Alfa 156 so far (review)...

Mr Benevolent

Well, it's been two weeks. A little early for an update, but it's an Alfa, so I need to get in the good points before it breaks down

For reference, it's a 2001 Alfa Romeo 156

Where to start? The costs, obviously. So far it owes me:

€60 for a s/h thermostat, fusebox cover, replacement steering wheel and gearstick gaiter.
€70 for sundry bits including glue, gasket sealant, resistors, claybar etc.
It's taxed until May, so nothing to worry about there
€240 extra for the insurance (for a year).
€20 extra a week in petrol, which was expected, so I'm happy with that.
Incidentally, the 170 piece toolkit I bought in Lidl ages ago has now paid for itself.

Now the car itself:

Exterior:

It's a very cool dark blue, but I never realised quite how much dirt dark colours show. As soon as I wash it it's friggin' dirty again! Lots of swirl marks and quite a few white paint spatters mean that I'll need a DA and claying to get it up to spec. No dings and it looks fine to the non-motoring enthusiast's eye. The alloys are beginning to bubble but clean up quite well, with few chips. The tyre are new but of an unknown make (i.e, I can't remember).

Someone backed into the front NS bumper this week so the bumper is pushed back 10mm & the numberplate fell off, but it's barely noticable even to me and a proper repair would make the car a writeoff, I suspect.

Interior:

It's a nice place to be and my first experience of real comfort in a car. Black leather seats that hold nicely, no rattles, bumps or squeaks and every control is in the right place. Apparently the back seats are comfortably plush but I haven't tried them yet. Very little wear on anything, although I had a few jobs to get the leather on the doorcards fixed in place, rear seat divider sorted and headliner trim fixed back in place. The steering wheel is the main job and I just can't get the boss nut off so it'll have to stay until I have the money to bring it to Atlas. The other thing is the gearstick - the gearknob is wobbly and the gaiter just will not stay in place, and gluing it doesn't work. Few other things to sort as well. Finally, the passenger seat is slightly loose on a rail and is a safety issue.

Mechanics:

So far, so good. This has been the first time I've actually had to replace engine bits, however minor. The thermostat took five hours to replace and all the various loose bits have taken a good bit longer. I've drained and replaced the coolant as a consequence of the thermostat change and the oil was topped up when I drove around for a few hours with no oil filler cap. The one real shock I got waswas the first morning when the car was dead as a dodo. I panicked and assumed I'd been sold a dud. Turned out I'd left the stereo on all night. A quick (well, an hour-long) battery swap and all was well. One thing is that the engine sounds dieselly at startup and is fairly tappety - a sure sign of a failing variator. This doesn't affect drivability though.

Sensors/Misc:

This it the slightly frustrating bit. The engine management light has a life of it's own. It can be on or off according to its mood and the phases of the moon. Doesn't seem to affect drivability though. TBH it's more trouble to fix than it's worth and I'm fairly sure it's mostly spurious errors. The airbag light is on but I'm tackling that today with a resistor. The light bulb failure warning light is on too - one of the sidelights is gone. It took me an hour to change the two foglights only to discover that the earth wires were the culprit.

Driving:

This is the really good part. It's heaven to drive compared to a Corsa or Meriva. The pedals are nicely spaced, with a thoughful footrest, although this doesn't reward boots or wide shoes. The clutch bites highish but there's no slip. The engine, a 1.8, is just wonderful. Plenty of pull and sounds great with the V6 airbox mod, albeit with slightly annoying resonations at certain rpms. The gearbox slots nicely into gear, albeit with a fairly long stick throw. Cornering is great on good surfaces, but I've had lots of understeer on badly surfaced roundabouts at fairly low speeds. In reality though, it hums through bends, and the temptation to plant the throttle in first, second and third is almost overwhelming at times. The steering is light and precise with a reasonable amount of feedback. The clutch was tricky to get used to at first, it needs a bit of feathering to make it change really smoothly. At motorway speeds it's not as quiet as I expected, with about 3200rpm at 100kmh.

Overall:

It's a revelation to me. The styling, feel, power and grip all combine to give the confidence that I never expected from a car like this. While it's not my dream car, it is a step closer to the combination of style, handling, power and comfort that I seek. As cheaply as possible, naturally

Lex Luthor

Nice one. Ran one for 8 yr with very few problems.
When was belt/variator replaced? Need to get it sorted or it will be a chicken coup soon

mondeo

Spurious engine management codes can be the result of a poor battery. Id connect up a code reader and reset anything that comes up. My old 156 done the same thing with a weak battery.

