Re: Advice needed regarding 156 Selespeed....

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:40:05 -0800 (PST), Ted Tofield
<ted.tofield@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Does anyone know how drawn out these problems tend to be? 

It'll last until you're at the busiest junction you can find then it
will stall in gear in the middle and you will be unable to restart
(due to it being in gear) and you will be unable to get it our of gear
because it's bust. The last time I heard of this, IIRC, the guy
couldn't even push the car off the junction as it was stuck in gear.
I'd certainly make sure my AA/RAC etc cover was up to date.

>Is it likely
>to explode within days or do these problems tend to go on for months
>and months? I only ask as if the car is going to be usable for a few
>months it might as well be driven into the ground 

With it being a galvanised body and assuming belts and oil have been
looked after (so it looks and goes well, which tallies with what you
have said), a 156 of that vintage is unlikely to be driven into the
ground in a few months. More likely with a half bust Selespeed, it
will be driven to a complete halt. 

>rather than sold for peanuts....

...er..it's only going to be *worth* a few peanuts as it is. Supposing
a new gearbox is required at £3500 and there are no scrappie ones
(because there will be more selespeeds of that vintage in scrappies
due to gearbox than any other reason, I suspect), you subtract that
cost from the current asking price and how many nuts does that leave
you? Answer..2..and they will have to be made of steel to take that
car on as any kind of going concern.

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