Cambelt

[sspromo]

Hi.  I need some help here!  I'm looking at buying a 2003 147 and I'd like to know how much approximately it is to change the cambelt and what I should look for in the way of problems.  Any help appreciated

[colcol]

Hello sspromo, a cambelt change would cost $900 - $1200 depending on who does it and what they replace, this job must be done at 50,000klms - 3 years, whichever comes 1st, under harsh conditions, thats what Alfa recomend anyway, many 147's & 156's are towed to Alfa repairers on the backs of tow trucks, due to skipped cam belt changes, i know its 8 years or 100.000kls for Toyota's, but you have been warned, the type of oil used in twin sparks is fully synthetic racing oil of a viscosity of 10 - 40, it is vital thats its changed on time, and not let run down below the min level on the dipstick, other wise, when the oil light shines, its informing you, you need a new motor, have a look on our sponsors page, and look at some Alfa Romeo service providers, and choose the one most conveinient to you, some of them have been working on Alfa's for over 40 years, and they know what to look for, and when you get one, come along to the club and get involved, like i did 26 years ago, and they can't get rid of me, Colin.

[sspromo]

Thanks Colin.  To be honest it's now actually the Selespeed thats scaring me to death!  It's reads as though they're pretty fragile, very expensive and go regularly

[Davidm1600]

I can only go on what others over the years have said about the selespeed; having said that I went for a manual (156) rather than sele.

Re: Costs well I can tell you, as I just had mine done on my 156.  I bought my parts from EB Spares in the UK.  The breakdown in UKP was: 

Main belt - 17
Tensioner - 40
Balance Belt - 32
Tensioner - 26
something else (can't read the writing) - 21
Water Pump - 29.50

Postage cost - 45

I also bought a set of Bilstein B4s to replace my soggy original shocks and previously had bought upper control arms.  I only mention these last two items as my mechanics total labour cost was around $650-700, which obviously included both the belts change and suspension work.

My mechanic thought that the water pump EB had sent had a plastic impellor (don't really know why as am pretty certain the 4cyl engines never had these ??).  Hence he arranged to get me a water pump with a metal impeller locally, it cost I think about $130 from Turin Imports.  In discussing this matter with Kevin from EB, he was ok about me sending the water pump I had bought from him as an offset against a pair of rear Bilsteins.  The water pump impeller from EB is alloy. 

Mind you I paid the shipping cost for the water pump back to the UK, so without doing some comparison to parts cost here in Aus, I am not sure if I ended up in front or not ??  Anyway I have peace of mind that this important maintenance item is done.  I still think it pays to shop about for parts prices if you can.

Hope that helps.

[colcol]

The later Selespeeds were better than the earlier ones, as they were a bit more simple, but most people who have them, love them, but they need servicing done to keep them in tip top order, and this must be done by an Alfa Specialist, who works on them all the time, but don't let it put you off, but i prefer a manual, as they are more fun and rewarding, but thats me, Colin.