156 60k Service

[AlfaGio]

My 156 annual service is due soon (it will be the first one under my ownership) it's a 2001 model and has done 60k miles - what things should I be looking to have checked?

When should I have the cam belt checked/replaced? I have most of the car's service history and the only mention of a replaced tensioner & belt was at 40k and cost about £100, I'm guessing this wouldn't have been the cam belt as it seems quite cheap.

Also I am unsure on where to take it, do I take it to Alfa Romeo themselves, an Alfa Specialist or just a standard garage? I don't want to pay over the odds but would like a good service. Does anyone have any recommendations of a specialist or good garage in the Surrey and Hampshire area?

Thanks

[mave]

First thing then, make sure you understand the cambelt / tensioner history. £100 seems cheap, and 60K is too long if they're original....

Get a quote before you have the service done as 60K is the spark plug interval. Some people charge up to £20 per plug and there are 8 of them; you can get them for about £6 if you search around for them (I've used shop4parts in the past).

[jon fitz]

cambelt change is 70 k. manual,,

[jon fitz]

cambelt comes with other bits tensioners i think make sure a good? garage does work

[sensingsys]

Originally Posted by jon fitz

cambelt change is 70 k. manual,,

Superseded, 36K.

A pointer to expected costs is here.

No way it was the cambelt at £100. Make sure it goes to an Alfa specialist, special tools are needed to do the job properly, I would recommend you have the variator changed as well, mine went noisy shortly after my cambelt change at 60K, it is quite common for this to happen and the labour charge to change the variator on its own is the same as for the cambelt.

[AlfaGio]

I’ve checked through the service history and all 8 spark plugs were changed June 06 (48k miles), so luckily don’t have to worry about that for this service.

As I said before I can’t seem to find any evidence of a cambelt change, if it’s the original belt would it still be running okay at 60k?! Is it possible for a garage to check if the belt needs changing without actually removing it, I know they are notoriously hard to get at?

Thanks for the link, a good pointer for expected costs. How much is the variator? Just trying to work out a total cost if I was to have that changed at the same time as the cambelt.

Thanks

[Sunbar]

A cambelt can still be functioning at over 60,000 miles but it's living on borrowed time. The damage to the engine (or wallet) when it does fail is enough for me to stick with Alfa's revised service instructions 3 years or 36,000 miles whichever is the soonest. On both criteria yours is well overdue for having the belt and tensioners changed. It could easily fail at anytime, certainly from 50,000 miles to the old limit of 72,000 miles it is more than likely to fail.

Checking the belt is not really an option it needs to be removed for a full visual check so as the labour costs are the majority of the total you would change the belt anyway.

I had my variator changed - part cost was about £70 - £90 I would say.

Because the plugs were changed early, I would also check to see that the correct grade (Alfa specified type) of spark plugs were used when it was serviced previously. The Spark Plug replacement interval of 60000miles/100000km is only possible with the standard Alfa recommended plugs - Platinium NGK BPR6EKPA & PMR7A I believe (4 of each).

[mave]

In your car, it seems that the cambelt is running fine at 60K miles, that's not to say it will be OK at 60001 miles, or indeed 72K miles which is when the next major service comes up.
Do a search on cambelt failure to decide whether you are willing to take the risk of running with the original cambelt / tensioners for 12K miles, and the £1K+ bill if it fails. Alfa themselves (finally) reduced the interval from 72K to 36K miles due to the high number of failures before 72K

[AlfaGio]

Had my 60k service done recently at an Alfa Specialist. Had the cambelt/tensioner/balencer shaft etc replaced too (£260) along with the variator (£76). Thought it was best to be safe than sorry and there's nothing better than just having peace of mind. Cheers for your help guys