if it's not typical then why isn't alfaromeo or ateco offering any help? I obviously should not have been driving the car on the road becuase that has led to the engine failure geesh.... the car has used excessive oil since day one. I suspect the rings have gone somewhere. apart from that oxygen sensor faults are showing again too.  I have contacted Ateco direct now and they have only told me to go to a dealer to get it fixed. They have not even hinted at the fact that they will help me out in anyway. With the amount of time my vehicle has been back for warranty repair I would have thought they would have done more for me at this stage with a major engine failure at just 54,000km, that is just utterly rediculous for any vehicle. The first vehicle I ever bought for $12,000 did 140,000km without an engine rebuild, then I gave it to a friend who put it up to 220,000km. So it is definately isn't my driving becuase I don't thrash cars. DONT BUY A JTS ENGINE

I can only suggest you try Damon Earwalker at Lance Dixon Alfa. He's always been extremely helpful in my experience and knows the 156 inside out. He is also a member of the club so has a vested interest in ensureing we are looked after appropriately. Club memebers also get discounts on parts so it may be in your interest to join AROCA-Vic if you are not a member.

Redalfa,

Ignoring the fact I believe you are showing poor form, I am surprised you had been so patient. The poor form comes from attempting to name and shame one of the business that supports our club while not clearly identifying yourself. I say attempting because the general rule is the people with the bad experiences tend to shout the loudest.

That said, all I can say in response to your posts is I wish you had joined the club 4 years ago (or at least been more active on the forum). As you say the engine wasn't right from the start, within the club we have many knowledgeable people and you could have swapped stories/advice with fellow JTS owners and our specialist Alfa mechanics. Had their counsel been sort earlier I'd like to think a lot of your grief may have been avoided.

Regards,
Brad

I can fully appreciate Redalfa's frustration. We had a truck that was off the road for over 60 days out of its first eleven months for a fault that was never diagnosed. The downtime nearly broke us. We rang, wrote, emailed everyone we could think of within the Australian leg of its company and was stonewalled at every turn. It finally took a litigation specialist who contacted their overseas head office ( and by coincidence was friends with a current affairs reporter) to get us any sort of satisfaction.
If all the dealers involved were unable to pinpoint the trouble with all their specialist equipment, then they should have stood behind their product and done what was necessary to ensure that a vehicle was supplied to the customer that he had in good faith purchased. The customer should be able to rely on his dealer, not have to contact outside help to rectify a dealership problem. It seems they have patched an obvious lemon until it was out of warranty and then basically said seeya later. So don't be too hard on this poor fellow, until you have been in this situation yourself, you can't begin to understand the heartache and frustration that goes with it. And you can all get cranky with me but a lemon is a lemon, no matter what no doubt great advise he may have received from members of the club.
Brett.

This vehicle is used for my business. It was not purchased as a "luxury" item or just a means of doing the shopping or running about on the weekend. When it is off the road it is an inconvenience and I have to work around it, fitting in and borrowing other vehicles when I can. As for long haul drives, say to Sydney, I simply could never do it in this vehicle. I haven't been a member of the RACV since my first vehicle but I have had to re-join roadside assist since the warranty has run out on this vehicle. My first alfa was brilliant. Apart from an initial oil leak it never had a problem. The selespeed was perfect and worked faultlessly, unlike what you guys say about it in this forum from what I can gather. It was setup the same as my new one, lowered suspension, strut tower stabiliser bar.Drove very nicely. The service was excellent, sales guys were friendly and didn't mess around, I signed the papers and bought the vehicle within 15 minutes of walking through the front door. Servicing it was just as cheap as my previous Mazda. I was suitably impressed. That is the main reason for buying the new model, well, it had to be better, same chassis but with improvements and a few more features. Yes, when it goes it does drive nicely and handles excellently, that is why I bought it. But that all pales into insignificance with all the other faults. This vehicle is on a hire purchase agreement, it was due for replacement this year. I would have possibly bought a 159. Now I have to refinance the same vehicle because it has to be fixed and I can't change it over as is. Yes, I have to fix it so yes I am "... moving forward" and I am paying for it. Yes I got a really bad vehicle with a load of faults, of course I am not happy with it. I was not asking for advice, someone posted a comment about reliability, in my opinion it is the worst vehicle I have owned and the problems are still coming and they haven't stopped. I also bought two mazdas and a commodore in the same period, all much cheaper vehicles. They have had no problems at all. And yes some one did say I put the wrong petrol in it, that is fact, and so he lost his credability with such a silly statement which I verified as having no substance after consulting Shell and alfa romeo the same day. As far as I know alfa romeo was going to contact the service department to find out why he said that. Now I have to work out a way to get to the airport tonight to meet someone flying......

I am thinking pf buying a 2000 model Alfa 156 5 spd manual monza twin spark in very good condition, My mechanic who services my current cars said dont buy it as it is a load of trouble and very expensive to maintain he said $4000 per year and a big problem is the timing belt, the car has done 70k in 7 years. Should I take notice of him Huh?

Peter

Use an Alfa experienced mechanic  they are all on this website and you can't go wrong.