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