Alfa 156 2.0

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Mon 20 Sep 2004 18:14
Alfa 156 2.0 - Peasant
Hi a mate of mine has a \'99 model 2.0 TS.
Was running ok till today when the engine started making weird noises. I can\'t describe it too well as he is not so technical but to him it sounded like \"stones in the engine\" also he described like cachchh cachchh (I\'m not pulling the deleted. DD), in a rhytmic fashion, some variation on a grinding noise.
Only happened when he pressed on the gas, dissapeared off throttle, when he pulled in to check what the problem was it cut out and would not turn over.
Tow truck guy had a jump start and it turned over and idled but the problem still existed when throttle was pressed.

He had the car serviced last week and filled with Mobil synth.
Car has 73,000 on it, timing belts and pulleys at 60,000.

Have you any idea?
Thanks for any help,

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Wed 22 Sep 2004 13:10
Alfa 156 2.0 - Peasant
Just to confirm that if anyone tells you they have "stones in the engine" it could well be like my mates car which has a small or big end gone on No.3.
And eh, one other thing, if your oil light comes on when cornering it's time to put some oil in, this is going to a cruel and expensive lesson.....
BTW he is considering having the engine rebuilt... as well as crank re-grind/bearings/buhes/oil pump/rings could he be looking at pistons, and top end damage, cam lobes and bearings?

Cheers,
Martin
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Wed 22 Sep 2004 13:17
Alfa 156 2.0 - tr7v8
Cam shaft variator failure makes a strange rattling noise. I'd expect the oil presssure warning light to be on if something was awry in either the ends &/or mains. Also most other engine noises would be there at idle. Obviously needs to get it somewhere who kno what their doing!

Jim
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Wed 22 Sep 2004 13:33
Alfa 156 2.0 - Peasant
It's in a garage out the country, don't know hese guys from adam.
From the description, the noise seems to be directly related to throttle pressure, rather than RPM.
I am not familiar with that variator, would it respond like that? The rod bearings probably would....
I am inclined to a major failure as he just didn't have enough oil in it... the cornering forces pulling the oil away from the pickup done it in.
Just wondering what else is likely to be damaged from this.
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Thu 23 Sep 2004 19:38
Alfa 156 2.0 - PR {P}
Sounds like big end bearing to me aswell. The same thing happened to my previous 156, a 1.8TS. Rattle like sound when the engine was under load. On stripping the engine, there was no other damage (It was actually a "distorted" big end bearing). Alfa fixed it all for free despite it being out of waranty (it was 15months old, but imported, so technically they didnt have to do anything!). That was at 15k miles btw, it is still running now at 65k miles no problem.

BTW they checked the oil level and it was fine, and put it down to probable manufacturing defect
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