156 Sele Back on Road after Recon Engine

Hi all,

I'm a newbie here as far as posting but have viewed loads of threads before and got some great advice as well as knowing there are lots of other alfa owners out there who love their cars but on occasion feel like taking a great big tree branch (John Cleese Stylie) and beating it to within an inch of its life!!!

I'm at the tree branch stage this afternoon but hopefully all will be okay.....here's my brief story.

Had my 156 Sele since new (2000) and had very little trouble (considering it's a Sele) and also not treated well by me as far as servicing goes. Last July, cambelt went with tragic consequences.

Decided to park it up....considered selling it on e-bay for parts but just couldn't do it.

Bought a Volvo S80 (yes I know........!), hate it!

Finally decided a few weeks agoa after viewing Ital Autos website (Chesterfield Specialists) to get a recon engine and get the Bella back on the road.

Picked it up yesterday, informed by Tony that it needs a new MAF because running like a bag of ****e at low revs which as I have to do 1000 miles at no more than 3000 revs is going to be an issue.

Injection light on permanantly by the way.

Managed to get a MAF (genuine Bosch) from Steve at Alternative Autos in Huddersfield (drove the Alfa there to get it......jesus it was rough). The cost of the MAF by the way was £69.50 excl VAT!!

Fitted MAF along with a new air filter this afternoon....re-connected back up and.....

.....no difference....still running like a bag of ****e!

Cleaned MAF connectors etc but no joy and injection light still on.

Any ideas anyone????

Hi and welcome


Moved to 156 Tech Lounge

Originally Posted by TheRobsterAlfa

Picked it up yesterday, informed by Tony that it needs a new MAF because running like a bag of ****e at low revs which as I have to do 1000 miles at no more than 3000 revs is going to be an issue.

Sorry but surely after fitting a recon engine into a customers car you don’t let it out until it is running perfectly. We don’t anyway.

Ned

I agree with above post,that is just very poor service!

Why drive the car elsewhere to get a part fitted,specially when you know what it is?

I would get on the blower to ITAL,and ask for an explanation.

Do not let it go until your happy with the outcome and get that car running properly,you have shelled out enough money,you deserve it !

D

Thanks for all the advice so far guys....

I know I shouldn't have accepted it but it is much worse than i expected and i genuinely believed that a new MAF was going to fix the problem....after all that was what I was told and it was a very easy job, even for me.

I don't have a bottomless wallet to sort this and after spending nearly £1700.00 on refurb engine/new clutch/front wishbone/MOT I didn't expect further problems, especially as Tony seems to have fixed the selespeed problem i had with skipping 3rd gear sometimes (fitted new selespeed pipe/pressurised system and re-calibrated).

Now I know the MAF wasn't the problem, I am assuming the lambda is the next possible culprit (I've learned a lot from this site....hadn't a clue before I started browsing here).

How easy is it to fit a lambda and more importantly where is it?

I will be calling Tony at ItalAutos tomorrow as I'm not sure if after fitting the MAF whether the ECU should be reset??? Tony never told me it would need a reset...his exact words were...."once the MAF is fitted, the car will run like a dream"....if only!

At the end of the day, if these jobs are relatively easy, I would prefer to do them myself and save a bob or two and go back to Tony when i hit a snag.

I just hope this isn't the start of a long road of problems.

Any advice on the lambda would be much appreciated guys.

Thanks for that bit of slagging AUTOLUSSO but we did do a diagnostic and we did offer to replace the air mass, the diagnostic did show up the air mass meter , finally a message to rob you are welcome to bring the car back to us, and we will investigate further free of charge as we stated when the car was collected.

Originally Posted by TheRobsterAlfa

Tony never told me it would need a reset...his exact words were...."once the MAF is fitted, the car will run like a dream"....if only!

That should have been the case, if the MAF was the only problem. But there definitely is something wrong there, besides the MAF.

Is all air intake pipework intact? Check from the throttlebody backwards, til you get after the MAF. Sometimes the corrugated section of the pipe can split and cause running issues. TBH I would be suprised it this was the case, but its easy enough to check and solve with some masking tape.

Thanks for that Tony.....I assume Auto Lusso is a competitor?

I tried to call you Saturday afternoon (late on) as was getting stressed but you'd obviously finally managed to get some time off...lol

I then thought I'd see if anyone on forum had any other ideas.....hope you don't think my intention was to slag you off too...?

I'll call you Monday to discuss further....do you think the lambda is the next likely option?

Speak to you tomorrow.

Paying good money for professional service and then having to seek advice on a internet forum to solve a existing problem

Well what can you say

After re reading Ital's response,why take the car elsewhere to get a MAF if the offer to sort it was made and the car should have been running fine before it left the garage!

That's what this post is about! Yes?

As for Autolusso slagging Italauto's off,i think not,he was absolutely spot on with his comment

A response was made on the information given!

your absolutely right we are a proffesional service and i'm sure rob will back me up when i say we offered to provide a dealer maf, as we prefer to use dealer mafs as we dont usually get any problems with them, as rob has stated many people dont have a bottomless pit of money and so he decided to get one from elsewhere, just for everyones information we now have the car back and have performed another diagnostic and believe it or not it still says air mass meter, we have now replaced the air inlet manifold and the air mass fault has cleared and the car runs fine. As for comments being spot on geordie cabbie i think not, as we do everything possible to help our customers.

