Impulse buying...

[Joey]

Well I was browsing on Ebay and accidentally bought this... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290552884514&autorefresh=true#ht_500wt_1158
Everything works, runs perfectly, awesome service history. Previous owner owned a big Italian Automotive workshop in Sydney. Brilliant service history with most of the key expensive jobs done recently. Really does run and look like a heck of a lot more car than what I payed for it. The only point I have which I have heard is something that effects nearly all early 166's is sqeeeky front breaks. My car has very new disks/pads only a few 1000k's old but its quite irritating at low speeds. What do others run/have done to stop this?
Other than a little bit of wear and tear here and there and a tiny patch of crows feet on the roof the car is in spotless condition.
Interiour wise the trim between the front seats, the part that has the ash-tray and handbreak in it, the surface of the whole thing has gone really sticky and has a coating of something on it. I have been told that this is most likely due to either the material failing or being resprayed at some point. Any body else seen something similar?
Also what are some of the preventative maintenance things I should be looking at, keeping in mind that the timing belt/water pump was replaced 500k's ago. He mentioned that the reason these cars had issues with Auto computers was from the heater element leaking. What do you guys think, is this generally the case? If so should I be looking to set up some kind of a way of preventing this?

[Sheldon McIntosh]

From what I've heard the heater will inevitably leak onto the auto computer.  Since these are a very expensive part to replace you really need to prevent it from getting wet.  Wrap it in gladwrap maybe?  Sorry don't know enough about these to advise how to stop it leaking in the first place.

Other than that, good buy, looks like a fantastic car.  The 166 really is a beautiful car.

[colcol]

In Melbourne on friday May 27th at Maranello Pur Sang Motors there will be a technical workshop night for the 932 series Alfa Romeo's, this includes 166's, 156's, 147's, GTV's and Spiders, if you are a Victorian member you are welcome to attend to learn about your recently purchased 166, email drtool@bigpond.com.au or phone 0407 090 826, Colin.

[Joey]

In Melbourne on friday May 27th at Maranello Pur Sang Motors there will be a technical workshop night for the 932 series Alfa Romeo's, this includes 166's, 156's, 147's, GTV's and Spiders, if you are a Victorian member you are welcome to attend to learn about your recently purchased 166, email drtool@bigpond.com.au or phone 0407 090 826, Colin.

I defiantly would Col if I lived down south... I would love to learn more about the 166, just a shame Alfa's are a 'wog' thing thus heaps more popular in Victoria for some reason?

[Paul Gulliver]

Alfa's are a 'wog' thing thus heaps more popular in Victoria for some reason?

I assume that puts your residential address somewhere north of the Murray river

[Rocco166]

Hi all,
Sheldon is correct, my 166 the heater core sits at the top of the dash under the storage compartment so is perfectly placed to not only leak onto the transmission computer but also the central console display which houses the climate control, mobile phone and stereo. I have replaced my heater core twice, they seem to last only a few years - the warning signs are the smell of coolant in the car - as soon as I get a whiff of that for more than a day the car goes in for a heater core change over before it floods the electronics.  The core itself is so delicate and made from lightweight plastic and ultra thin metal  - on the last two heater cores I have replaced the once-white plastic had turned grey/brown and the metal that it is bonded to was showing signs of leaks around the plastic/metal join.

Other than that I have only had problems with the climate control distribution motors that stops air going where you want it 

But the fact that I bought it almost new with 6000 k's on it in Sydney, drove it to Perth when I moved and still own this car is testiment to how much I love this beautiful, flawed italian....whenever I think of replacing it I can't think of another large(ish) car that can match it....

[lombardi]

Yes i am a wog, but away from the norm dont live in melbourne but in the "so called red neck SHIRE alias CRONULLA ,famous for the racial riots of a few years back" and surprisingly owned one of these magnificent 166,all i can say is CONGRATULAZIONI on a great buy and enjoy, just watch your hands when changing the out of the way oil filter.CIAO  PS MAYBE US WOGS HAVE SMALLER HANDS apart from other things.

[Joey]

Have really enjoyed the car thus far! Had a trip through the mountains driving a bunch of youth group kids from church around and the car performed beautifully in all conditions on the mountain roads. Had to test the breaks once when some tool ran a stop sign and was really impressed with how it slowed down in the terrible cold/wet weather. The car was simply a delight to drive on the mountain roads and didn't feel nearly as big as it actually is.
Getting about 9l/100k which is pretty good I think for the size of the car. I am starting to think about changing the heater element precautionary as the one in it is 5 years old. What do you guys think, is this a good move to ensure the car stays solid?
Given it a bit of a detail a polish and a clay and the paint really has come up a treat! All the paintwork is great besides the roof which has a few little blemishes, nothing particularly substantial.
Took some photo's of it, see what you guys think
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb250/joeytavora/Alfa%20166/

[dfrye]

Get in passengers side footwell and pull the side cover from the tunnel trim and bag the computer. If your heater core goes and ruins the computer it will be very expensive (actually even if the heater core goes and doesn't ruin the computer it will still be very expensive).

The sticky stuff I have as well on the fuse box cover. It is a total nightmare - it seems to respond to metho but god knows what causes it.

Squeeky front brakes I have too.

BTW, I got 680km out of a tank (66L at fill ) last week mostly but not all on the highway - they can be good on fuel if you try.

I've enjoyed mine over the past couple of years - esp with the huge boot, heated seats.

//dean

[Joey]

Hey guys, I have developed an intermittent idle/low revs missfire.. It seems perfect above 2000rpm... The missfiring is pretty chronic and goes for a few minuets until I drop it down a gear manually to get above 2000rpm to stop it.
Any obvious suggestions of things to check?

[colcol]

Hey Joey, check for obvious things like a fouled plug or it could be one of the many Lambda sensors that V-6's have, some say that Lambda sensors should be replaced every 60,000ks, BMW's are replaced at the 60,000 service as a matter of course, but rather than replacing the Lambda sensors that may be ok, have a Alfa service place hook it up to a computer to make sure they are actually worn out, Colin.

[Joey]

Ok, so over the last few weeks I haven't had any issues with the misfire anymore... But I occasionally get a injector warning light coming up on the dash with reduced power from the engine. Is this a common simple thing? or do I just need to get it into an alfa specialist workshop?

[colcol]

Take it to a Alfa service place that has the proper diagnostic equipment, so that the proper repair proceedure can be followed, not keep replacing things until you stumble accross the faulty part and then it works, it might be a dirty connector on the injector or it may be blocked and it needs a clean, Colin.