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Vibration in front at low speed

3K views 29 replies 9 participants last post by  Alfa Romeo 147 
G
#1 ·
Hello,
My beautiful 156 Selespeed (20000kms old) has been having a a problem for 3 months : During a cold start, the front of the car vibrates rather violently at low speed. This disappears completely when the car gets warm - everything gets fine back. This makes things difficult to diagnose.

My dealer told me it was the lambda probe which was badly set. Set it back correctly. Did not improve anything. The rolling bar was bent a bit. The dealer straightened it. Didn't improve anything.

Another dealer told me it was probably the under car protection. Didn't solve the problem. Changed the tyre pressure (Michelin Sport 16"). Didn't improve anything.

Some people told me about the potential fragility of the front wishbones. I've had a look at it. Doesn't seem to be injured. And the handling of the car is just great. But could be... The geometry was not checked...

Did anyone experience the same with his 156 or 147? Thanks in advance for your testimony...
 
#27 ·
I went out last night and loosened my cat bracket.
Since then the car developed an annoying rattle on start up, but it disappears when it gets warm. Phoned lots of garages late last night but they didn't even answer the phone!
Checked the engine mounts, tightened the wheel nuts, fitted new rear speakers, even hoovered the driver's seat but nothing seemed to work. Read this post and saw Dupes' diagnosis, tightened up the cat bracket (after all what did i have to lose) and guess what, the rattle's disappeared!!

Ta Dupes, you were right :)
 
G
#28 ·
My alfa 156 Selespeed had the "rattle noise" for many months, but this suddenly disappeared... No fix by any garage worked, including the cat bracket tightening, but everything went fine by itself. Magic italian car...
 
G
#29 ·
Right!! It's been a while since I posted here.

Got my problem sorted out last year sometime. I had to leave my car at the dealers for a few days so they could road test it from cold etc. It turned out that the engine mounts needed to be replaced. Hey presto - no more rattling!! This was all done under warranty btw.

However, now when I start the engine during cold weather I get a type of wheezing noise. This only happens when I turn the ignition on and nothing else. Some say it's a tensioner problem. The noise only lasts about 1 second and then goes. Once the engine starts it's fine it's only during start up.

Any ideas??

Thanks.
 
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