156 60,000 mile Service....

[Brit156]

Hi there,

First time posting here - my apologies if I cover something that has been discussed before.

I've owned my Alfa 156 (1.8L TSpark w/ Sport Pack) for about 6 months, and now it's time for every Alfa owner's least favourite bit of ownership - the service.

My car needs its 60,000 mile service shortly, so I've been pricing it up - both parts and labour (not really a mechanic myself). I have been quoted two prices for a full set of sparkplugs:
£48 for Champion and £112 for NGK

I don't know anything about these two brands. Has anyone got any advice? Why are the NGK plugs so much more expensive?

I'm also planning to get the Timing Belt changed at the same time, since I have heard various unpleasant things about timing belts breaking on Alfas before the magical 72,000 mile service when they are supposed to be replaced.

In addition, I also have a problem with the second gear syncho - changing into second at normal rate produces a horrible "crunch" noise, forcing me to change gear slowly. Cost to repair is approximately £400, but I do have a warranty to cover this kind of problem. Is this common on the 156? Has anyone seen any similar problems?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Brit156 Owner

[Joachim]

Hello to UK,

sorry for being late with the reply.

Use the expensive NGKs. Alfa is only specifying those, they are
good for 100,000 km or 60,000 miles.

Having the timing belt changed is a good idea, but have them change the tensioner and any pulleys as well. Moreover, the
Poly-V belt is also due to change at 120,000 km (or 72k miles) and since it needs to be taken off when changing the timing belt, you may consider that one, too.

As for the gearbox, seems that a few of the 1.8l 156s do develop the problem as described by you. But it's by no means a typical problem of the 156.
I had the 156 2.5 before (while I was still in Hong Kong) and that had almost 60,000 miles (90,000 km) on the clock when I sold it, but the gearbox was as good as new. Despite the fact that I pushed it whenever I had the chance to.

I agree, having Alfas serviced isn't pure joy, and I can imagine that it's no fun at all in Britain, where everything pertaining to cars is so unbelievably expensive.

Ciao,
jaochim

[Brit156]

Hi Joachim,

Thanks for your input, I'll bear it in mind. Still got another 1500 miles to go before I need to worry about it yet.

Mike
Brit 156 Owner