156 spark plug change

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 22:24:53 +0100, "R D S" > wrote:

>Knew I should have got a diesel!

Hah! Alfas are lethally expensive to maintain at a dealer regardless
of any detail factors like engine or model. Mine has been in the *you
cannot be serious* category for maintenance costs since new.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras > wrote:

> On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 22:26:19 +0100, (SteveH)
> wrote:
>
> >You'd say that until you had to pay for a cambelt change.... £1200 at an
> >Alfa dealer. (Assuming you're talking the 2.4JTD rather than later 1.9s)
>
> Not necessarily..my 2.4JTD was about 300UKP for the belt and
> tensioners (as specified by Alfa) at a main dealership at the last
> service.

How did they manage that, given the hassle of doing belt changes on
engines derived from the 5 cylinder block?
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

Zathras > wrote:

> On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 22:37:25 +0100, (SteveH)
> wrote:
>
> >VAG diesels have been class-leading for years.
>
> What about Honda, BMW, Merc?

Their 4 cylinder diesels in mainstream models are pretty poor.

> >The only mainstream diesel that's better is the Alfa / Fiat JTD.
>
> BMW and Merc do stunning 3 litre diesels and the Honda 2.2 is reported
> to be the best diesel car engine in it's class (in the Accord). While
> I think JTDs are very good, *class leading* is straight out of the
> Fiat/Alfa sales brochures.

3 litre diesels are another class - but I'm basing my experience of them
on picking my co. car. The VAG units offered the best compromise between
performance, flexibility and economy. JTDs have them beaten on
performance, though, and the 5 pot 2.4 sounds better.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

On Sun, 3 Sep 2006 08:51:48 +0100, (SteveH)
wrote:

>Zathras > wrote:
>
>> Not necessarily..my 2.4JTD was about 300UKP for the belt and
>> tensioners (as specified by Alfa) at a main dealership at the last
>> service.
>
>How did they manage that, given the hassle of doing belt changes on
>engines derived from the 5 cylinder block?

No idea! Just looking at how tight it all is in there makes me
shudder. Presumably they've got mechanics with tiny hands and spindly
arms!! On questioning, they said there was no need to remove the
engine for the job - if that gives any clues.

Mind you, they did dent the upper wing surface requiring a Dentmaster
fix at the Dealer's expense so I guess it wasn't particularly easy!!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)

> Easy, once you've removed the plastic engine cover.
>
> Just don't take off more than one plug lead at a time, or you'll never
> work out how it all goes back together.
>

When you remove the bar that supports the coils packs, etc, the plug
leads all stay in place on a 156 so you can't get them wrong ... unless
you really go to town and completely remove all teh HT system from the
mounting bar .... (why??)

And don't worry when you see them wired up as
pack-plug-pack-plug-plug-pack-plug-pack ... they do go like that even
though it means the packs are on the larger plugs in cyl 1 & 2 and on
the smaller ones in cyl 3 & 4.