320touring gets an Alfa Romeo 156..

[fotorabia]

There's not many of either of them left. You might even be astonished to find that, come May, there are more Tory voters than Labour voters in Scotland.

You may well be right there..Im quite tolerant of Scottish Tories..im related to all of them...and I like their cars...

[320touring]

Steady!politics and Italy are odd bedfellows:)

[320touring]

Day 2 ended with 141.4 miles on the clock.

 

Car was fine, so I decided to try sorting an issue

 

Original Fault list

some suspension bangs

running cool

fuel flap not latching

inoperative remote central locking

inoperative rev counter

potential blown bulb

inoperative heated rear screen

air con needs gas

missing trim panels on interior

radio not on switched live

creak from seat or 2.

 

solved

headlight bulb

rear screen (partial)

 

Found

Inoperative sidelights

wired relay light

Running adjuster motor

 

Cumulative Score +1 Fault

 

 

First up, heated rear window.

 

Pulled the 30a fuse (bottom right of main fuse box under steering wheel)

 

 

Not blown, so onto checking the relay.

Ignition and press the button, relay can be heard clicking.

 

final port of call was the connector in the boot- pulled cleaned and reseated-will see how it goes.

 

May need a meter to identify if it is still not working.

 

Next up, blown bulb:

 

 

Pass side full/main beam was not working.

 

Popped the bonnet and that is when the fun started

...

 

 

This bulb was hidden under a relay cover, and came on with the ignition.

 

I stripped it out, and traced a wire going back to the bulkhead..

 

with that done (and the car still starting ok) it was time to investigate the bulb.

 

 

Looks like the bulb was disconnected, and earth was off.

 

moreover, both sidelights do not have bulbs.

 

Reconnected the bulb and had a win!

 

At the same time, one of the headlight levelling motors was running constantly,.

 

so time to disconnect it

 

Huzzah!

[Barry Cade]

Cut out the HRW connector and rejoin with new terminals, they go high resistance and get hot. GTV's are prone for catching fire because of this....

[320touring]

Cut out the HRW connector and rejoin with new terminals, they go high resistance and get hot. GTV's are prone for catching fire because of this....

 

I'll get a meter on it at the weekend and see if it has power, if so, then can redo!

Ta for the info

[320touring]

Day 3 finished with 296.5 miles on the trip, and just over 1/4 of a tank left.

 

It started out in an unnervingly familiar manner:

 

I switched on the heated rear screen and cleared the rest of the car.

 

10 mins later (whilst dropping ra burd off at the station) I had to resort to a 'more manual' method of rear screen clearing

 

 

Not a new fault - just a failure to resolve an existing one!

 

Onwards and southwards! 75 miles or so to Lockerbie covered in good time - the seats are plenty comfortable for the longer run.

 

I got to the local shop for an 'arty' pic

 

5 mins later it had a crowd of admirers

 

A damning comment on the human condition, eh?

 

business was attended to, then a leisurely schlep up the road commenced. Again, comfortable, quiet and refined. That said, some actual heat would be a treat - cool running is now the #1 enemy.

 

The final activity of the day was showing a Defender who is boss of the OMGOFFROADZ

 

A good day all in:)

[KruJoe]

Time to pop a 'stat in, Neil?

[Rusty_Rocket]

These Alfa 'stats are always stuck open. Think they are made by Vernet or someone? Anyway, they're expensive (£100+ on the JTDs) and a faff to change.

I fixed the problem on my last two 156s by pushing a 70s Renault 5 'inline' thermostat into the top hose. They are easy to get on ebay and cost a fiver- works an absolute treat. Get the hottest you can, 88°c I think.

It also has the added benefit of really annoying people on the Alfa forums 

[320touring]

Time to pop a 'stat in, Neil?

Stat may be built into housing based on what I can find.

 

coolant looks manky, so cheeky clean and see where we are at first. Some folks have flushed and got back normal function.

 

failing that £23 for new body/stat combo:)

[320touring]

These Alfa 'stats are always stuck open. Think they are made by Vernet or someone? Anyway, they're expensive (£100+ on the JTDs) and a faff to change.

I fixed the problem on my last two 156s by pushing a 70s Renault 5 'inline' thermostat into the top hose. They are easy to get on ebay and cost a fiver- works an absolute treat. Get the hottest you can, 88°c I think.

It also has the added benefit of really annoying people on the Alfa forums

oooh bodgetastics!

 

loike dis?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=401054167215&alt=web

[Barry Cade]

Do eet. Fuel economy will improve too.

[320touring]

Do eet. Fuel economy will improve too.

teh bodge or teh propah fix?

[Barry Cade]

Have you been listening??

 

 

Alfa's are great cars, but look after them, otherwise I'll be sending round Guiseppi and Franco to "have a word".

 

[320touring]

Have you been listening??

 

 

Alfa's are great cars, but look after them, otherwise I'll be sending round Guiseppi and Franco to "have a word".

Bodge parts ordered:)

 

if it solves the cool running, it can come out and grownup stat fitted!

 

Also, not quite that pretty a car..

[Barry Cade]

"It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."

