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147 Broken down and need advice please

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1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Rockhopper 
#1 ·
Well ill try and make this short and to the point....its a 2002 147 2.0 twinny, recently had cam belt fitted along with variator etc etc just over 2 years ago and well within millage, oil does seem to dissapear (understand this is normal for the twin spark) as i dont have a oil leek. water levels fine and pretty much well looked after, had no major trouble until now..

Driving from Derby to Daventry the engine briefly sounded strange (a slight grumble) motor light illuminated and just cut out, managed to coast on to the hard shoulder, engine would not re-start, engine temp was fine, no overheating or signs of overheating but sounded in a bad way turning over, almost as if the starter was struggling of the batt was almost flat.

Called out the AA and basicly the cam belt is intact, although he said it may have jumped a couple off teeth and also no compression whatsoever.

I have the car safely back home and need your advice as to what sort of damage im looking at and parts that will/might need replacing, im not rich and really dont want to be ripped off at the garage before getting your help. thanks Ashley
 
#2 ·
It does sound like the cambelt has skipped a few teeth or the tensioner has seized.

It will need a cylinder head rebuild (bent valves) and a set of big end shell bearings.

Was it a specialist that did the belts last?
 
#3 ·
Depends on how much work you can do yourself or if you know a handy mechanic!!

But, if the belt has stripped some teeth then realistically you are looking at either a new (recon) engine, or find someone who is prepared to rebuild the head - do a search and you will some prices - off the top of my head it'll cost somewhere between £800 - £1200 (from an Indy - loads more from an Alfa main dealer)

Just out of interest how many miles since the last belt change? The change interval is 36,000 and it appears that many people still don't realise that.
 
#4 ·
I have done around 12000 miles since cambelt change.. Have spoken to an alfa romeo mechanic and he seems to think it maybe the crankshaft sensor, as before the engine cut out the engine failure light came on then went off and then came back on and the engine cut out, so now when you turn the key it seems to struggle and doesn't start neither do the windows open but the button does bleep.
The Man from the AA put his battery booster on and nothing happend, when we got back in the car there was an electrical burn smell and a very loud buzzing noise even though nothing was switched on.
 
#5 ·
Perhaps take it to a specialist.Often aa or rac guys have a limited amount of time or knoweldge to discover problems if diag wont show them the way.A few years ago i picked up a nice saab where the rac guy said the car had siezed, seemingly quite correct as it would not turn over or rock in gear.Didnt make sense to me so i cut the serpentine belt to see if it were a siezed pulley causing the problem, it started straight away it was a siezed alternator i then went on to run the car for a year. One further point aside from cambelt failure the heads are often ok ( aside from cam lobe wear) its usually the bottom end that is possibly considered weak.Plenty of Alfa specialists have spare heads .You can buy a whole 156 for a few hundred quid so i recon a good head should be had for 150-200 tops.This is only my own opinion but hopefully food for thought.
 
#7 ·
Thats a cam shaft postion sensor fault - in other words the position of the cam shaft isn't where it should be in relation to the crank shaft.
Its pointing towards a belt problem, its either stipped some teeth off or has managed to jump a tooth or possiblly it wasn't put on correctly in the first place and the timing has moved sufficiently for the ECU to throw up an error code.
Whatever, you need to get it to a specialist (I'm guessing it wasn't a specialist who did the cam belt change?).
 
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