166man

Great post Confab! The radios are a pain I thought it was just my one but it appears most of them you have to actually completely turn off and even press the eject button other wise it's a dead battery in the morning. I learnt that the hard way.

The engine in mine has sounded diesel like and rattly on start-up for years and never has been a problem with it. The engine management light it the same on mine too. It comes on sometimes but will go after a few days and as you said it doesn't affect drivability. You get used to the log throw of the gearbox and the snappy clutch too, again I learnt this the hard way with many embarrassing stalls..

All in all great car glad to hear you got a good one Confab!:)

Mr Benevolent

Lex Luthor wrote: »

When was belt/variator replaced? Need to get it sorted or it will be a chicken coup soon

They're due in 7000 miles, the variator is dieselly on startup but fine after that. Belt was changed at 40k (now on 69k) and I'll probably change it this time next year at 77-80k.

Spurious engine management codes can be the result of a poor battery. Id connect up a code reader and reset anything that comes up. My old 156 done the same thing with a weak battery.

Funny enough, I swapped the battery (for a Corsa one) the day the EML came on. I'll swap it back and see how it goes. Cheers for that!

The radios are a pain I thought it was just my one but it appears most of them you have to actually completely turn off and even press the eject button other wise it's a dead battery in the morning. I learnt that the hard way.

Yeah I thought it was just mine as the previous owner stuck in a very handy USB/Bluetooth/SD/CD unit and I assumed it had been badly wired. Nice to know I'm not alone

Confab

Confab wrote: »

They're due in 7000 miles, the variator is dieselly on startup but fine after that. Belt was changed at 40k (now on 69k) and I'll probably change it this time next year at 77-80k..............

Any idea how long ago in years it was changed?

About the stereo issue, surely there is the capability to have only a memory feed to it when the ignition is off?

Mr Benevolent

RoverJames wrote: »

Any idea how long ago in years it was changed?

Not really, and tbh I don't have the money to change it right now. The aux belt is getting crispy though, think a change is in order for it soon enough.

unkel

Would you consider picking up one of those cheap OBDII code readers (about €40 iirc) to see what the ECU has to say about why the EML comes on? Handy enough yoke to have around

Mr Benevolent

unkel wrote: »

Would you consider picking up one of those cheap OBDII code readers (about €40 iirc) to see what the ECU has to say about why the EML comes on? Handy enough yoke to have around

Good idea, might pick one up when I get paid next, or as a present from Santa.

alias no.9

Well wear, if its a slightly purplish dark blue metallic, I've had the exact same colour 1.8 on a 00 plate. The thermostat took me less than 2 hours, sounds like you've got sore knuckles. I understand the urge to plant the accelerator, the engine just loves to rev. I also have the cam locking blocks and variator tool which you're welcome to borrow but I'd recommend you have some backup if the thermostat took 5 hours, though there were some updates to the 1.8 circa 2001, not sure if the locking tools are good for the updated version, think the giveaways are 3 boxes on the exhaust (2 cats and back box IIRC) on the newer model and fly by wire throttle.

kyote00

I have used the free fiatecuscan software and a cable off to ebay to run diagnostics on a 156 and 166.
http://www.fiatecuscan.net/ReleaseHistory.aspx

I have also used alfadiag...

You can also diagnose airbag faults. On the 156, if the airbag sensor on the seats is disconnected for any reason (eg swapping interior) it must be reset by the diagnostics - it won't clear automatically.

masseyno9

Similar couple of issues with my own 156, but I still love it! And a couple of possible fixes!

the radio - Does it stay on even after turning the ignition off? And/or fail to save radio stations you tune in? If so, take it out and look for 2 wires that have connectors on them, and swap them over. It's been a while since I was at mine, but I think they might be yellow and red. Some manufacturers use different pins for constant feed and ignition feed. (fiat and alfa anyway, from experience!)

Engine light - Don't worry about it until you get the codes. I bought mine with it on and it was a simple fix...Change thermostat and clean some connection to do with the throttle potentiometer. I bought a USB to OBDII cable and Alfadiag software, which has easily paid for itself. Got the throttle pot. fault again a couple of weeks ago and have cleared it twice, I'll clean the connector again soon and that should sort it. If you want to, I can meet and read/clear the codes with the laptop. I can't do airbag ones, unfortunately. The software can afaik, but the cable needs to be tinkered with. Drop me a PM if you want.