[320touring]

"It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."

fife based joke:

 

[michealcaneinZulu]STOP FROWIN DOSE BLUDDY SPEARZ[/michaelcaneinZulu]

 

mind you based on wiring so far, I may be better blowing the bloody doors off..

[Barry Cade]

You really need a 166. I like 'em BIG

[320touring]

You really need a 166. I like 'em BIG

Nah, 75 2.5v6 or a 164 3.0cloverleaf ftw

[rainagain]

These Alfa 'stats are always stuck open. Think they are made by Vernet or someone? Anyway, they're expensive (£100+ on the JTDs) and a faff to change.

I fixed the problem on my last two 156s by pushing a 70s Renault 5 'inline' thermostat into the top hose. They are easy to get on ebay and cost a fiver- works an absolute treat. Get the hottest you can, 88°c I think.

It also has the added benefit of really annoying people on the Alfa forums 

I changed the one on my 156 JTD, it was a total pain in the arse, there's a big heat exchanger bolted on to it for the EGR valve, looks like a mini steam engine boiler with tubes going through, and having the five cylinder JTD access was tight. I wish I'd known about the inline thermostat would have just done this!

[HMC]

"You must have shot an awful lot of tigers?"

 

These 'stats do come as part of the housing, the one in my 155 is similar ( and was similarly borked 'till I swapped it out)

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

"You must have shot an awful lot of tigers?"

 

These 'stats do come as part of the housing, the one in my 155 is similar ( and was similarly borked 'till I replaced it)

image.jpg

 

[320touring]

Day 4 was a gentle one- finishing on 360.3 miles.

 

no faults to report and no pics as it was a commuting/trip to the cinema sort of day. nothing exciting.

 

Day 5 will be an autopsy to diagnose as yet unattributed noises from the suspension.

 

Also a good chance that the tank will need a filling.

[Sudsprint]

Great cars

 

I had a 1.8TS, 2.4JD Sportwagon, and then 159 JTDM.

 

All absolutely fantastic and all comfortable and reliable.

 

Before the 1.8 was very kindly swept off the M20 by a foreign lorry it had 145k miles, and apart from some front wishbones and inlet variator it had just been serviced.

[320touring]

Day 5...

 

took it over to my brother's to get some tools from his 7 series

 

 

Boot holds more than you'd think

 

 

then it was off to the unit via Asda for a full tank. 375.9 miles to 55.17L gave 30.97mpg-not too bad given it was always running cold.

 

 

I stopped off at Halfords for some new Coolant-looked it up in their handy doofer

 

Once on site, we did the usual checks, status report as follows:

 

All discs and pads fine

Front Lower arms would benefit from replacement

Front upper arms OK

ARB Droplinks could be replaced all round

Backbox starting to lose outer skin but still gastight. Rest of Exhaust ok.

Grot found at bottom of drivers wing- see pic

 

 

 

we then set about doing the coolant flush - -thermostat is on its way should be here mid week.

 

coolant condition was similar to the 306 I had

 

 

 

That done it was time to sort the rev counter. Previous owner told me it was disconnected due to it draining battery via the rear lights (common on older 156s)

 

when reconnected, no issues were found, save a check engine light that went out on restart.

 

I took it out on an extended test run, and it warms up more than before, but still not spot on. No overheating and fan kicks in properly.

 

Got back to the Unit and the drivers window decided to stay down. Moreover we had no power to the window switches.

 

Checked the fuses as per owners manual, all ok, and the relays clicked properly.

Had to resort to "hunt the motor" and apply 12v directly to get it shut

 

Got everything back together, only to discover no wipers, blower or indicators(but hazards still working).

 

googled for the cause of that, and replaced blown fuse. Sorted, and the windows started working again too! Typical that said fuse never showed up for any "no power to window switch" searches..

 

Anyway, all home ok now, 87 miles done on new tank, and the opportunity for payback awaits!

[Bamboocarman]

Good stuff Mr 320 T.

 

Looking forward to the in-line thermostat instalment; if it works, will give it a go on the 146.

[Barry Cade]

I despair. I really do.

[Dave_Q]

I'm sure the inline stat will work in so far as it will stop the coolant getting to the radiator, but surely the stat housing is made that way for a reason?

 

What functions are done by the various spidery bits coming off it?

 

I considered the inline bodge for our 147 but just got over myself and ordered the correct one.

 

It was a Circoli spesh from Euros for a shade under £35 with a discount code.

 

It didn't look mega qualz but the car warms up properly now and it hasn't leaked yet so we'll see.

[Barry Cade]

I'm sure the inline stat will work in so far as it will stop the coolant getting to the radiator, but surely the stat housing is made that way for a reason?

 

What functions are done by the various spidery bits coming off it?

 

I considered the inline bodge for our 147 but just got over myself and ordered the correct one.

 

It was a Circoli spesh from Euros for a shade under £35 with a discount code.

 

It didn't look mega qualz but the car warms up properly now and it hasn't leaked yet so we'll see.

YAY, my faith in alfalfisti is restored.

[320touring]

it may get a stat up its hole after a brakepipe burst at the business end of my 2nd 1/4 mile run..

 

patmashants so I did

[Lacquer Peel]

Did a flexible hose burst?