Buying 156 JTS. Cambelt Question.

[juzz]

Hi guys,

My name's Justin and I will be picking up this Alfa next Friday: http://carcity.com.au/details.asp?stk=TDW987&dlr=danevans&loc=

It has only had one previous owner with full Alfa books. According to the books, the cambelt was changed at 67,000. It currently has 94,000 on the clock. As soon as I buy the car, should I take it to an Alfa specialists to get the belt checked out just in case? Or will they just tell me to change it regardless and charge me a grand?

I was thinking of taking it to Maranello in Brunswick as they are the closest Alfa specialist to me. Have any of you had any experience with them?

Also, other than the cambelt, is there anything else I should be weary of with the JTS?

Cheers guys.

[Neil Choi]

Justin

Be wise and take it to Bruno and Gianocarlo at Maranello for a peace of mind check over, guaranteed to give you an honest and professional opinion, well trusted club members.

So no worries I would say.

Neil
.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

I was thinking of taking it to Maranello in Brunswick as they are the closest Alfa specialist to me. Have any of you had any experience with them?

They do the work for countless numbers of people on this board and in the club.  Haven't heard a bad word yet.  Very well respected Alfa specialists, and they have all the diagnostic tools for these cars.

[juzz]

Will do. Thanks for the replies.

Can't wait to own an Alfa!

[wankski]

its been answered, but yes. fyi its 60k kms or 3 yrs, absolutely whichever is FIRST. yes, there have been belts just over 3 yrs and far less than 50k on them and they broke...

also it depends on what and where the 67k change was done... did it include variator and water pump? i doubt it, but with close to 100k on it now its time to do all of the above. A alfa sepcialist will get the timing down right with the proper tool, god knows how the previous did it if they aren't specialists or a dealer.

jts issues: coil packs (local cost c. $400eax4), and sometimes injector issues, also linked with that are the precats that can be very expensive to replace. oem only. the other thing is pay close attention to any smoke when the engine is cold - this can be an issue w/ the jts. The oil is also contaminated very quickly with the direct injection and goes to crap real quick. Bottom end damage has revealed itself in these fiat block engines, so i would be very regular w/ oil changes and always keep it topped up (quite a lot can disappear with these). 2.0 jts is  spec'd w/ 10w-60.

[juzz]

Thanks for the that info mate.

I'll definitely take it to Maranello for a check up as soon as I get it, and then just before the 3 month statutory warrant runs out in early Jan I'll take it to get the belt ,water pump and variator changed.

The car has full Alfa books so everything was done by them.

I'll make sure I keep it topped up with 10w-60 and pray the coil packs and injectors don't go on me lol.

Any particular brand of 10w-60? Martini?

Cheers guys.

[juzz]

Sorry guys, another quick question.

Is the Bose system standard in the 04 JTS? Because from the googling that I've done it seems that it is, but the dealer has the car advertised as a 6 speaker system not the 9 speaker Bose system.

Cheers.

[wankski]

bose - no it is not standard. an option. (you'll see the bose labels, usually on the upper door mounted tweeter covers). This is a good thing. if you are serious about sound (even semi serious) u'd rip out all the oem crap begining with the head unit (which is the same for bose and standard systems)

oil - spec'd is selenia as is all fluids (fiat co owns it, so no wonder). Any quality 10w-60 will do. As far as what is commercially available and decent spec, u might want to grab castrol edge fully synth 10w-60.

The car has always been done by maranello? good job! that is certainly encouraging.


price less so for the miles, hope u're getting a deal!!

[juzz]

The car has always been done by maranello? good job! that is certainly encouraging.

I don't think it was done by Maranello as the previous owner lives in Oakleigh. I think it has been done by the Alfa dealer he got it off, wherever they are. I'll check when I see the books again on Friday. All I remember seeing on the stamps in the book is "Alfa Romeo".

Thanks again for all your help. I might put my Pioneer headunit from my Prelude into the Alfa then. Which is a shame though, as I quite like the look of everything stock.

What did you mean by your little comment at the bottom though? lol

[wankski]

I know the look is important, but if you look online u will see some pretty good aftermarket installs - key is obtianing the silver aftermarket h/u surround (about 8 bucks from ebay.co.uk) other than that you want a decent silver colored headunit... they are rare these days but it can happen...

headunits are cheap enough, and i'd hazard the pioneer thats in your prelude may not be worth the physical labour of taking it out and putting it in... i'm just assuming here

i really like the alpine headunits, as i'm disposed to the alpine factory sound...but a lot of that is preference...

any alfa dealer, in theory, ought be good to go as far as mainatining their own vehicles... (realisitically its as good as you can expect)

my comment. don't mind me i'm being an ass. i was gunna write something about valuation in my first post but refrained, should have kept quiet...The main thing is that the car is in mint condition, but my gut feeling (and monitoring that market over a yr) is that kinga mileage for that listed price is high... at the end of the day you're getting it from a dealer which is good as far as stat warrantee goes, teh the car looks like an actual 04 model (do you know the build month/yr?) so that's all good...

redbook values will also give you an idea.... low mileage by itself is just part of the story... but the thing is lots of things fall due just past 100k on these cars

as i said above pump/variator... but also clutch (also dependant on PO, but these valeo units tend not to last too much past 120 odd km or so, plus they have a concentric internal slave so its best it all gets changed, often as much as a $1.5k job), also you got struts to worry about. Personally i don't like the ti variants... they have those to me ugly rims and seats, the real draw card was performance pads and bilstein dampners.. but at 100k the pads are long gone and much the same can be said of the dampners... Also the front wishbones are likely to fall due during your ownership, which is another significant cost... prolly close to another grand right there.

u got the manual tho, which is very good.

