in its first 3 years then only another 10,000 miles in the next 17 years. Thankfully parked in a garage where I suspect it got it's scuffed drivers side.
Would lack of use knacker the alternator?
Or my twice jump starting it in the past week?
Car electrics are still a mystery to me
Maybe just one of those things. Had an alternator go on a Ford that was eighteen months old with 8k miles on it. No idea why but was replaced under warranty luckily.
On the other hand a fifteen year old Suzuki with 70k on the clock had an alternator seize a bearing. That was fun, had to cut the drive belt off and crawl home just a few miles fortunately. Fitted a new alternator myself for under a hundred so all good there.
On the other hand a fifteen year old Suzuki with 70k on the clock had an alternator seize a bearing. That was fun, had to cut the drive belt off and crawl home just a few miles fortunately. Fitted a new alternator myself for under a hundred so all good there.
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