Mr Benevolent

alias no.9 wrote: »

Well wear, if its a slightly purplish dark blue metallic, I've had the exact same colour 1.8 on a 00 plate. The thermostat took me less than 2 hours, sounds like you've got sore knuckles. I understand the urge to plant the accelerator, the engine just loves to rev. I also have the cam locking blocks and variator tool which you're welcome to borrow but I'd recommend you have some backup if the thermostat took 5 hours, though there were some updates to the 1.8 circa 2001, not sure if the locking tools are good for the updated version, think the giveaways are 3 boxes on the exhaust (2 cats and back box IIRC) on the newer model and fly by wire throttle.

Nah I won't be doing the cambelt/variator myself unless some sort of miracle happens. The throttle is FBW all right, it's a CF3 engine, sold in Feb 2001. I have almost no experience with engines - thankfully I didn't get brusied or cut, it just took me ages to figure out how to get the old jubilee clips off without cutting any hoses. Finally got a circlip pliers to sort that out. Temp gauge only gets to 70C max (mostly 6-7 mile hops) so not sure if it's fully fixed.

The radio stays on after ignition off/key out but it's not a big deal. I'll haul it out for a look, could be a simple fix!

Timmaay

unkel wrote: »

Would you consider picking up one of those cheap OBDII code readers (about €40 iirc) to see what the ECU has to say about why the EML comes on? Handy enough yoke to have around

If you have an android phone, you can pickup a bluetooth dongle from the likes of ebay for about 20quid, and use the app called Torque to read/clear codes, and do a whole lot of other stuff with the car also like show live readouts of engine sensors etc.

But anyways, I need to get myself a diesel now with the miles I do, most 1/2 decent diesels (a4s/320ds/accords etc) are going for stupid money so I'm after a nice 1.9jtd 156! From doing my homework, they actually are not that bad a car at all, cheap to buy, parts are cheap, and then of course they look great (the facelift 04/05 esp!) and are a joy to drive in comparison to 90% of the boring run of the mill cars produced these days!

Lex Luthor

I had the belts done on mine at 42k and 82k. When I got the belt done at 42k I already had teh car 3yrs and was never notified that they revised the interval from 72k down to 36k. Only found out online and by then I was at 42k. Big rush then to get her booked in

My stereo was also the same. Stayed on when ignition switched off. Just have to remember that

Veloce

Good write-up OP.

I'm also an Alfa owner (2007 GT) and have had her since January. She currently has 85k kilometres and I bought her when she was circa 71k kilometres.

The issues I have had to date are:

Spurious warning light comes on upon startup- no fault found- €80(diagnostics test cost)
Condensation build up in rear light cluster- yet to fix
Boot rattle (common GT issue)- yet to fix
Slight squeky suspension bushes- rectified (for now) with some silicone spray.
Warped front brake discs (replaced Discs and got new Pads) €200
Clutch- slight judder. Will replace in the new year- I think that will be an expensive one.

Other costs: A full 78k km service cost me €330 (Oil, Filters, Fluids, Exhaust clip, Bonnet Catch Maint). New front tyres costs me €275. Tax is (was) €551, Insurance for me is around €700 fully comp.

Overall i'm pretty pleased with the car so far.

Twin-go

Good post OP - glad to see you are having fun.

Veloce wrote: »

Good write-up OP.

I'm also an Alfa owner (2007 GT) and have had her since January. She currently has 85k kilometres and I bought her when she was circa 71k kilometres.

The issues I have had to date are:

Spurious warning light comes on upon startup- no fault found- €80(diagnostics test cost)
Condensation build up in rear light cluster- yet to fix
Boot rattle (common GT issue)- yet to fix
Slight squeky suspension bushes- rectified (for now) with some silicone spray.
Warped front brake discs (replaced Discs and got new Pads) €200
Clutch- slight judder. Will replace in the new year- I think that will be an expensive one.

Other costs: A full 78k km service cost me €330 (Oil, Filters, Fluids, Exhaust clip, Bonnet Catch Maint). New front tyres costs me €275. Tax is (was) €551, Insurance for me is around €700 fully comp.

Overall i'm pretty pleased with the car so far.

I'm also a GT (1.9JTDm 07) owner. Bought in May with 42k km on the clock now at 57k km.

Issues:

Clutch replaced (under Warranty for garage): Looks like it was caused by the driving habbits of the previous owner judging by the ware.

Boot Rattle: Fixed by spraying silicone on the joints and the rubber seals.

Dash Rattle: Turned out it was the driver door hinges. Rattle fixed with silicone spray.

Driver Seat squeak: Probably due to my love of Italian food:p as it never made a sound when my wife drove. Fixed with silicone spray.

