Re: Advice needed regarding 156 Selespeed....

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:16:33 -0800 (PST), Ted Tofield
<ted.tofield@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Occasionally when in manual gearchange mode it get's stuck in 2nd
>gear. up or down doesn't work, the only way to unstick is to 

Run away *RIGHT NOW*! 

>enter
>city mode (which is never affected by the problem) It doesn't happen
>very often and otherwise the car is perfect. Should I buy or should I
>run away?

Well that depends. If you've got, say, about 3500UKP you'd happily
burn then keep it. Otherwise leave well alone.

>ps: it's a Veloce, pearlescent paint, leather, climate control
>etc.......and dear god it's fast! ;) .....and I love the throttle blip
>on downchange as well....

Do you like big (as in vast) repair bills too?

>The real question I guess is, it it a known tiny problem?,

It's a well known 'big' problem. The Selespeeds had infamously poor
gearbox reliability. Much later models seem to be slightly better but
some here (including me) would advise avoiding Selespeeds even if the
gearboxes were working properly. 

> the sign of
>a huge gearbox bill in 6 months time? can I ignore it? dare I ignore
>it? HELP!!

The only future for this car is to buy it as a non-worker (for
buttons) then strip for parts sale on eBay. In any case, the asking
price seems WAY over the top..

You've been warned.

-- 
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)