I bought my red 156 05 ti (manual) with 66k for about the same money from a dealer, but also consider carsales private sales with 50-60k cars at around 15k asking, these are 05 complianced as well (probably 04 build date which is all that matters when it comes to valuations).

but it certainly looks good in the pictures. I hope its mint inside and out, i wouldn't cop anything at that price, just be aware you could be coming into some bills depending on how long you are thinking of keeping it...

Also did you do a pre-purchase inspection? There is no reason why any dealer would deny you this at an alfa specialist. Dealers can be dicks tho, and come out with some lame excuse... RACV prepurch is a total waste of money IMO.

[juzz]

I plan on keeping the car a little while. But I only put on about 10,000 kms a year, so hopefully I won't have to be forking out money to change things too regularly.

The dealer said I can get an inspection done. I've used Stateroads in the past and they are excellent, much better than RACV, but I don't know if they would know all that much about Alfas. However he said I can't take the car down to my mechanic, he has to come to the car. However, when I take it for a drive on Friday he said I can take it for an hour, so if there is somewhere near Car City I can just take it down to them for a look. The dealer doesn't have to know.

I put down a $1,000 deposit, but there is a clause in the contract that says the sale is under the conditions of a satisfactory test drive (it was pissing down yesterday when I went so I didn't bother) and my father's approval (who is paying for the car). So if the check comes back bad, I will just say I didn't like the drive and Dad doesn't approve. I get my $1,000 back and off I go.

I'll have a look now for Alfa specialists near Ringwood. Is there anyone in particular you can recommend?

Thanks again wankski. I really appreciate your help.

[wankski]

Specialist only. let me be clear, a non alfa mech no matter how competant they are will not know alfas.... the jts in particular is a specialist engine... but also the double arms front suspension is a weak point and other usual suspects... a generic mech will not know these things and most imporant cannot value the cost of making right.U'd be surprised/mortified to know what some things cost...from ringwood if you can make it to Beninca in surrey hills or Monza Motors in bayswater that would be the go! (bayswater is pretty close - 6-7km? hugh is a great guy and his inspections are the cheapest that i know of!)

Both are top notch, just try to phone em ahead and make sure they got time for you...

you are very smart to have those 'subject to' clauses. The dad one is a great pretty much catch-all retraction clause. good work. U can also say dad's approval especially depends on alfa specialist's ok, heh heh.

Just make sure you are very happy with it, it ought be mint for the money and miles. Just don't take any crap from the dealer. They'll tell u is a premium car and it will sell at the price etc etc... what a load. worst re-sale in the market and as you know these 156s are a dime a dozen on carsales. U are in the driver's seat never forget that. just don't be pressured from those guys if it comes to it. The fact that the dealer allowed that clause means he is desperate (he can't deal with the car after accepting deposit). Personally i know that car's been advertised for ages (like i've said i've been looking can't recall if it was on drive.com.au or tradingpost.com.au but i've def seen it)...

hopefully its smooth sailing for you, but insist on your rights... trust, this car ain't going anywhere, and even if it does... who cares.... many more where that came from. I would not buy a 156 without specialist ok. Best money u ever spent.

Good luck!

[juzz]

Thanks mate,

Yeah Monza Motors looks to be the closest. Will definitely give them a call tomorrow and book myself in. If he gives it the all-clear I'll buy it.

I'm very happy with the look and condition of the car, just need to see how it drives now and more importantly if there is anything wrong with it.

Thanks again for all your help wankski.

Also, the dealer told me the car has been there for about 3 months. How long ago did you see it?

[wankski]

no worries man,

IDK tbh, wasn't like I was tracking that car so i didn't pay attention, but yeah, that sounds about right, it definately feels like its been there for months AFAIK.. That said i only relatively recently started looking at drive and tradingpost so it's possible it was listed at the same time i started looking on those sites...

my usual search is carsales. (many more cars and more private sellers)

Even so i would hazard that 3 months is a lot at a dealership (i would venture its been at least that). Think of the lost opportunity cost of having a car on the lot for that long not generating any income for a entire FY quarter. Keenly priced cars dont last long. Eg. The silver "04" albeit selespeed car listed from a dealer on carsales lasted approx 2-3 weeks w/ 71k on the clock, full history including recent timing belt @ $13k. I would call this fair pricing and congruent with redbook value (plus a tad extra cos its a dealer), not especially "ZOMG GREAT DEAL!!" but it can sometimes stand out against the space cadet pricing many vendors (especially private sellers it seems) ask for... not to worry, watch the months roll by and the prices tumble as the cars remain unsold....

I did want to go down and see it, but i was in no rush as it was a sele, and IMHO better cars come up (and 1 or 2 are still up!). Like i said, it was merely a fair deal, nothing special.

Anyways, hope u love it and it comes back with an encouraging report from Hugh! if you grab it, might like to show your face at the next club nite or rock up to spettacolo and show the beast off! black can look very good in a late 156!

[juzz]

Yeah I might have to come by to a club meet this summer if I do get it.

Spoke to Hugh this morning, he will be taking a look at the car at around 10ish Friday morning.

Hopefully all goes well.

Thanks again.