Alfa 156 Cam Belt Needing Changing at 22K Miles

My Alfa 156 2.0 JTS went in for its 2 yr service having done 22,000
miles. They said it needed cam belt & balance belt changing. They also
said this wasn’t covered under the warranty as these were wear and
tear items. This sounded ridiculous and i have been on to Alfa
customer care & they said warranty would not cover it but have offered
to pay the parts but garage would not help with the labour costs.
Has anyone else been successful in similar situation getting this done
either under warranty or by the garage?
Cheers,
Matt

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mlalfa wrote:
> My Alfa 156 2.0 JTS went in for its 2 yr service having done 22,000
> miles. They said it needed cam belt & balance belt changing. They also
> said this wasn’t covered under the warranty as these were wear and
> tear items. This sounded ridiculous and i have been on to Alfa
> customer care & they said warranty would not cover it but have offered
> to pay the parts but garage would not help with the labour costs.
> Has anyone else been successful in similar situation getting this done
> either under warranty or by the garage?
> Cheers,
> Matt
>

It is ridiculous Matt - why are they even looking at a cambelt on a car
at only 22k and 24/12?? The Alfa line is generally "check at 36k, change
anyway at 72K". Anyone know of cambelts going at less than 36K?? At this
rate we'll be swapping them every 12K........ Is this a main dealer?

Barry

Barry Bingham > wrote:

> mlalfa wrote:
> > My Alfa 156 2.0 JTS went in for its 2 yr service having done 22,000
> > miles. They said it needed cam belt & balance belt changing. They also
> > said this wasn't covered under the warranty as these were wear and
> > tear items. This sounded ridiculous and i have been on to Alfa
> > customer care & they said warranty would not cover it but have offered
> > to pay the parts but garage would not help with the labour costs.
> > Has anyone else been successful in similar situation getting this done
> > either under warranty or by the garage?
> > Cheers,
> > Matt
> >
>
> It is ridiculous Matt - why are they even looking at a cambelt on a car
> at only 22k and 24/12?? The Alfa line is generally "check at 36k, change
> anyway at 72K". Anyone know of cambelts going at less than 36K?? At this
> rate we'll be swapping them every 12K........ Is this a main dealer?

It's a sensible precaution to have a look at the belt on every service,
just in case something has contaminated or damaged the belt. A stone or
similar getting wedged in where it's not wanted can destroy a belt very
quickly.

--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Passat 1.8 Turbo SE - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

Alfa 147 1.6TS, Cambelt blew at 12,350 miles, 5 days after 12,000/1st year
service.
Fortunately only doing 5mph.
Needless to say replaced under warranty.
IMHO if belts wear out before time/milage check as stated in Service
protocol that indicates a problem part which should be sorted by company
itself if all services have been carried out as recommended by approved
dealer.

--
Paul Woodsford
Remove NOSPAM to reply.
"SteveH" > wrote in message
k...
> Barry Bingham > wrote:
>
>> mlalfa wrote:
>> > My Alfa 156 2.0 JTS went in for its 2 yr service having done 22,000
>> > miles. They said it needed cam belt & balance belt changing. They also
>> > said this wasn't covered under the warranty as these were wear and
>> > tear items. This sounded ridiculous and i have been on to Alfa
>> > customer care & they said warranty would not cover it but have offered
>> > to pay the parts but garage would not help with the labour costs.
>> > Has anyone else been successful in similar situation getting this done
>> > either under warranty or by the garage?
>> > Cheers,
>> > Matt
>> >
>>
>> It is ridiculous Matt - why are they even looking at a cambelt on a car
>> at only 22k and 24/12?? The Alfa line is generally "check at 36k, change
>> anyway at 72K". Anyone know of cambelts going at less than 36K?? At this
>> rate we'll be swapping them every 12K........ Is this a main dealer?
>
> It's a sensible precaution to have a look at the belt on every service,
> just in case something has contaminated or damaged the belt. A stone or
> similar getting wedged in where it's not wanted can destroy a belt very
> quickly.
>
> --
> Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
> http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
> Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Passat 1.8 Turbo SE - COSOC KOTL
> BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

On 4 Oct 2005 15:39:38 -0400, mlalfa >,
wrote:

>From what i can see from this forum they will only cover it if the cam
>belt actually breaks?!? so are they just covering themselves by
>replacing it earlier & earlier?

Yep. That is it in a nut shell. You are supposed to gratefully
say, "thank you mr AR man for changing my belt so early and
saving me 1800 quid for a cheap re-con engine plus 800 for
fitting it plus extras, that I would be likely to have to pay if, due to
your incredibly inept design fault that any serious consumers law
should have protected me from, caused my AR went BANG
in half the time that the manual said or any other make of car is likely
to."

Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso

"mlalfa" > wrote in message
news:1_679075_563d4acd1fce6700af6d78e7897f40b2@aut oforumz.com...
> My Alfa 156 2.0 JTS went in for its 2 yr service having done 22,000
> miles. They said it needed cam belt & balance belt changing. They also
> said this wasn't covered under the warranty as these were wear and
> tear items. This sounded ridiculous and i have been on to Alfa
> customer care & they said warranty would not cover it but have offered
> to pay the parts but garage would not help with the labour costs.
> Has anyone else been successful in similar situation getting this done
> either under warranty or by the garage?

The belt on my 147 1.6 was changed under warranty when it was in for its 36
month service...the dealer checked the tensioner as prescribed by Alfa, felt
there was a problem and sorted it under warranty...no fuss, no argument!

Regards
Ross