Alfa 166 v6 1999

Rad97 · May 26, 2013, 08:05:34 PM

Hi guys finally swapped my car to only have it returned a week later with a bunch of Lebanese sitting in a car out front my house claiming I sold him a piece of shit I let him drive it I took it to his wife let her drive it apparently he is a mechanic at profix enfield It ran and drove perfectly fine through this entire process and the time I have had it so had to swap back for fear of safety.
Found car had no gearbox oil in it topped up with standard trans fluid noise stopped sleceted gears fine now a warning light comes on and it wont select drive or reverse but will drive fine until this happens about 5 mins of driving the light is like a red L with a 45 degree line sticking out can anyone help me out?
thanks Ralph.

Storm_X · May 26, 2013, 08:30:57 PM

So the car you originally had is now fked?

cranberry · May 26, 2013, 09:00:59 PM

Didn't you advertise this car with a gearbox problem? So how come you are surprised now that it has a problem if you knew it had one? Did you tell the buyer it had a problem?

cranberry · May 26, 2013, 10:18:50 PM

Isn't this your ad on Gumtree?

Hi i have an alfa romeo 166 v6 for sale it has done 82000 kms with books recently done timing belt and water pump full service history.
The bad airconditioner needs gas as it was lost when timing belt was done and it has an oil leak from engine.
Car is immaculate inside full leather momo interior all electrics work just needs a decent service from the right alfa garage that know what they are doing. Gearbox playing up and making noise fix it and have an excellent car.
If someone turns up with 3500 its sold.
Send an sms before ringing been getting nuisance calls.

Rad97 · May 27, 2013, 02:04:47 PM

Thats my listing after he brought it back its still up there now .

Rad97 · May 27, 2013, 02:11:38 PM

I put it up here hoping for help with the light on the dash but if you are willing to make my situation worse go ahead if no one wants it unfixed i need to know how to fix it because it is a waiste of space sitting in my drive way when i cant use it some guys dont think. I put it on gumtree just wanting to get rid of it now i am over the dissapointment of someone having my car for a week and fucking it i need to do something about it. Its not like i can drive it to far to get it looked at is it!

Davidm1600 · May 27, 2013, 04:22:29 PM

I would have thought there is a logical answer to your situation. Put it on a tow truck and send it to a competent Alfa mechanics to fix the various problems, that is if no one wishes to buy it as is. The low purchase price I would guess equates to the costs involved in getting it sorted out.

Mind you early 166s are becoming so cheap to buy that fixing them, especially expensive items probably makes no economic sense, hence you are seeing them being parted out. A pity as a good one I would think is a nice car, especially for the price.

Rad97 · May 27, 2013, 05:50:45 PM

Davidm yes maybe to some one that is employed that is probably the answer.
But yes it is heart breaking having spent thousands purchasing car only to have people offer 1000 maybe 1500 via email or sms not even coming and looking at it I could probably part it out for thousands more than what I would get selling it complete I know I could get 1500 to 2000 for the engine it self.

Davidm1600 · May 27, 2013, 07:51:43 PM

Ralph sadly I agree with your assessment. It seems utterly absurd that a car that cost when new around the $80K mark these days can be worth so little. I remember when I was looking for a car with my other half and she wanted a '97 Beemer 3 series and for the same money $20K we could have had a 166, which car spoke to my heart. She bought the beemer. Needless to say her car is probably also now only worth in the market around $5k or so.

I wonder have you talked to an Alfa specialist to find out what the gearbox might cost to sort out, as if this could be done, then perhaps your car might have a better value in the market. Looking at carsales.com.au. apart from one high km 166 (for around $4.5K) all of the other cars for sale were listed at between I think around $7-12K.

I wish you well, in trying to sort this one out as your car looks really nice.

Craig_m67 · May 27, 2013, 11:06:44 PM

With respect, nobody is paying +$1,500 for a 3.0L V6 from an auto FWD Alfa, sorry. It's the wrong engine for a project (cooling system wrong end off block, no flywheel, oil pump is chain driven and in centre if sump, etc)..

... I say this as I'm about to scrap/bin a Facelift '03 156 2.5V6 with 4psd auto as I simply can't be arsed to break/sell/advertise it. It works perfectly, I bought it at auction for some parts (front end panels). I expect they're the exact same gearbox. Shirley a local Indy can fit another from a similarly now useless car cheaply so you can move it on ?

Feel free to fly to Brisbane and take what you need from mine

Actually, to be slightly more helpful, PM or post your VIN and I will look the gearboxes up on ePER to see if they're the same.

cranberry · May 28, 2013, 12:29:10 PM

Quote from: Rad97 on May 27, 2013, 05:50:45 PM
Davidm yes maybe to some one that is employed that is probably the answer.
But yes it is heart breaking having spent thousands purchasing car only to have people offer 1000 maybe 1500 via email or sms not even coming and looking at it I could probably part it out for thousands more than what I would get selling it complete I know I could get 1500 to 2000 for the engine it self.

Rad97, I understand your predicament now and sorry that I jumped the gun. What if you get someone (a mechanic) to come and have a look and just give you a quote for the work that needs to be done. At that price, I'm sure someone here would be interested if the repairs weren't going to cost the world. At least everyone would know where they stood then.