Originally Posted by ianmbird
Just signed up & for my first post I thought I would tell a short story which might help other Alfa owners possibly save some money.
This is the second 156 I have owned, its 4 years old now & it has been a fantastic car & up until recently it has proved ultra reliable.
Last September I started to get VDC failures on initial start up in the morning – not always but usually once a week . In it went to Arnold Clark in Aberdeen, who put it on the examiner – recalibrated the sensors and all seemed fine for a week. It then started again ( now the funny thing was – it only occurred on the first start up – If I restarted the engine all was fine)
So back it went to Arnold who then said that the sensors would need replacing. It was due it’s MOT in December – so I decided to leave it until then
Well in October I got the dreaded ‘Motor Control system Failure’ ( why does this always happen on a Saturday night/Sunday when everything is closed). Anyway back to Arnold, back on the examiner –“ Ah that will be a new Lambda sensor please”
OK I thought – get it replaced & it will be all sorted, and for a week it was, until one night coming back from Tesco’s I got the “Motor control system failure” again.
So back she went to Arnold – back on the examiner – two days later Arnold called to say that they couldn’t find anything wrong, they reset the ECU (relieving me of £100 in the process) and handed me back the car.
Well guess what another week later “Motor Control System Failure”. Back to Arnold.
“We’ve found the fault – it’s another Lambda sensor” - so that one was replaced. More money to Arnold – but at that stage the wife was getting a bit p**ed off
Great all sorted – or so I thought. You guessed it, within another week – BING – “Motor Control system failure”
Again back to Arnold, now I am trying to be really nice about this – you know , Italian car – Italian electrics, now I bought the Alfa knowing that this is always a possibility., but my mood is not helped when the Service Manager at Arnold in Aberdeen come out with the comment of “ Well you would by an Alfa – what else do you expect” – It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t the only Alfa dealer in Aberdeen!
Anyway, I get a call a day later from Arnold saying that – It’s the ECU – you need a new ECU - £500 please.
At this stage, the wife goes ballistic ( not helped by the fact that our other car – a thirty year old Landrover had just passed it’s MOT for the third time in a row – without anything needing done.
Right I thought – time to find a second opinion, Got her booked into CP Garages in Dundee, spoke to Euan (great bloke). Got her MOT done at the same time, and Euan gave me a 146 as a courtesy car (Great fun) – by the way “courtesy car and Arnold Clark – don’t even go there.
So Got a phone call from Euan on the Monday morning to say that the car sailed through it’s MOT. But what about the ‘Motor Control System Failure” - Well Euan had deduced that the Battery was on the way out.
Got the battery replaced – clean voltage now going to the ECU – no more Motor control system failure – no more VDC failures – it’s been six weeks since the battery has been replaced & no nasty error messages.
What’s more Euan had spotted that one of the Lambda sensors, which had been replaced by Arnold, had had the wiring too close to the exhaust & the wiring was starting to melt.
Guess where all my servicing will now be done (also quoted me a good price for getting the Cambelt changed).
Did I really need the 2 new Lambda sensors, who knows. Would replacing the ECU have resolved my issue – Nope – but it would have put more money in Arnold’s pockets.
Now Arnold probably did everything by the manual – but you do wonder If they replaced the ECU and then found out it was the battery , whether thy would have refunded the cost of the ECU.
Hope this story & the moral it encompasses might be of help to other ALFA owners
Ian just out of interest how much cash did arnold relieve you of for the diagnosis and new lambda?
My 156 has recently started giving it's "motor control system failure, go to dealer" alarm too.
Mine seems to be intermittant although its on more often than off.
I was thinking of taking it to arnold when i get home from offshore but having read your post i'm not so sure now