Back in December 2005 I bought a car which has probably turned out to be the best car I have ever had, (had a few nice ones over 40 plus years).
It’s an Alfa 156 JTD 20valve, 2.4 litre, 5 pot turbo diesel.
Power is good but not excessive at 175 bhp.
Torque is a marvellous 284 ft lbs at 2k revs, (slightly more torque than a standard 911).
Result is brilliant acceleration from just over tick over in any gear and an average 45mpg plus, (mainly commuting in South Yorks area in traffic).
It has been almost totally reliable as well, other than just one area.
It eats turbos!
I bought it from an Alfa dealer in December 2005, where it had been used by the sales director of a medium sized group of Alfa/Fiat dealer outlets. It had done 18k miles in 8 months and was mint.
Took it for a service at the local Alfa dealer in June 2006 and got the news that the technician had found a problem with the turbo, it had a bit of a whine and they would replace it under warranty.
This got done a few days later at 20,200 miles.
All was then fine!
But it was not the end of the story as over the next couple of years or so two more turbos were fitted, (plus 2 turbo pressure sensors and a revised EGR valve, which they thought might be the problem or contributing to it). On each occasion the turbos were whining badly from cold and screeching under power when hot.
In each of these cases, as it got worse, the car would tend to shut down under load at peak torque and end up in “Limp Home” mode, one occasion was in the 3rd lane of the M1, not a lot of fun to suddenly lose all power.
I also had a few longish trips home in “Linp Home”, which is not much fun either.
On each occasion I asked the (same) dealer, was there any history of problems like this? What can be causing these failures? (The answer was no and don’t know).
Checked with other dealers and Alfa forums, none of whom seemed to be aware of a general turbo problem with Alfa diesels, (Similar Alfa engines and/or turbos also fitted to Vauxhalls, Saabs and Fiats by the way).
All was fine again for almost a year then started to whine again from cold but did not seem to deteriorate as badly, so as car now out of warranty I ran until last November, and around 50k miles, until it got noisier, (i.e. loud whining and screeching but still running OK).
Actually much of the screeching and whining was probably from me!
A new turbo from Alfa would probably be at least £1500 fitted and how would I know this would be any better?
Can’t sell car as too noisy by now.
Again many hours spent on forums and talking to Turbo specialists about the problem and possible fixes. Still have not found any history with other Alfas.
Oil pressure would seem to be fine as the engine would surely have suffered by now if the pump was failing, but eventually decided that it would be a good idea to change the oil feed pipes to the turbo before fitting another new turbo for two reasons :-
• Could have become slightly blocked in some way.
• Could also be some burnt crusty oil in the pipe, a bit of which could have gone through and stuffed the bearings.
Never managed to find out if they had ever been swapped with previous new units, so guessed that this might be the root cause, two new 6 inch rubber/braided/metal pipes and a few brass washers, £100 lighter wallet.
Talked to a turbo expert who we worked with in the 70s, (He helped us build a 1.3 Escort Mk 1 turbo rally car, very early days for turbos on a club rally cars!).
He agreed with my thoughts on the feed pipes, but was not able to do the whole job, they could only work on a turbo delivered to them.
Same with all other turbo specialists.
Problem was that I couldn’t find any other garages to take the unit off for me, then keep the car on a ramp for up to a week, whilst I took the unit away for a rebuild/replacement.
Tried numerous mobile mechanics all with same result - “No that’s a pig of a job, almost impossible without a ramp sorry!” was the stock reply.
Had not really been able to even see the turbo myself at this stage. The engine and soundproofing on the big 5 pot diesel totally fills the engine bay in a way that leaves you needing 2 or 3 hours to change a front bulb never mind a turbo.
The turbo is small and is down at the bottom of the engine at the front, hidden by numerous covers, the radiator and the massive undershield.
Jacked the car up and removed the latter, but still could hardly see the unit and could not really get my hands in to work on. With no pit or ramp, did not feel able to do it myself.
So how do I get somebody to take it off?
Eventually went back to Autoworld and said - look I am very unhappy, you have fitted three turbos and all have died quickly, so what’s going on, this is not acceptable.