Driver door not locking fully (only on cold days): Door open chime/warning on dash and window dropping/opening and closing while driving. Fixed by lubricating the lock with, you've guessed it, silicone spray.

Total cost to me: €6.49 for the can of silicone spray:D.

Due to go in for service and timing belt/water pump in January.

Love my Alfa!!

Mr Benevolent

Twin-go wrote: »

Good post OP - glad to see you are having fun.



I'm also a GT (1.9JTDm 07) owner. Bought in May with 42k km on the clock now at 57k km.

Issues:

Clutch replaced (under Warranty for garage): Looks like it was caused by the driving habbits of the previous owner judging by the ware.

Boot Rattle: Fixed by spraying silicone on the joints and the rubber seals.

Dash Rattle: Turned out it was the driver door hinges. Rattle fixed with silicone spray.

Driver Seat squeak: Probably due to my love of Italian food:p as it never made a sound when my wife drove. Fixed with silicone spray.

Driver door not locking fully (only on cold days): Door open chime/warning on dash and window dropping/opening and closing while driving. Fixed by lubricating the lock with, you've guessed it, silicone spray.

Total cost to me: €6.49 for the can of silicone spray:D.

Due to go in for service and timing belt/water pump in January.

Love my Alfa!!

I like that. Wheel falls off? Silicon spray. Rust holes everywhere? Silicon spray! The seat squeaking thing only happens when my girlfriend is sitting in either of the front seats. Not a sound when I'm sitting in them.

Does anyone else get a random foggy windscreen in the 156? Mine doesn't have a pollen filter in it atm.

Lex Luthor

for all those 2007 GT owners...there is an ongoing issue with the clip the holds the clutch pedal to the cylinder. Mine let go in traffic one day. Its a doddle to fix if you have a spare one. The problem is caused by the metal of the clip rubbing off the pedal.
I got mine replaced under warranty..same clip just a rubber washer between it and the pedal.
Could see it wearing again and letting go after another 2yrs so worth checking. It was part of a recall

Twin-go

Lex Luthor wrote: »

for all those 2007 GT owners...there is an ongoing issue with the clip the holds the clutch pedal to the cylinder. Mine let go in traffic one day. Its a doddle to fix if you have a spare one. The problem is caused by the metal of the clip rubbing off the pedal.
I got mine replaced under warranty..same clip just a rubber washer between it and the pedal.
Could see it wearing again and letting go after another 2yrs so worth checking. It was part of a recall

cheers Lex - Will check it out.

Veloce

Lex Luthor wrote: »

for all those 2007 GT owners...there is an ongoing issue with the clip the holds the clutch pedal to the cylinder. Mine let go in traffic one day. Its a doddle to fix if you have a spare one. The problem is caused by the metal of the clip rubbing off the pedal.
I got mine replaced under warranty..same clip just a rubber washer between it and the pedal.
Could see it wearing again and letting go after another 2yrs so worth checking. It was part of a recall

Thanks lex, I was aware of that alright. I keep an old nail in the car in case the pin does fail. Handy little fix.

masseyno9

Confab wrote: »

Does anyone else get a random foggy windscreen in the 156? Mine doesn't have a pollen filter in it atm.

Yep, but at this stage it's more wet than foggy. Caused by a leak into the passenger footwell. I suspect the drain from the windscreen is clogged with autumnal foliage, but yet to look properly, as I haven't been using the car a lot lately. Check your passenger footwell carpet for dampness, maybe?

Mr Benevolent

masseyno9 wrote: »

Yep, but at this stage it's more wet than foggy. Caused by a leak into the passenger footwell. I suspect the drain from the windscreen is clogged with autumnal foliage, but yet to look properly, as I haven't been using the car a lot lately. Check your passenger footwell carpet for dampness, maybe?

The carpet's not damp but it has a plastic/rubber backing so that might be masking the problem. I keep it in an underground carpark too. How do I get access to the drains?

Ferris

On the engine management issue, herselfs 156 is in with the mechanic to get this fixed under warranty. They're going to change the crank position sensor. Reading on Alfaowner the lambda sensor can give the same problem. It does affect driveability however, the car feels like its holding back.

The only other problem is a rattle from the starter motor (I think) on startup, its not the variator as thats been done recently. Thats going to get sorted also.

The car is a 2004 1.6 ti with 50k on it, uses absolutely no oil despite scaremongering by keyboard mechanics. Its a dark met purple which I hadn't seen before. Its a nice car, she loves the thing. Its a bit slow for me off the mark but its grand when its at motorway speeds.

