Alfa Pages

[jonintownsville]

Just a thought - I have been looking at www.carsurvey.org and if you look at Twin Spark engine Alfa cars there seems to be 100's of people needing new engines or have had timing belts snap. I once had a twinspark Alfa 146, and I remember having lots of trouble with that, the check engine light came on all the time. It seems the boxer engine cannot be beaten for reliabilty, and although we have our fair share of problems with the 33, it is usually not to do with the engine, and they always get us home, whereas many 156 drivers have been left stranded many times! What do you think?

[tvatavuk]

When I was buying 33, I heard from many people that engine will outlive rest of car
I don't know what are the stat's on Alfa 147 105 hp version.
But V6 from 75,164 and other were very reliable.
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[Ben_nz]

[Eddie W]

Fair enough Ben, I've seen your cams and lifters and they are seriously stuffed but the solid lifter spares I have are from a 240k mtor and they show no signs of wear at all. I have been thinking about the amount of wear on your bits and I suspect lack of oil changes by previous owners. I will get a better idea when I remove the heads from my spare 1.7
Solid Lifters:
I have been advised by several people that this conversion is not at all straightforward, different valve lengths etc creating problems. So far I have fitted a 1.7 head to a solid cambox with the solid springs and keepers. This is easily within the shim adjustment range and apart from spring length I can see no problems at all so far. Ben is going to lend me some hydraulic springs and keepers to check for length and coilbinding clearance as I think they are shorter. The solid lifter springs have only about 1mm extra compression at full lift to allow for valve float and ideally it should be twice that. However these are easy tolerences to achieve with ab it off manipulation and I fail to see where the supposed problems lie. If anybody has more knowledge of this I would be most interested to hear.
Regards Eddie
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A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

[Matt Stolton]

I agree with the statement that a lot of the modern alfas seem to require new engines in some sort of major way. However, the main cause of this is not necessarily due to design. Most failures are due to lack of maintenance and lack of good oil.

The TS engine, currently being used, has an odd crankshaft, which basically requires oil pressure to keep the con rod big end square to it. No oil, leads to the con rod going out of square, and your bottom end goes a bit 'pete tong'. Read new engine....

Similarly, It seems to be fashionable, to not want to change cambelts. Even when belts are done, the tensioners seem to be forgotton, or overlooked. Again, a major failure, which is preventable, is being blamed on design, rather than common sense.

Whenever I see a car come into Lloyds, for major engine rebuild, it is normally because someone has not maintained the oil quality or level, or scrimped on cambelts/tensioners. I know £700+ for the cambelts is a lot of money, but compare that with ther cost and inconvenience of a new engine, and it becomes cheap.

The other little problem appears to be a translation issue. On the boxer engine a lot of people seem to believe that belts need only be done at 70K miles, but if you look carefully, i believe it is 70K KM, i.e. about 40 K Miles. I would recomend belts and tensioners before 35 K miles, especially if you drive your car with a heavy right foot.

</soapbox>

Any way, according to Which Magazine, Alfa are now more reliable than BMW!!!!!
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Regards

Matt

Ex Alfa 33 'GTA' (P4 with Knobs On)
Now cruising in a 166 3.2 Ti!!

[Eddie W]

Addendum: when I suggested intervals of 60-70K I was referring to Kilometers
Regards Eddie
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A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

[Matt Stolton]

Sorry, I wasn't having a go at you Eddie, more of a general rant about how people don't maintain their cars, and blame the brand when it goes wrong.

Simple things like oil level and condition, changing the oil, checking and changing all the fluids in fact, is not beyond anyone with a modicom of common sense.

Admittedly, belt changing is something I have always entrusted to someone else, as it is too critical, and i don't think I'm quite up to it. However, it is no excuse not to get the work done. Everytime you fill with fuel, put a pound in a tin in the glovebox, as a cambelt fund....

The other problem with modern (read 156/147/166) alfas is the new type of people buying them. A lot of people, who are buying the 156 especially, are new to the brand, and are used to the Modeo and Vectra type car/engine. These engines, don't use very much oil, because the owners don't rev the engines, because it is horrible to do so. However, put the same owner in an alfa, and the old right foot remembers what is supposed to do. For this reason the average RPM of an alfa engine is higher than that of other rep mobiles, and oil consumption starts to occur between servicing. If you are a high mileage rep, suddenly you run out of oil, engine goes AWOL, and the brand gets slammed, because "my modeo wouldn't have done that"

Seriuosly, you would not believe how many vehicles come into Clovertech and have suffered nothing more than low oil. Unfourtunately the TS engines, especially the 2.0, needs good oil, and lots of it, and trashes itself if it doesn't get enough.
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Regards

Matt

Ex Alfa 33 'GTA' (P4 with Knobs On)
Now cruising in a 166 3.2 Ti!!

[Eddie W]

It's okay Matt I didn't take it personally but you did make me realise I should clarify. My freind Glen hammers me about proper maintainence saving money and downtime. The first thing I do when I get another 33 is change the belts so that I know my know my starting point. Oh and oil and filter.
Regards Eddie
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A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

[Gary Smith]

Gentlemen, following your communications regarding regular oil changes. A friend bought a new Alfa and decided to change the oil himself between services, in order to make his car last longer etc. He drained the oil and refilled it. Upon turning the key the car basically said it had suffered a low oil level and would not start again. Brake down wagon was called, car was towed to local Alfa garage, garage charged £30 for plugging in the computer and resetting the cars computer.
So much for buying a car that you cant even change the engine oil yourself. Now if that were my car and the oil level blipped low (or perhaps the sensor went funny) and killed my engine on the M25 and I had to get a tow truck to the local Alfa garage, I would torch it there and then and with the insurance money I would buy a car I could at least change the oil on. You modern Alfa owners have been warned.

[Ben_nz]

What model Alfa was that?
Perhaps Alfa have put that safeguard in 156s etc to protect against ex-Mondeo reps not maintaining the oil level between servicings, in an engine that will self-destruct with low oil pressure.
If your friend had left the battery disconnected while he was changing the oil, perhaps the computer would have reset itself.

[gritsop]

Hi,

Very frustrating for an Alfa not having the ability to replace even the oil!
Imagine the other parts

I'm also interested for the model of this incident. Tell not to be the GT! cause i'm planning to buy one!

Regards,
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Thanassis Gritsopoulos
1991 Alfa 33 1.4 IE
2001 Alfa 147 1.6 Distinctive

http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk
Parts Shop: www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/shop

[paddy granger]

[Laki]

Just take the - of the bettery for about an hour. That will reset computer.
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-- ALFA ROMEO 33 Q4 --