We agreed that there would not be much point in them taking the old one off, throwing it in the bin and fitting a new one from Alfa, without having a clue what was causing all the failures.
So I asked, will you take it off for me at a good price as a gesture of good will, I will take it away to my turbo specialist, AET in West Yorks.. They would examine it to see if they could find the problem and it would be repaired, upgraded or replaced with a new Garratt unit, which I would take back to Autoworld to refit along with the new oil pipes, 6 litres of special Mobile 1 high performance turbo diesel oil at almost £80 and a high performance filter. Not much change from a ton again.
This was agreed but only on the basis that I signed a document saying that as Autoworld were not supplying the turbo themselves they were not responsible for any subsequent failure, cost for removal/refit £250.
Once removed, I took the turbo to AET who initially found little wrong with it, but eventually it turned out that the thrust bearings were shot.
We talked about options –
• Simple rebuild with standard bearings.
• Rebuild with upgraded bigger bearings as fitted to the Garrett turbos on later versions of the Alfa 159 and Brera 20 valve diesels. These had obviously been changed for a reason although AET had not come across a failure on this earlier version.
• And finally, there was an even more expensive option with the above bearings and a sort of should around the oil jet near the thrust bearings, which they fit to many competition turbos. This puts a jet of oil between the bearing surfaces and the turbo housing so the thrust bearings should never touch the housing, they would always be kept apart by the oil pressure.
As the thrust bearings had failed, this last option seemed very worthwhile, although the overall cost including the fitting/refitting and parts I had already bought was now over a grand.
Picked up the new turbo, spun it by hand, it felt very smooth, I was finally starting to feel happy and confident again!
There were very clear instructions about how to prime the oil supply before fitting the turbo which I made very clear to the service reception people.
Simple really, fit the new pipes first, disconnect the injection unit so will not fire and check oil is coming through OK and pipes are full before connecting to turbo and starting engine. Also should pour oil into the turbo oil inlet pipe to be safe. Fire up motor and let run slowly until it is warmed up and oil is flowing. At tickover the oil would flow, but turbo does not really run.
You would think a main dealership should be able to manage this.
Picked the car up next day, all done but just to piss me off further, they had done an essential safety check and there were £565 worth of defects that needed sorting. Things like hand brake cable needing replacement, front anti roll bar bush worn, back tyres need replacing, drive shaft gater needs replacing etc. all needed doing for MOT £565 please!
Said I would check them myself first, and bring back if necessary.
Drove out of dealership, and thought I heard a whine just up the road whilst engine still cold.
Thought, no it can’t be.
100 miles later, whining much worse when cold, and starting to screech when hot.
Turbo number 4 on its way out, needs number 5.
Talked to the dealership and asked if they had followed the fitting instructions exactly?
The initial answer was “are you suggesting that our technicians do not know how to fit a turbo correctly?”.
My reply was that since they had fitted 4 on my car in 30k miles there was serious reason to doubt their skills in that area.
The workshop manager accepted my comments and agreed to check with the technician who did the job. Eventually got back nearly a week later to say that he did not actually prime the turbo as suggested, but just poured oil in the inlet on the turbo itself, as they always did. I asked how many turbos they replaced on Alfa JTDs, and he said very few actually, so I pointed out that the 4 they had fitted to mine must have therefore been a high percentage and certainly did not prove that this was an acceptable way to do it!
The MOT was due in a few weeks so I took it to my normal local MOT garage, pointing out specifically what the dealer had said. Sailed straight through, he could not find any of the faults!
The car is actually running very well, average MPG is at 48 and performance is the best it has been since I bought it.
It is now screeching badly, as it was under full boost on the last one, so I reckon the thrust bearings are destroyed again.
Where the hell do I go from here?
The car is probably only worth around £3k on a trade in and hardly worth spending another grand for another turbo, even if I could afford it and be sure of a good result this time, but it is much too good to scrap.
Sorry to go on at such length!
Don't know where do I go from here.
You sent it to me! I'll forward it..