Last week i had the dreaded multiair fail on my Mito. I have 1.4t version (135hp) with 40K km on the engine on 3 years and 1 month.
My warranty has just finished and am on a process of a formal complain to Alfa Romeo, its a pity such a known and serious problem not be properly taken care of.
I have spoken and wrote to many people that had the same problem , and i wonder why didnt Alfa Romeo made a policy of covering these failed units...
I expect that Punto Evo multiairs will most likely have similar problems as well as some Giulietta.
So could you please share your thoughts on this issue. Maybe we can make a list of all the people that had this problem. Seeing my engine failing like this was very sad, just over 3 years old , this is unacceptable and distressing problem that takes time to fix and i dont even know if they have fixed their units or we will be changing a Multiair unit every 30-40K ?!?!
I thought that if we make a list of all the cars that had this problem it will act as a leverage for future owners also that will have the same problem and will require a refund of the services.
I decided to write this here ruther than the Greek forum since I believe its one of the most active forums for the Alfisti world in EU.
for me typically the 2 services (15K - 30K km ) and between also round the 7.5K km mark (which are not listed in the service book but for personal peace of mind)
My MultiAir failed a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to be on its way out for a while then finally keeled over with the EML on & check engine message.
Car is 2 & 1/2 yr old, 21,500 on the clock. Had its first service back in january.
Replaced under warranty.
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Multiair failure - bit of a vague description is it not?
Multiair is comprised of a number of devices working together.
What part of the multiair system failed?
One of the four hydraulic actuators?
One of the four hydraulic pistons that drives the actuators?
The Ecu controlling it all?
...or something else.
What did the dealer report it as? What were the symptoms of it's failure?
I'm not trying to put you on the spot but if a dealer said to me "your multiair unit has failed"
The first thing I would be asking is "well - what part of it has failed?".
It all sounds too vague and open for abuse by a (Possibly) unscrupulous dealer - imo.
It would be useful info for all of us to know!
:thumbs:
The information was a bit vague, but I have feeling the ECU failed as an obdc reader plugged in couldn't talk to the ECU.
No information could be read at all & when I got in all the trips had been reset. Trip B was a running total from when I picked it up & now its back to zero.
I'll ask the dealer tomorrow if I can get what failed.
Those were the errors from the scan they made. The car had an engine light on and was working on three cylinders...i was very lucky to be very near my dealership for an irrelevant errant and drove it straight in.
If there was a way to separate which part of the multiair was failing I am sure they would told me about it. But since they had the same problem to other cars they knew that the multiair unit comes as one piece replacement.
If they told me wrong then alfa romeo really need to be looking into they official garages but I doubt they would make such a big mistake on the car's problem.
mine failed in march this year just before it was due for the 36k service. it was just under 3 years old. they covered it under warranty. Good luck with your claim because the anecdotal information I have learnt form this site is that it is quite common.
It's going to be this engine's version of the cambelt problem that existed with older engines
My Punto's hasn't failed but I suspect it may be coming. very occasionally i have had a really lumpy idle on cold start which was remedied by stopping and starting the engine again. It used to stall when pulling away on a cold start but hasn't done that it in a while and occasionally the engine will sound very rattely when slowing down for a junction.
I want to give it a full service but i don't trust the fiat Monkeys at my local dealer and I believe that if i service it myself then it will void the warenty. Believe me, a blind 4 year old could have done a better job at servicing my car than the dealers.
My Punto's hasn't failed but I suspect it may be coming. very occasionally i have had a really lumpy idle on cold start which was remedied by stopping and starting the engine again.
You might have oil in the spark plug holes. Probably just one. This might cause the spark to short and the engine runs on three cylinders. I had it on no. 4 cylinder and it was fixed under warranty but it has now returned as I noticed oil in the plug hole when I serviced the car at 36,000 miles. The car is now out of warranty and the estimate is £600 to put some new seals in.
I've done a few hundred miles since the service and no oil has returned to the plug hole yet, so, it must be a very tiny weep.
It may be coincidental but oil in the plug holes and multiair failure seem to crop up in the same threads.
I'm probably going to trade the car in soon, so, I'll leave it. Looking to get a G 1750 instead.
according to my research they have changed the module...the new one has a code number 55236341.
I guess they realised the problem.....and hoping the new one wont give up again on 40K
No wonder its so expensive its one piece half the engine block
So, how common is this issue?
Are there enough cases to create a "data base"
My MA behaved strangely on one day about eight months ago and following a service seems ok .
well 5 reported here....also my alfa garage told me they changed many up to now.
