[Pujazuba]

Did a first time engine cleanup. Boy did it look bling bling afterwards.

 

[Pujazuba]

^That's dedication! Looks amazing!

 

[Pujazuba]

Also did the gearbox oil change. Saw a few YouTube videos and got some ideas on what to do. 3hrs later ?

Its a 12mm allen head required, a lot said 10mm. Also its impossible to get a socket seated and wrench to undo the drain bolt. Had to use the socket with an 12mm spanner and a lot of force. Also had an issue undoing the to fill bolt, there was an white round tube over the accelerator cable which had to be removed. A lot of videos did not have this?

Overall its made a difference in 1st and 2nd.

Filtered the drained oil and a few bits of black gunk and metal was found. The drain bolt is magnetic and this was filled also. Bit worrying!! Or would this be normal?

Sorry for the long text.

The drain bolt is magnetic as a filteration method. Naturally some wear particles will occur and it is a good idea not to treat the gearbox oil as if it's for life.

 

[Pujazuba]

^ No, you are not correct. The manual does not mention a GL specification. Also the oil viscosity you are mentioning, 75W-80, is a multi viscosity oil while the manual spcifies a 75W only. Without doubt the correct oil will have a GL specification as this is common with gearbox oils, but the car is only concerned with these:
SAE 75W + FIAT Classification 9.55550-MZ6.

And if you wanna really treat your baby, get this oil: TUTELA TRANSMISSION GEARFORCE.:smokin:

 

[Pujazuba]

^ Gotta say..it's an improvement!

 

[Pujazuba]

I washed my set of summer wheels before sticking them on. Never done it before so it felt good to put on clean wheels.
Didn't bother with washing the winter ones that came off but will do it before putting them on again next winter.
Always a pleasure to the ears when you switch from the noisy studded winter tires to the summer ones. ☺

 

[Pujazuba]

It's self evident what's user serviceable and what's done by an authorized dealer. The things instructed in the user manual are the things the user should be able to conduct. Everything else is meant to be done by professionals.

 

[Pujazuba]

I'm perfectly capable of doing a service thanks, generally only put my cars to a garage for MOT! Just commenting that everything on this car from taking the undertray off to changing the filters is more time consuming than on any other car I've worked on previously.

Cheers

I believe you. I myself don't mind things being more time consuming but when things like the engine air filter need to be done from under I simply don't have the place to do it so haven't been botherd with servicing the Giulietta myself.
On my 156 I did annual service checks myself and usually got a garage to do the oil changes and necessary timing belt and wishbone work etc.

 

[Pujazuba]

^ I agree with that. I find there's something wrong with most modifications of an Alfa Romeo. It already has the most classy identity and dignity; changes only degrade it in my eyes.

But back to the topic...took Giulietta to a brushless automatic wash last night and this morning I finished off by applying wheel wax to the alloys and cleaning/shining the rear twin pipes.

 

[Pujazuba]

Painted the wheels "Bavarian dark anthracite". Put on new tyres and gave it a wash. If only the interior looked as well.

Surprisingly good combo of car paint & wheel color.
I agree that the red 'Command & Conquer Red Alert' logos are a deal breaker.

 

[Pujazuba]

Finally got all the parts needed to get the MTB on the roof and expand the Giuliettas adventure capacity.
Surprisingly it resemples Stelvio from the rear now!

 

[Pujazuba]

Nice, was it easy to fit?, what brand/where did you get the bars? Any limit on the weight.

I current put two bikes on the rear with a Sagris Gran Fondo.

Very easy to fit. Got the bars from eBay, made by Italian G3. Kit included bars, Giulietta specific kit and I added the lock set. Carrying capacity is 50 kg.
The bike rack I got locally, capacity 25 kg.

 

[Pujazuba]

Bikes on the roof scare me... I've put a towbar on mine and use a platform rack . There are two types of people who carry their bike on the roof - those that have totalled a bike driving under something low, and those that will at some point in the future total a bike driving under something low

Plus I do 2000km return trips back to my home state, it sucks a lot of fuel and makes a lot of noise having it up there at 120kph for 8 hours straight!

Tell me about it! I am gradually gaining confidence with it as I started very easy. I think it is ok up there as long as you don't go crazy and take it easy generally.
The whole altered car height is a b**** to remember and I am thinking of a flashy bright reminder or some sort to put in front of myself while driving with the bike up.

 

[Pujazuba]

^ I find these very unorthodox, but a friend of mine uses the rear door rack on his Ibiza only the bike is perpendicular to the car and with his DH bike being miles longer than the width of Ibiza it looks strange. 😃
He says it's very solid though. How does that work with the Giulietta as the plastic spoiler is on the way?
I feel this solution is slightly like the aftermarket phone & laptop holders that are supposed to mount into the air diffusers inside the cabin. 😋

 

[Pujazuba]

I was looking into roof rack for my g but decided as I’m the only one that mountain bikes in my family it can just go in the back with the seats down!

And you manage to fit it?
I tried it once with one wheel off and it was such a hassle that I went down the rack road.

 

[Pujazuba]

Picked it up, my first Alfa. Loving it so far.

View attachment 943955

Congrats! She's a beauty!

 

[Pujazuba]

I replaced the front interior ceiling light to fix a problem where when in the middle setting (door mode) the light comes on without reason as it pleases. Only it didn't fix the problem.
The problem may have to do with the boot wiring where I did the left side in the summer, but right side is most likely the original wiring and it has recently started to act up in the form of rear wiper spasm.

 

[Pujazuba]

I've been contemplating getting those. Looks better than I though!

 

[Pujazuba]

Switched onto winter tires. Record late this year!
It took me a whopping 4h to take the winter tires from storage, put them in the car and go to a carwash to wash last winter's dirt off, put them back in the car and come home, do the switch and put the summer tires in storage.
Had to use the compressor in the car to fill up one of the stored tires as it tends to loose quite a lot of pressure over time. Then a short drive to check and adjust the pressures and it was a wrap.

 

[Pujazuba]

Last night I replaced the notorious rear end wiring loom on the RH as I had done the LH side in the summer and have recently been getting these symptoms:

• Front reading light casually coming on when in 'door' mode. (Unit already replaced with no help)
• Rear wiper staying on.
• One cold morning last week all the typical VDC, steering etc errors came up upon startup accompanied with total lack of power steering. Was fine after restart.

Since the wires on the LH side were quite bad in the summer I thought it's logical that the RH side is on its way out too but upon inspection there was no other visible damage than the antenna which was completely split. My Metzger fixing kit did not even include the antenna cable.

So all and all quite disappointed as the mysterious reading light problem remains and as for the wiper, need some more driving to test it.
Since the morning startup problem in the above symptoms list came up there's no question the battery may be on its way out and causing the symptoms. It's about 2.5 yr old already.