M.J.S

Cheers Smaky, The steering hose, do you think this needs to be done urgently? I guess I could keep topping it up until then? What is the correct fluid to use? Will any power steering fluid be okay?

Howdy All, My new 147 1.6 TS seems to have a leak or two.... She is still under the dealer warranty but its a way away and I want to figure out if its worth taking it back to them or not. So can anyone help me identufy why its leaking from these parts. The pic is the front offisde of the car standing looking at the drivers seat. It looks to me like the oil is leaking from a bolt above the oil filter, as well as from the oil filter housing. What does the bolt do? is it a case of a washer needing replacing? The oil filter housing, is this likely to be a leak or is it going to be drips from the pipe in front. What is the pipe in front (arrowed)? what does it carry? You can see the sump is wet, the car has not been driven today so this is oil (I think) It also looks like there is a small drip from the sump plug, I guess I should be able to get a new sump plug washer. Thanks!

well we did spend 5 minutes looking for a screw that fell on the floor in the dark....

Yup it's good to have 4 working windows

What can you do in the back of a 156 in the dark in about an hour? Well, if your with Smaky you can change both rear window mechanisms. 😊 Items required:2rear mechanisms, 1 Smaky, 1 brolly, 1 headtorch, about 4deg c and plenty of rain.

So here are my 2, 156 SW 2.4 JTDm and the new to me 147 1.6 5 door. Pic taken after it was raining

So I've finally taken a picture but the forum doesn't seem to let me link to skydrive, whats the preferred image hosting on here?

Just to wrap this up I ended up buying a 1.6 Lusso 5 door with only 38.5kmiles. Picking it up tomorrow

I guess there are a couple of reasons. 1. My wife is concerned about the switch from driving a Sele to a manual and back again, 2. One less thing to go wrong. It was never a requirement, it was just that one came up for not much money at all.

Now that would be a nice return!

Hi K9d, Thinking about it I think we're probably going to go for a manual, but thanks for the offer anyway. Good luck selling it if you want to!

MOT/Tax?

Sounds interesting, what engine? Does it use much oil? Cambelt change? Is it a Selespeed? Got any pics?

.... more details please

So that one was cheap but not cheap enough for me to take the risk with it. no service history and I managed to get a Selespeed warning come up when driving it. The search continues.... Anyone know of a 147 for £1500 or less around Swindon? In fact i'd love that car as a 3rd toy car, but I cannot justify/afford 3 cars.

Already in the Selespeed part - trying not to scare myself

Howdy All, Since buying the 156 last year my situation has changed, now we need a second car. So naturally I thought of the 147 I'm going to look at a 2.0 TS Selespeed tomorrow and I realised I know very little about the Selespeed box. From what I can gather in City mode its an auto, no need to change gears, in normal mode it's like a manual without a clutch. Is that right? The car has done about 90k miles, is there anything I should be looking out for? Any tips for driving the Selespeeds? What do I need to know?! Cheers all

Good stuff, unless you call the inside of an Alfa door porn.... This seems like a pretty good guide to me. http://forum.alfa156.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=53077&KW=window

I have found a link on the alfa156 .net forum for replacing the rear mechanism, am I allowed to cross site post? Before i go to that level of playing, it would be good to establish what is wrong!

Hi All, It appears that the rear electronic windows in my '04 156 are a bit slow... especially the passenger side. They both still work but take considerably longer than the front windows. It looks like a few people have had problems with their windows when they are not used often, I suspect that this is the case with these. Whilst they still work, be it slowly I’m inclined to live with them, also the only passenger in the rear is 6 months old so its not needed yet. Is it a good idea to open and close the windows every time I drive? Or am I just tempting fate? Would it be best to leave them alone until I can look at what is wrong with them? Without knowing too much about the mechanisms, my thoughts lead me to it being one of a few things? - Motor fault/corroded - Motor not getting the full 12v to it - The runners getting jammed up with gunk - A combination of the above - Anything else? I couldn't see a how to guide on this, is there one kicking about anywhere that would be worth reading? Cheers

Oh I forgot a few other bits and pieces: new gas struts for the boot £35, maybe a set of roof bars so the surfboards can travel in style ~£50 (any recommendations?), a new badge for the key ~£10 and 2 new front fog lamps as they both seem to have been broken £20. I think that will do for now...

Yup Smaky is helping out with this one, the work is a bit remedial, and a sorting it before it goes wrong, it seems like I've got myself a good deal for the list of bits that are going to be replaced

Alfa ownership less than 1 month. Cost so far: 440 on insurance (and breakdown cover ) about to spend 700 on lots of stuff with the help of our very own Friendly Alfa guy from on here . oh thinking about a new key so a potential 340 or so, then maybe some other stuff... its quite an expensive month... wonder how long before I've spent more on the car than the purchase price?

Well there goes the image :Big Grin:

I'll take the comfy arm chair over by the log fire, and order a pint of best... there is a bar here right