Am sure on other forums as well they have many. On the greek one there are a few also.
Hi harold bishop,
"It may be coincidental but oil in the plug holes and multiair failure seem to crop up in the same threads."
Or it is being misdiagnosed by dealers!
Either way 650 Euros seems very cheap for the unit considering all the elements in a machined aluminium block. I was expecting around 1000-1800 euro's for such a part!
Is it so cheap because they are expecting a failure within 100,000 miles or less??
Yep, this multiair thread has unnerved me. And agreed, E650 seems very cheap for that part.
Regarding the oil in the plug hole. The hole is very deep and getting the plugs out requires a long shafted plug socket. The regular plug sockets have too thick side walls, so, you need to find a thinner wall socket or grind it down a bit.
The oil in the plug hole can easily reach the top of the plug and the metal terminal that makes the connection with the plug HT lead assembly. Not much oil is needed - a couple of thimble fulls.
I thought that oil was an insulator, so, I can't see how the spark can short to the metalwork ??? Maybe it has metal bits in it but I think this is unlikely.
Or maybe the oil seeps in between the plug metal top and the HT lead, causing an insulating layer. This is a real possibility if the car has been sat overnight and the first start up in the morning has to deal with a 'thick' layer of insulating oil. Then I would expect the "running on three cylinder misfire" which would pretty quickly go away when the sparking burns off the oil between the metal terminals.
This would be consistent with reports of rough initial running on first start in the morning, quickly followed by normal running. This was exactly what I experienced and it was on another thread, maybe on a Fiat forum, that linked oil in the plug hole to rough running.
Could a non firing cylinder - albeit briefly - damage the multiair unit ?
Regarding your comment "Or it is being misdiagnosed by dealers!"
Could the oil in the plug hole cause a constant misfire which is then diagnosed as a multiair failure ?? Seems unlikely as you would think the first thing a dealer would do is try a new set of plugs. Or do they just plug it into a laptop and read a fault code ?
on my case they swap the plugs and even replaced one that was covered in oil (cylinder 1)
But the car remained very rough running with the engine light on and 2-3 cylinders running.
The errors on the computer showed misfires on 1 and 3 rd cylinder and also UniAir module fault.
On the italian Mito forum the issue has many pages of read...maybe round 40.
Its not for all the Mito's but seems that the 135hp suffered the most incidents from what i gather.
Ours is one of the earliest, a 2010. It ran a bit rough the other week when warming up, no oil in the plug holes, but it has ran normally since, so possibly a fuel issue (it was low).
I'm not aware of any campaigns having been carried out on our car which has been serviced by the main dealer since new.
One thing to bear in mind is that a coil pack that is slowly breaking down, can cause rough running, and these do not cause error codes in the ECU.
Unless you are getting the dreaded Multiair codes being thrown up in the ECU - it might be worth trying to change one of these at a time with a known good(new) one in each cylinder first. Change your plugs first of course!
I have dabbled with the idea of upgrading to a QV or a Cloverleaf (prefer the 17s) from the TB155. I did have a drive in one and I was impressed particularly with the suspension and with less noise from the newer gearbox. But I was not impressed enough at the time given the difference of €5-€6K on the upgrade. Now contemplating getting one and with emissions at a more road tax friendly €280 as opposed to €390 of the 155 it makes it even more attractive.
Can someone summarise the risks of buying a MA and in particular the 170. If I was getting one I would be importing one and will loss the 3rd dealer warranty. Should I be concerned about these MA issues and would you buy one again ? If I had known about the M32 issue with the TB155 I wouldn't have bought it and touch wood no issues so far. Still glad I bought it and it's a much better overall car than the 500 1.4 that I replaced.
Is this a real issue that I need to concern myself with ? Have learnt to live with the exposure of the M32 but had no concerns about the non MA engine.
Would like to give this a bump.
If I was buying a QV what's the likelihood that it will need a new head ?
How many of them will had their gearboxes done within warranty ?
Appreciate any response.
It won't matter what car you buy you will always pay your money and take your chances. Theres problems with every car you buy some you here about some you don't and there's always the bad penny in the pocket that always seems to need work done. As for the multi-air units ive only seen 1 changed in 7 months working at an Alfa dealer and only 3 Giulietta gearboxes but no Mito ones.
I agree, I understand the there have been problems with multiair units but if it was that widespread, this forum would be full of threads and complaints.
What does interest me is when the multiair units in the mitos get older (5-6 years say) and people start to skip servicing and put the wrong grade oil in. Interesting to see how the engines stand up to that kind of abuse...
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