Advice on the 159 2.0 and 2.4 JTDM lumps please!

[Beefmeister]

Dearest Alfisti of The Thread - your advice please.

My cup of want runneth over for a 159 Estate, it will be a diesel (sorry) and in Ti spec (I'm a tart but love those wheels).

I just want to know the potential issues/pitfalls with the 2.4 and 2.0 JTDM engines - are they massively borksome?

I know a 3er Touring is supposedly a 'better' car, but just look at it, it's sooooo pretty....

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

[crostonian]

2.4 5 cylinder unit is a bit more troublesome than the 4 cylinder 2 litre although both can suffer from EGR, DPF and injector problems, the 2.4 more prone to the latter. The 2.4 is the more characterful with better performance although the mpg (around 35) is poor, it does respond well to a remap and dpf removal however with the revised MOT rules coming on stream soon make sure any DPF removal is done invisibly.

BMW diesels are far from trouble free and an Alfa will be cheaper to fix, personally I prefer the way the BMW drives but as you say the exclusivity and the looks are hard to ignore on the 159.

[Beefmeister]

Thanks for the advice. So if the DPF and EGR are removed invisibly, it should still pass the MOT right? I'm not far from Veloces in Barnet so I might pop down there and chat to them too.

Thanks again.

[crostonian]

Speaking to our MOT guy he says the check will be visual so no temperature probes etc.

[snorkel sucker]

I've got a white with tan leather Ti 2.0 diesel.

with 170bho it's no slouch and actually likes to be revved out, with a satisfying kick just before the red line. Very nice.

Economy is decent - mine is saying 40mpg but it's more on a run. A will easily get over 600 miles to a tank.

[StentGTA]

I have to say I've heard the opposite, the 2.4 is the better engine and is certainly more characterful. However both suffer with egr & dpf problems, both of which can be removed without too much hassle/expense.

2.4 with a remap and the removal of the above is a lovely torquey motor easily capable of 210+ hp (I met one guy a the goodwood track day in December using a 159 as his tow car which was mapped to 250hp plus and around 400lb/ft torque if I remember right, his track car wouldn't start so just took the towcar out instead! (Going off topic rapidly)

[Sooty Zorsts]

The 2.0 has a more modern "close coupled" DPF up by the engine, which means that a) if you leave it on it will be slightly less likely to clog and b) if you remove it an MOT tester probably won't be able to see this without taking the under tray off ( which they aren't allowed to do)

Most 2.0s share the same F40 gear box as the 2.4, which is fine (albeit a bit unrefined). Apparently the very last run-out 2.0s had the same gearbox as the Guilietta, and there are doubts as to whether its man enough for the job. The 1.9 has the GM M32 gearbox, and lots of these are giving troubles, as they simply can't deal with the torque of a standard car, let alone a remapped one.

For any 159, check the front sub frame for rust. The coating gets knocked off by stone chips, and quite a few of these are starting to go.

Either is a good choice, but I'd go for the 2.4. With an Alfatune remap up to ~250Hp it goes rather well

[donaircooleone]

Get the 5 pot, as it sounds good and neither are really economical beasts (relatively).

[Beefmeister]

Thanks for all the advice peeps, will be popping over to Veloces next week to have a nose around and ask them about DPF and EGR removal, tuning etc...

[MiniMan64]

Alfahorn is the fella you need, he's given me some great advice on the hunting down of a decent (albeit slightly cheaper) 156/159 SW for my drive.