I am worried now, 159 1.9D vibrator

Clutch kit wouldn't contain a new DMF, they would have examined it to see whether it was within tolerances, if so just replaced the clutch, if not replaced the DMF as well.

But I really do doubt they have ever stripped your car down this far..

Thanks Pud, thats interesting. I think I need to ask for copies of the reports so I can truly understand what has and what has not been replaced.

The DMF suggestion is an excellent call

My 159 1.9 lusso, 15 month old, 28K miles has recently started to vibrate. Started off at speeds over 75 (just testing Alfa quality control, Officer). Wheel balance has been checked and no vibration through the steering wheel, mainly felt through the seats.

Booked into Perrys Amersham this Thursday. Also have the noisy clutch.

Today after 120 miles drive, parked up at work with engine running and car was shaking. A colleague at work commented last week that he thought the car was noisier than normal, even for a diesel.

Originally Posted by Chesterton

My 159 1.9 lusso, 15 month old, 28K miles has recently started to vibrate. Started off at speeds over 75 (just testing Alfa quality control, Officer). Wheel balance has been checked and no vibration through the steering wheel, mainly felt through the seats.

Booked into Perrys Amersham this Thursday. Also have the noisy clutch.

Today after 120 miles drive, parked up at work with engine running and car was shaking. A colleague at work commented last week that he thought the car was noisier than normal, even for a diesel.

I have no issues in motion so to speak. But the way you describe the stationary 'shake', felt through the seats is exactly what I get. Please post the outcome of your checks this week Chesterton? would be good to hear what happens. My car was on 20K when it first became noticable so there are similarities. I have a hunch this is more common place than it appears, many people either wont notice, think its normal or maybe its a company car and they arent too bothered.

As for DMF, as I said before, I am old this has been checked, but I have been told so much nowadays I dont know what to be sure of.

Martin. I will let you know you how I get on with Perrys later this week. Car bought from them 4 months ago, so never used their service dept yet.

Another update, encouraging news.

I got a PM from Frankie, his issue appears to have been nailed down to the flywheel. He has identical symptoms. Like mine tho they changed a lot of parts before they got to the flywheel.

OK

Since my last post some things occurred. ARUK finally got back to me after i wrote to them for the second time, but to be fair they offered me a decent way forward. They agreed to have the car looked at by an independant vehicle inspector.

Bear in mind ARUK had come to the conclusion that the car was fine and 'normal' and the other common responses we all treat here with such satire.

Well, the inspector took......5 minutes. To conclude that the engine vibration was indeed excessive, in fact he was quite shocked that it had been given a clean bill of health. So indeed my car is poorly, has been for 6 months despite AR's assurance it wasnt and he felt quite sure it was indeed the flywheel but of course that would be conformed by a full inspection.

I was relieved, that i wasnt mad and that i hadnt been wasting everyones time for 6 months. BUT, at the same time dissapointed that had i not fought this I would have been palmed off. OK that may not be fair as the Customer services can only go on the Technicians reports/opinions. So maybe disapointed that the techys couldnt or wouldnt acknowledge a problem that one can clearly see by simply looking at the engine at idle. It really does, no exaggeration, shake so much that the front hoses move around 10mm side to side and almost touch the front bulkhead.

Im not writing this to moan, just to assure anyone who has an issue and they are feel palmed off, not to give up, if you are sure the car isnt right, keep pressing for what you deserve, good honest service in return for your loyalty.

Im yet to get it fixed,but at least i now know it isnt right and should, if there is any justice, get an offer soon to put things right.

I will come back to this thread soon, hopefully to say, all is fixed.

Well done for not losing your cool and sticking with it. It is a poor show though but at least (hopefully) it will soon be sorted to your complete satisfaction. Aim for some compo too!

Yep - pleased to hear that this should now trigger some action by ARUK.
You're 100% right in pushing it and not giving up. Yes, I agree they will try and palm you off at every turn - the same with some dealers too. Hence why I now use a dealer much further away from me now.

Keep pushing to get it fixed and then as SR says, all your costs and then compensation.

good news MartinG. Hope your 159 gets fixed and you can enjoy driving it again

My 159JTD manual (2.4) also has been intermittently running rough all year. I have posted about it before on this site. It's been back a few times but I get a similar response from the service centre here in Melbourne to what I read here.
The car doesn't seem to idle steadily, rather oscillates up and down between 750-900rpm, and the car vibrates with that. I find that the air con seems to bring it on a bit more, I guess because it is an extra load on the engine at idle. Occasionally the car coughs and splutters whilst at speed and sometimes even stalls.
I'm taking it back again (4th time) this Thursday, if I make any progress I'll let you all know.

Good news Martin - Keep us posted.

The car is booked in for a flywheel change week monday.

It will be my 7th 90 mile round trip for the issue, I hope its the last.

Out of interest I am led to believe the flywheel was 'checked' when the clutch was changed. That being the case I assume in was 'in tolerance' so either it wasnt measured correctly or the tolerances issued to the techs may be a little on the generous side.

Some follow-up on a similar recurring problem with my car. I got my 2.4JTDm back last week. They said they had downloaded a new bulletin saying that the problem with hesitation/vibration/abnormal idling was due to the EGR (whatever that is) which needed new gaskets to fix. They said this would definitely fix the problem.
When I drove the car off it felt just as rough, not idling at any one stable rev speed, and then just stopped whilst I was driving a few days later. Hazard lights on in the middle of a major road, lucky not to have caused an accident. Got the car going again and now it is back with the service team for another go. To rub salt into the wounds thay have lent me another 2.4 JTD which is as smooth as silk, no engine rattle/vibration at all.
My feeling is that these days no-one really understands the cars well enough to fix them - unless the computer identifies a fault the really have no clue. The posts I have read on this site are a virtual litany of failed service attempts that seem to support this pessimist view. I don't really think Alfa is to blame, just the way things seem to be these days...
If they can't fix this soon there must be apoint where they have to consider replacing the engine (as it is still under warranty). Anyone had any experience or luck with that??

Andy, good point, and I agree I dont think they understand the engines like they used to. My account here I feel proves that.

HOWEVER

Well, my story seems to have come to an end at last. The dealer has replaced the flywheel as instructed and finally I have a car that doesnt wobble. There is a clear difference in noise, the engine isnt trying to climb out of the bay and there is no engine feedback through the floor into the seats. Therefore by definition the problem is fixed. It was indeed the Dual Mass Flywheel.

So, a positive outcome to a long battle. Despite all the dissapointment of several miss diagnosed 'phantom' problems and the intial lack of 'interest' by ARUK they came through in the end.

So today I picked up the car fixed, serviced and valeted.

As a summary to save a long read I decided to note the symptoms below so anyone fearing a similar issue can avoid lots of wasted time.

The indicators I had of a failing flywheel:

1) The engine shakes quite violently at tickover, much more so that a healthy one does so visually compare it with another.

2) There is a slight increase in engine noise at tickover.

3) You will feel the shake from the seats, a little like sitting on the washing machine (not that I do that often) It is of course dampened by the seats etc but it is very apparent.

4) When tunring off the engine you can get a couple heavy knocks as the engine comes to a stop.

Important: All these symptoms are apparent at idle, in neutral by the way. Dont forget once in motion the flywheel is spinning at speed and the extra inertia will kill off the shake (unless its really unbalanced) so juddering etc whilst on the move wasnt an indication, that is probably something else.