I bought a brand new Alfa 159 TI and it broke down on the first day

[mrt]

I was looking forward to driving it, and after about 80km, the clutch died.
I took it back to the dealer, and they are trying to fix it, waiting on the part to arrive. It's been 4 days, and i still don't have my new car.

My worry now is that this is a lemon. I have asked them to give me a brand new one, same spec, same colour, same everything. We'll see how we go.

[dehne]

gee what bad luck, you would be haveing ur doubts now about that car but if you got a new one it might take 100,000ks for it to die and then may not be in warrenty (time limits perhaps) better the new clutch done i think, but then if it was mine i prob would want a new car, bit of a delima there

[colcol]

Wellcome to Alfa Romeo ownership!, as Clarkson said on Top Gear, you cannot consider yourself a true petrol head unless you have owned an Alfa where you will experience all the highs and lows of motoring, just think of it as character building, and that in the not too distant future it will be a brilliant Sunday and you will be with the Alfa Romeo owners club on one of their brilliant early morning runs experiencing the delights of Alfa motoring through twisty turning roads!, what is your 159, a manual or sillyspeed?, keep us informed of the progress, Colin.

[pasey25]

I remember years ago we bought an new EL Fairmont for my mother. Got a good deal (employee discount) and traded down from a landcruiser (this was in the 10 or so years my family was out of italian car ownership).

It fried an ECU on the way home from the dealer and you should have heard my mother let fly. Dealer blamed the Bosch part and it was fixed reasonably promptly.

Lesson to me after spending 10 or so years in the local automotive industry was that no one make is immune from issues like this. Some marques just get more publicity when they fail than others, due to things that happenned in their ancient history.

it reminds me of the manual vs. selespeed argument. I remember as a kid, people generally didn't want automatic cars because when they failed, they were expensive to fix vs. manual gearboxes. This still true, but it isn't an argument I often hear anymore, since they are largely reliable for hundreds of '000 of km's.

Now people shy away from Selespeeds for similar reasons, even though the bugs have been ironed out of them and they don't generally fail any more regulaly than any other part.

[mrt]

Clutch plate is being flown from Italy, ETA early to mid next week.
Shame, the car is absolutely beautiful. I bought a manual one, red, TI spec. Not the fastest car I've owned, but definitely the sexiest.

BTW, I have already approached the Department of Fair Trading NSW

[colcol]

Bit of a worry that they don't have a clutch in stock as clutches are consumables that wear out, most Alfa Owners i speak to with Sillyspeeds love them, i have never driven one, so i am not qualified to comment on the matter, but the manual with less things to go wrong would be more reliable, but i find one of the many pleasures of Alfa ownership includes the gearbox, after all these years i still enjoy changing gear, double clutching, heeling and towing, it whats seperates us from Camry drivers, see if you can find out what went wrong with the clutch, was it badly installed, adjusted wrongly or was there a manufacturing fault with the clutch, please tell!, Colin.

[mrt]

I got it back yesterday. The part arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and I picked up the car. I have done 40km so far, and it still works!. Still a bit worried about it, but if it lasts couple of 100 km, I'll be pretty confident that the work was done properly.

[colcol]

So you have your 159 back, did they tell you why the clutch failed?, did it make a horrific noise or just stopped working, i have heard from mechanics that the new type slave cylinders that are installed in the gearbox, eliminating the clutch fork as opposed to the more traditional slave cylinders that are installed on the outside of the gearbox, well they can have the seals 'stick' to the bore of the slave cylinder and tear themselves off the bore and cause a massive clutch fluid leak in the gearbox causing clutch failure, the 156 twin sparks have the more traditional slave cylinder on the outside with clutch fork, the JTS has the slave cylinder fitted in the gearbox eliminating the clutch fork, i drive a 156 JTS and the clutch is light like i have been used to on my 33, but twin sparks that i have driven do have heavier clutches and the clutches for the twin spark and JTS i think are the same, also dealers shouldn't moan about the independents taking their market away when they don't even stock clutches, that are a consumable item, Colin.

[bix]

I had a discussion just last week around manual vs auto. He buys autos because of the perceived unreliability of manuals which I was surprised about. I have always bought manuals for the perceived unreliability of autos. Anyways, the 156 TS manual gearbox is just gorgeous. The 159 six speed (at least in a 2007 model) is for me a complete disappointment. They're crunchy and don't encourage you to drive like Alfa's should be driven. Our 159 seems to lose 3rd gear now and again which is a bit of a worry...

[mrt]

colcol,
some kind of plate or cylinder got stuck, and the clutch simply burnt out. They did tell me exactly what that was, but i forgot. 
There was no noise, just got sticky for about 3 minutes, and then stopped working. Silent death.

[mrt]

bix,

the manual is not exactly silky smooth, i am hoping that's partly because it only has 500km on it. Please don't tell me that it doesn't get better ...


It does feel a bit funny though - once you are half way through the gearshift, it feels as if the gearstick is being sucked into the gear by the gearbox. Not sure why that is.

[wankski]

the 156 6sp is even better   

not to worry, a brand new g/b will loosen up and be less notchy..

[colcol]

It sounds like the slave cylinder failed and would not let the clutch engage \ disengage, and then the clutch plate slipped and burnt the linings, don't let that put you off internal slave cylinders, because they eliminate clutch forks they are potentially more reliable and lighter to use, there is a race car gearbox place i know and they are doing a few conversions on race cars, external slave cylinders to internal slave cylinders, because they are better, if you have a car that is not used that often, then make sure you drive it every week to make sure all the seals get used and the metal parts rotate against them to stop the seals cold welding themselves together and when the car is used the sealing lips of the seals are torn off the seals causing failure, Colin.

[wankski]

what i hate about the internal tho is, if it does fail - its a box/clutch out job.... brilliant if you're not under warranty...

regular external slave is like 30min to change and 30 quid... brand new oem from UK...

[bix]

Mine has done over 70k, and is still as clunky as ever (and compared to the 156 has very tight gates which imo requires more accurate shifting). I saw on one of the UK sites about the possibility of using lower viscosity g/b oil which may reduce the clunkiness. I'll let you know what the mechanic says about that.