Change to factory specs relating to a timing belt & service schedule.

[tiptoe]

I'm hoping that some kind member of this community can enlighten me about a 'possible' change to Alfa Romeo's factory service specifications relating to when the timing belt needs replacing. I will try to be brief.

My wife purchased a new Giulietta from Newspot Motor Group in Adelaide on 1 July 2016. The purchase order listed the car as a Series 1 MY15 Quadrifolio Verde 1.8L Turbo 177kW Model 191.C5C.1. The vehicle is now due for a 3-year service.

Newspot Motor Group no longer deals with Alfa. Only one official Alfa service agent remains in Adelaide, being Solitaire Automotive.

The Advisor at Solitaire Automotive told my wife that, despite the car having travelled a tad over 20k, the timing belt would need replacing per the 3-year service specification. I questioned this, as the schedule in our Warranty & Maintenance book indicates that the timing belt need not be replaced until the 4-year service. The Advisor confirmed that my wife's car was a sports model (191 QV S0-S1 - 6 Speed TCT), requiring a different level of service. She emailed me an excerpt from the Solitaire Automotive service schedule, which reads, 'Replace timing belt every 3 years or 105,000km, whichever comes first'.

I'm wondering, is it possible that my wife's car was supplied with the wrong Warranty & Maintenance book? If so, I'd like to know, but getting a definitive answer, is proving to be difficult.

Newspot Motor Group cannot provide me with any information about the anomaly, other than to say, the car that we purchased would have been delivered with the appropriate Warranty & Maintenance book, as supplied by the importer.

Our Royal Automobile Association tells me that, if an amended service schedule relating to a critical component, such as a timing belt, a notice alerting us would likely have been issued by the importer to affix to our vehicle Warranty & Maintenance log book.

I called Alfa Romeo Customer Assistance Centre about this. In short, the fellow there refused to follow up on this discrepancy, referring me instead, to a service agent. I explained that our service agent in South Australia, Solitaire Automotive, insists that our vehicle has the timing belt replaced per the factory specification, but it cannot confirm how, why, or when this timing belt anomaly occurred once I questioned the discrepancy. Nor did I necessarily want to be locked into having my car serviced by Solitaire Automotive. I went on to explain that our extended warranty requires that the vehicle be serviced per the factory schedule, and so, we need full disclosure of factory service requirements. Alfa Romeo Customer Assistance Centre was extremely unhelpful.

I called FCH Australia directly. The young lady I spoke to was much more willing to assist. Unfortunately, she could not explain why the servicing requirements for our car might be different to the servicing specifications described in our Warranty & Maintenance book. She promised to follow it up with the technical department.

I await email confirmation of my conversation with Alfa Romeo Customer Assistance Centre, plus, a response from FCH Australia.

Before I pursue this matter, can anyone shed any light on what might be happening here?

[kaleuclint]

Extended warranty in itself is possibly your problem.  Usually this might be considered to be a good thing.  I couldn't wait for my warranty to end so I could use the expertise of an Alfa specialist rather than a Chrysler/Jeep workshop.

I'll defer to others more knowledgeable regarding the life of the belt in your model.  I have the same engine in a lesser state of tune and the belt, etc. get changed every five years.

Maybe try calling Zagame's service centre in Melbourne or McCarroll's in Sydney to see what they recommend?

[Mick A]

Hi there,

I've seen a few Giulietta's over the years strip the teeth of the belt or have other failures well before the initial 105,000km/4 Year interval.

I believe Alfa have done a similar thing to what they did with the 156/147 Twinspark engines, which was reduce the interval due to many belts or related components failing whist still within the specified time frame/km's.
They were initially 120,000/6 years, but this was soon changed to 60,000km/3 years for Australian conditions.

We recently serviced a most recent release Giulietta 1750 TCT, and the interval in the service book was reduced.

That there's been a update from Alfa passed on to the dealerships could possibly be the reason for the confusion.

Mick.

[tiptoe]

Thanks for your responses.

Mick, my wife has a Giulietta QV 1750 petrol TCT (2015). FCA has confirmed that the timing belt needs replacing every 3 years, instead of every 4 years, as specified in our Warranty and Maintenance book.

Can I ask, were you notified about this important change by FCA? If so, when? We were not notified. This annoys me because we have only one Alfa dealer here in Adelaide, and I do not necessarily want to be locked into taking our vehicle to that service agent to learn about the new servicing requirements.

[Mick A]

We weren't notified as we are an independent establishment. I've been telling our customers for years that in my opinion alfa have set the interval too long.
When you consider the tspark engines have a 60,000/3year interval, and the belt route/size/tension is almost identical on the 1750, not to mention they use the exact same water pump, it makes sense that 105,000km/4years is too long.

Plus, as I've said, I've seen plenty fail prematurely. Whenever i service a 1750, i always listen carefully to the belt area of the engine, and sometimes turn them over by hand to listen. I've found when the belts are starting to get old/worn they creak as the engine comes to a halt or when turned slowly by hand.

Hope this info is helpful.

Cheers.

Mick.

[kaleuclint]

Mick's response might also indicate why there is similar uncertainty about the duration for the 147kW engine.  The book says five years; accepted practice is four.

[tiptoe]

FCA Australia has since emailed me a revised maintenance schedule. The schedule clearly specifies that our car must be serviced every 6 months. We had no idea. Indeed, Autodata confirms that the timing belt must be replaced at 36 months, but describes maintenance services need only be done every 12 months. Who do you believe? I am awaiting clarification from FCA about this anomaly.

[bazzbazz]

Every 6 MONTHS! 

Someones taking the pi$$

[Citroënbender]

Recession pricing? As in, safeguard your income streams?

[kaleuclint]

My Alfa averages just over 5000km per year.  It gets an annual service.  Halving that would be overkill! 

Of course, in reality I don't think it's ever managed to stay away from a workshop for an entire 12 months...

[bazzbazz]

Of course, in reality I don't think it's ever managed to stay away from a workshop for an entire 12 months...

Just WHAT are you doing to that poor car? 

My 156 JTS Wagon is my work car, and it is worked HARD! Loaded to the MAX, driven longer than average distances daily, yet I have never needed to do anything other than the usual servicing and consumable items such as brakes ect.

And it's a Selespeed to boot! (Gotta love em "Flappy Paddles")

[tiptoe]

I kid you not! FCA Australia specifies that our car must be serviced every 6 months.

'The service schedule emailed to you via ... is the most recent updated version released Nov 2017.
This was issued out to all dealerships in the Alfa network and is available to them via internal systems.

This service schedule should be referenced during each scheduled service.
It is the dealers (sic) responsibility to ensure your vehicle is serviced as per the service schedule, and they should be notifying customers of when their next service is due.'

It seems that Autodata has not been informed.

[lombardi]

If service is every 6 months so what is the relevance of the new generation Synthetic oils ,oil companies market them as longer service intervals , something is not quite right here..

[bonno]

To avoid new car warranty, I would suggest that the servicing of new vehicles are to be strictly IAW manufacturers recommendations (ie; listed in the service schedule) and not the dealership requirement. Why this is done and the accepted norm across most if not all new car dealerships is any ones guess, but maybe it is purely and simply the profit $$$.

[rowan_bris]

I wouldn't service it every 6 months.  I would just service every 12 months.  It would be hilarious if Alfa decided to deny some hypothetical warranty claim on the basis that their car in 3019 required service every 6 months.