Timing belts
Gruesbecks (dgruesbeck@voyager.net)
Sun, 21 Jun 1998 02:16:38 -0700
I can respond to the italian timing belt message. I owned an Alfa
164L and put almost 40,000 on it in little over a year. Replaced belt
and tensioner soon after I bought it as I did not have any service
records from previous owner. The hydraulic tensioner was more of a
problem for owners in the north where the cold temp. on startup gave
high oil pressure and blew out seals. Southern us owners did not have
the same problems with it. The mechanical tensioner solved the problem
but they still recommended replacing the belt at 30,000 miles which for
me was an annual ritual. The belts weren't expensive but having to do it
once a year was too often for me. The one good thing I can say about
owning an italian car was it was much easier to work on than the
Peugeots. Even though it was front wheel drive most maintenance was
pretty easy. The folks at Peugeot could definitely learn from the
italians about designing in ease of maintenance.