First time Alfa Romeo Owner

[alfalady]

Hello all, I have just purchased my very first Alfa romeo and I am a very happy lady. It is a 1998 Spider, silver with red leather interior. Only 65,430 kilometres on the speedo.

I have a couple of questions that I am hoping someone can help me out with. I was advised to check the service history as the car has no manuals with it. I rang the service department at Lance Dixon in Melbourne and the car has been serviced there all teh time. The last service was at 61,000km 4 years ago and they told me it had the timing belt changed then. The thing that worries me is the service person said even though the the belt has been changed only 4000km ago they said it should be changed every 3 years or 60,000kms so I should look to have it changed which I beleive is not a cheap thing to do. so should I change it and about how much does this cost.

secondly where can I get another operators manual as I dont know what all the buttons are for lol (blonde)

any help would be appreciated

thanks kathey

[wankski]

yep, basically if the belt goes, the engine dies a horrible death.

expect to pay around $800 for a new cam belt but this can go over if you also need to change the water pump (Advisable) and cam phase variator as well...

i would.

what the service guy said is right... the new advisory is 3yrs/60k kms, whichever is first...

[massiveluvbuddy67]

Hi Kathy,
If it was changed 4k ago I am very dubious of it needing to be changed again (unless 3years has passed. Even then?) We have some club sponsors who will be able to assist with another opinion - Hugh Harission at Monza Motors (Bayswater), Bruno at Maranello in Brunswick are a couple highly recommended. They will be able to answer all of your questions.
Best Regards
Phil

[wankski]

second opinion is a great point.. for sure...

as stated, the belt was done 4 years ago....

but.

phil, this is an 1998 car... at 60k it is doubtful that the water pump was changed with the belts... the impellors of the pump are plastic and when the pump goes it can let go of the belt as well causing slippage and destruction of some if not most of the valves in the engine as the collide into the pistons...

this is 12 yo plastic we are talking about here (not to mention other trouble u can be facing with an overheating car due to water pump failure)


like i said, i would change it...  

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Geez Phil, it's not one of your fancy 1960s Lamborghinis or Ferraris where you can skimp on servicing, this is an Alfa Romeo man!!

Kathey, if the belt is 4 years old I would definitely be replacing it.  Yes it's expensive, but if it fails you're up for at least 3 times the price.

Phil makes a good point though, one of the club sponsors should be your next port of call, they will give you an honest opinion and do the work for less money than a dealer.

I would also get them to give the car a good looking over if it's only done 4000km in 4 years.  I don't think Alfas like sitting around doing nothing, there may be some things just waiting to fail.  But you may have got lucky, a 12 year old Spider with only 65k km sounds great.

[alfalady]

thanks for all the replies, I will call Bruno at Maranello in Brunswick tomorrow and see what he says. It seems the general consensus is to change the timing belt just in case.

now does anyone know where i can get a manual. doesnt need to be new

thanks kathey

[John Hanslow]

Try e bay or ring around the wreckers yards.  Monza Motors has one as well, Milanos and the Italian Job.

For some reason, the owners manual seem to be removed when a car is auctioned off.

Cheers.