Re Subject: [alfa] Quarts, pints, litres etc

["Shaun Churchyard" <Shaunc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With Regards to "You really want to buy one of these Fiat nightmares?" I
tend to disagree.

I've owned a 146 Twin Spark and now own a 147 1.6 Twin spark.
Never had any trouble with either of them mechanically. But I have it
serviced at Alfissimo SA (Only people I trust).
Now occasionally something quirky happens with the electronics, but I
would rather drive my 147 over any other 1.6 on the South African
market. Alfa has it faults but so do all the other car manufactures. And
the hell of a lot cheaper to fix an Audi of the same year if the problem
is known.

Bye the way you cant get two 2 cents any more. 5 cents worth.

I dont mean to be offensive, youre a mechanic, I'm just a consumer.
Shaun Churchyard
147 1.6
33 1.5

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Subject: [alfa] Quarts, pints, litres etc

The American members of the digest lust after owning one of the new Alfa
Romeo cars.  Here we have had them for all time, good and bad.  Recently
I have worked on several of the newer models.  Last week I had a 145 and
a 147 in for electronic maladies.  They are no better than the older
generation, only different faults.  Beware the "throttle-by-wire"
versions (145, 146, 147, 155, 156 etc ) these are really quirky and have
expensive throttle servo-motors which disintegrate due to the high
under-hood temperatures.

The 145 had a engine management fault.  No replacements units available
anywhere in the world!  After three attempts to source one, each time
FIAT sent the incorrect version, the owner sold the car and bought a
Nissan, the local agents are also Nissan dealers.

The 147 was a nightmare!  This is the Selespeed version.  It has a
gearbox which is possessed by all the demons.

The local official agents told me that the 147 has 6 ECU's in the main
body.  The Selespeed version has 7 ECU's which all "talk" via the
central ECU that then displays the fault indicators.  The clutch in the
Selespeed is a conventional unit and the gearbox ECU does the
disengaging and engaging of the dry plate clutch whilst shifting the
gears via hydraulic actuators!  The symptoms were clutch slip under
heavy acceleration.  The clutch was removed and found to be in fair
condition and not the cause of the trouble.

The ECU some how got it into its "brain" that under hard acceleration it
needed to slip the clutch to relieve the transmission of the extra load.
The units have to be sent back to Italy to be reprogrammed to cure the
problem which Alfa admits is a "design flaw". The Alfa diagnostic
software is a real joke.  The Bosch system we have is far superior but
has no Alfa vehicles as Alfa refuse to allow Bosch to incorporate them
in their versions.

You really want to buy one of these Fiat nightmares? They look really
nice standing still (which is what most spend their life doing as they
always in the workshop for obscure faults)!
My 2cents worth.
If you disagree, hit the delete button.
John
Durban
South Africa
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