Nonoperational

Ferris wrote: »

On the engine management issue, herselfs 156 is in with the mechanic to get this fixed under warranty. They're going to change the crank position sensor. Reading on Alfaowner the lambda sensor can give the same problem. It does affect driveability however, the car feels like its holding back.

The only other problem is a rattle from the starter motor (I think) on startup, its not the variator as thats been done recently. Thats going to get sorted also.

The car is a 2004 1.6 ti with 50k on it, uses absolutely no oil despite scaremongering by keyboard mechanics. Its a dark met purple which I hadn't seen before. Its a nice car, she loves the thing. Its a bit slow for me off the mark but its grand when its at motorway speeds.

To be fair saying that Twin Sparks use a bit of oil is far from "scaremongering by keyboard mechanics". It's well known the majority use a drop of oil.

Lex Luthor

damp or wet windscreens can be attributed to wet or damp clothes left in the car overnight...

masseyno9

Confab wrote: »

The carpet's not damp but it has a plastic/rubber backing so that might be masking the problem. I keep it in an underground carpark too. How do I get access to the drains?

Couldn't tell you off the top of my head, but I've seen it on a couple of other cars before. Basically pop the bonnet, follow, with your eyes, where water would flow off the windscreen down towards the passenger side. There might be a box kind of thing that houses the pollen filter (i know you said you don't have one) but there are reports if you google it of 156 drains being blocked around there and water overflowing into the footwell.

An old Omega my dad drove had this problem, and I took handfuls of leaves out of it, from underneath, before getting soaked by a torrent of filthy water!! Old man was happy, me...not so much!

excaliburhc

congrats on buying what will ruin all other cars for you

i have a 2001 156 1.6 in red , stunning car ,know what you mean about tempting to floor it in 2nd or 3rd .4000 revs in 3rd and it just makes me giggle:),

had no issues for first 5 years but this year had a couple of issues , worn bushels , variator , intake manifold crack , heating works for 3 and 4 setting but not 1 or 2 ,has locked in place and i cant modify it and ammmm front wheel links.

only thing that i can think of you need to keep an eye on is a) oil use is through the roof , expect to use about a liter every 1000 miles - varies for people but all seem to have oil usage , second is tyre wear due to camber setup inner tyres wear out quickly enough.

small but expensive when they all add up . saying that, i love my car and i cant wait to get my 159.

well wear m8 , hope you get half the enjoyment out of your one as i did.

Veloce

excaliburhc wrote: »

congrats on buying what will ruin all other cars for you

i have a 2001 156 1.6 in red , stunning car ,know what you mean about tempting to floor it in 2nd or 3rd .4000 revs in 3rd and it just makes me giggle:),

had no issues for first 5 years but this year had a couple of issues , worn bushels , variator , intake manifold crack , heating works for 3 and 4 setting but not 1 or 2 ,has locked in place and i cant modify it and ammmm front wheel links.

only thing that i can think of you need to keep an eye on is a) oil use is through the roof , expect to use about a liter every 1000 miles - varies for people but all seem to have oil usage , second is tyre wear due to camber setup inner tyres wear out quickly enough.

small but expensive when they all add up . saying that, i love my car and i cant wait to get my 159.

well wear m8 , hope you get half the enjoyment out of your one as i did.

My Alfa burns a bit of oil, but far from 1 litre over 1k miles, thankfully! I use about 200ml of oil over 1k miles.

masseyno9

Oh, also, to check if the thermostat is actually working, run the engine for as long as it should normally take to heat up (10 mins driving, or about 15-20 at idle). If the needle isn't above 70, the thermostat is stuck open. They fail that way so it doesn't overheat as it would if it failed closed. It should be around 90 constantly. The gauge will fluctuate more than other cars as it's based on instant temp readings, whereas most others are average readings (so I've read anyway!).

If it's working properly, you'll notice that if you sit in traffic, the needle will climb past 90, then shoot back down. That's the stat opening and letting cool water flow around the engine block. Stat then closes, temp goes back up, stat opens and cool water flows again....etc. Basically, if/when the thermostat is working, don't be alarmed by a constantly changing temp gauge!

Ferris

gpf101 wrote: »

To be fair saying that Twin Sparks use a bit of oil is far from "scaremongering by keyboard mechanics". It's well known the majority use a drop of oil.

To be fair some may use a bit but its a totally subjective thing and is related to the quality of maintainence of what is an ageing car.

I have a nissan that uses a bit, the brother has a 520 that uses a lot and I had a tdi golf that drank it yet none of these cars have the reputation for oil usage that the alfa does. Now its me thats scaremongering:D