Hi. Just wondering if anyone can shed some light. At the beginning of the week my Brera 2.4JTDM overheated at traffic lights and steam was pouring out. The bleed screw was missing and water/coolant was spurting and spitting out from the top of the pipe. The AA recovery guy came and did a temporary repair with a metal screw so that I could drive to the garage. He reckoned it was unlikely to have happened out of the blue and could have been a result of 'something being tightened too hard' at my last visit to the dealership (a few weeks ago when I had a service and power steering fluid leak repair(?)). The dealership said this was rubbish and that they have to replace the whole pipe, not just a new plastic bleed screw but what I want to know is...could the plastic bleed screw have burst off through overheating or was it the missing bleed screw that made things overheat? I'm confused and face another hefty bill. My car's still at the garage.
bleed screw/overheating issue
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I had this a few weeks ago. Its a common fault apparently. Some people here have had a metal replacement which I think requires a new pipe, but mine was replaced with a new plastic/rubber one by Alfa (£5 part but ended up costing in excess of £100 in labour!). Do a search, there's plenty of info in here, but essentially its a common fault where the issue is the failing of the material the screw is made out of - it shouldn't be related to anything more sinister.......
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Here's an early take on the matter : http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/general-alfa-discussion/192770-2-4-jtd-please-check.html#post2983919.
Oh, and a belated "Welcome" to AO - do come and join us here Scotland - Alfa Romeo Forum sometime, :thumbs:.
Oh, and a belated "Welcome" to AO - do come and join us here Scotland - Alfa Romeo Forum sometime, :thumbs:.
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Same happened to me, but it caused my head gasket to fail, wether something had failed prior to the bleed valve failing is something I will never know..
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onM8 wrote; Alfa dealer charging over £350 (inc. labour) to have plastic screw replaced and new pipe.
Mylesjohn wrote;"Well the plug has gone again on the car obviously a pour design.
New coolant rail with metal bleed valve on order should be here tomorrow.
£125.90 inc vat!!!!!
Booked into the garage to be replaced friday, hours labour they say"
onM8, I'm sorry to have to say but it sounds to me as though the dealers are taking you for a small ride.
Look at this thread.
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...ider/286569-alfa-159-coolant-bleed-valve.html
Cheapest option is to get the plug out (using a screw driver etc) and replace. You may need to run a tap down the threads to clear the remnants of the old plastic plug, and replace with a new plastic plug.
Second cheapest is to get a bolt of the right pitch and diameter and cut the length to size, and fit. (Mentioned in thread above).
As the Alfa metal plug has a different pitch to the plastic plug, you really need to replace the coolant rail as well (although Steel Magnolia just ran an appropriate(for the metal plug) new tap down the old hole), as you are having done.
Antifreeze shouldn't be more than £30.00 ish, therefore my question is where does the £200.00 labour charge come from?
Mylesjohn wrote;"Well the plug has gone again on the car obviously a pour design.
New coolant rail with metal bleed valve on order should be here tomorrow.
£125.90 inc vat!!!!!
Booked into the garage to be replaced friday, hours labour they say"
onM8, I'm sorry to have to say but it sounds to me as though the dealers are taking you for a small ride.
Look at this thread.
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...ider/286569-alfa-159-coolant-bleed-valve.html
Cheapest option is to get the plug out (using a screw driver etc) and replace. You may need to run a tap down the threads to clear the remnants of the old plastic plug, and replace with a new plastic plug.
Second cheapest is to get a bolt of the right pitch and diameter and cut the length to size, and fit. (Mentioned in thread above).
As the Alfa metal plug has a different pitch to the plastic plug, you really need to replace the coolant rail as well (although Steel Magnolia just ran an appropriate(for the metal plug) new tap down the old hole), as you are having done.
Antifreeze shouldn't be more than £30.00 ish, therefore my question is where does the £200.00 labour charge come from?
The plastic plug rail is prone to failure - indeed mine is weeping, the permanent fix is the revised water manifold with the metal bleed screw.
You could of course tap it out, but then you dont know how much metal is in there and if it will hold under pressure, also you risk landing swarf in the coolant.
I am sure I read that the plastic screw is not a standard pitch and it sites in an insert.
You could of course tap it out, but then you dont know how much metal is in there and if it will hold under pressure, also you risk landing swarf in the coolant.
I am sure I read that the plastic screw is not a standard pitch and it sites in an insert.
Update: Car back from garage. Yeeha!! It's been along week without it. I explained on the phone that I did not want any unneccessary expense and obviously (thanks to AO forum) sounded a little more clued up about the problem as it cost nearly half as much as their original quote (mainly labour). Plus I have metal replacements. Cheers
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