Time flies. It has been 5 years since the last timing belt change. Gauged by the mileage, it is far below the factory recommended life span. However, I wanted to play safe and don’t want to suffer from the consequence of timing belt break down, I just went ahead to change it.
The timing belt on the car still looks good
One day when I was enjoying the pleasure of driving the Alfa 156 on one of the most famous winding road in Hong Kong, the steering wheel all of sudden lost power assistance. Within the first second, my adrenalin level surged as I thought the car stalled again and a sharp band was ahead. While I was trying hard to turn the steering wheel, I realised the engine and the brake were running. Without further hesitation, got the car in the next passing place.
With no idea what was happening, I decided to call the tow service. Indeed, it was the first time I have called for help on the road in the 4 years of ownership. Alfa is not that unreliable as said.
It turned out that the auxiliary belt snapped. Bought and shipped the new auxiliary belt from the UK and got it back on the road in 3 days.
My mechanic asked me if I want to have a trial on the effect of removing the balance belt. Why not!
I don’t feel the engine running rougher after the balance belt is removed. Having said that, I didn’t often rev the engine high. Guess that the difference might be more obvious at the high rev.
Oct 2014
From day one the engine has had the infamous “Diesel”noise caused by a problematic camshaft variator. Since I had not heard what it is supposed to sound like, I didn’t know it was abnormal till someone told me that.
The problem can happen very soon. In 5 years of the Alfa 156 was launch, the problem became well-known as indicated in the following discussion thread in 2003.
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