An issue has been raised and resolution offered. As long as everyone's happy if you ask me Also, everyone makes mistakes, it's how they're handled that's important

Oh Goody! Commercial warfare on a minor scale.At least we seem to have had the truth of the matter explained in a concise and accurate fashion.: Get the facts right, and the white flags can stay in the corner on this occasion, smiles and bows all around?

squadrone rosso what a sensible member, refreshing that someone recognises were all human

Im glad this is sorted out, Ive heard that pattern part MAF's have been known to cause more trouble than there worth. I see that now a proper replacement has been sourced the car is runing fine again.
Maybe in future before business's are blasted on this forum by angry customers, they should explore every avenue to solve the broblem first, I.E speaking to the garage first which may prevent this pointless and undeserved knocking of Ital Autos. It now appears to be that they were correct in the original diagnosis and it was just a faulty MAF that had been fitted by the customer, correct me if im incorrect and ill be quiet But glad its all sorted.

Hold on here, I have not been rubbishing anyone’s work or slagging off any other company, what I said was:

“Sorry but surly after fitting a recon engine into a customer’s car you don’t let it out until it is running perfectly. We don’t anyway.”

I said “let it out”, a company can’t be reasonably expected to guarantee there work unless it is running as it should do when it leaves, equally a customer should not accept a car when the work has not been completed and is not running correctly and expect any kind of guarantee. We are all human and these things happen.

I am sorry if my comments were taken as derogatory.

Ned

Originally Posted by italautos

Thanks for that bit of slagging AUTOLUSSO but we did do a diagnostic and we did offer to replace the air mass, the diagnostic did show up the air mass meter , finally a message to rob you are welcome to bring the car back to us, and we will investigate further free of charge as we stated when the car was collected.

Autolusso's comment was not slagging..

You have already been asked to contact us regarding confirming your identity. Please will you do so.... that way you can actively promote yourselves and deal with customers directly through the site.. I can call you if it makes things easier?

Kind Regards

Joe

Hi everyone.....

I am going to bring this bloody thread to a resounding halt as it seems to be running away with itself and even, dare I say it, becoming a catalyst for some unwarranted mud slinging in Italautos direction!!

For the last time, here is what happened and where we are now:-

1. My car went to Tony for a refurb engine after a cam belt disaster last summer

2. The car had been standing in the open for around 7 months before I got it delivered to Tony

3. When Tony called me to let me know the car was ready, he informed me that the diagnostics check had revealed a MAF fault and that he could replace it for me or I could do it myself. Because it was an easy fix, I drove the car away and sorted the MAF myself.

4. The MAF replacement did not sort the rough running issues and I, regrettably now, sought some advice/guidance from this forum instead of being patient and speaking with Tony on Monday morning.

5. When I took the car back to Tony on Monday, a diagnostics check still indicated the MAF was faulty. Tony removed a MAF from another 2.0TS car and put it in mine....still the same fault on diagnostics.

6. Tony kept the car overnight and replaced the manifold and seal along with a solenoid which has finally sorted the problem.

I collected the car an hour ago and it drove beautifully on the trip home.

Tony has been 100% honourable and has got my beloved 156 back on the road and at a very reasonable price of around £1700.00 which included a full recon engine/new clutch/front lower wishbone/selespeed pipe and re-pressurise/MOT.

To the people who have joined this thread and used my comments as ammunition against Tony I want to say that your comments were uncalled for and unhelpful. To those who genuinely wanted to help and were interested in the right outcome instead of point scoring....you have my thanks.

In future I will use this forum to view topics but will be very careful if and when I post a thread as doing so in this instance has left a very bad taste in the mouth!!

Originally Posted by TheRobsterAlfa

Hi everyone.....

I am going to bring this bloody thread to a resounding halt as it seems to be running away with itself and even, dare I say it, becoming a catalyst for some unwarranted mud slinging in Italautos direction!!

For the last time, here is what happened and where we are now:-

1. My car went to Tony for a refurb engine after a cam belt disaster last summer

2. The car had been standing in the open for around 7 months before I got it delivered to Tony

3. When Tony called me to let me know the car was ready, he informed me that the diagnostics check had revealed a MAF fault and that he could replace it for me or I could do it myself. Because it was an easy fix, I drove the car away and sorted the MAF myself.

4. The MAF replacement did not sort the rough running issues and I, regrettably now, sought some advice/guidance from this forum instead of being patient and speaking with Tony on Monday morning.

5. When I took the car back to Tony on Monday, a diagnostics check still indicated the MAF was faulty. Tony removed a MAF from another 2.0TS car and put it in mine....still the same fault on diagnostics.

6. Tony kept the car overnight and replaced the manifold and seal along with a solenoid which has finally sorted the problem.

I collected the car an hour ago and it drove beautifully on the trip home.

Tony has been 100% honourable and has got my beloved 156 back on the road and at a very reasonable price of around £1700.00 which included a full recon engine/new clutch/front lower wishbone/selespeed pipe and re-pressurise/MOT.

To the people who have joined this thread and used my comments as ammunition against Tony I want to say that your comments were uncalled for and unhelpful. To those who genuinely wanted to help and were interested in the right outcome instead of point scoring....you have my thanks.

In future I will use this forum to view topics but will be very careful if and when I post a thread as doing so in this instance has left a very bad taste in the mouth!!

Well said

In the end we are all humans and he who is without fault he trows the first stone....

Tony imho is one hell of a guy, we can only wish that all dealers were like him !