Any one have experience of the Alfa Romeo 2.4 Diesel?

[DSM10000]

A friend is lusting after an Alfa Romeo Brera and I can understand why, hey are rather beautiful!

She wants a diesel as she covers around 20,000 P.A visiting her parents regularly which is a 500 mile round trip, I have suggested she avoid the 1.9TDi as they have a lot of well documented problems with the EGR and DPF systems and also with Swirl flap breakage, at least they did when I was a member of a Saab forum as this engine was used in the Saab9-5 and 9-3 as well.

The other diesel available is the 2.4 , 5 cylinder diesel, does anyone have any experience of this regarding known weak points etc? I have tried to suggest looking at the petrol versions but she is set on an oil burner.

Many thanks

 

[jgs600]

my missus had a 2005 1.9jtd 16v sportwagon and it went like the clappers and still did 50mpg all day long.. handled very well, ours was running the standard 150bhp jtd engine but could easily be remapped for more.. did try a 2.4 which had been remapped to 200bhp and that was scary for a diesel but not so good on the mpg and i think the 1.9 engine is better than the 2.4 but these were on the older models..

 

[flango]

I've got a bit from the ones we used to repair mainly in 159's, they are basically a strong unit but from the same source as the 1.9 as they are both Fiat engines. So the 2.4 is basically the 1.9 minus a cylinder and suffers from exactly the same problems, DPF's frequently block on cars not used on motorways, EGR valves clog up and on the 2.4 there is a plastic bleed screw in the water circuit which always fails so check this but its an easy fix with a metal replacement. Fuel consumption on the 2.4 is very poor around 35mpg at very best even on a run. The key is a full service history cam belts IIRC are a 90k change but usually fail before then we used to change every 45k which is what the Indies on the alfa forums agreed on, Oil changes in the diesel also need to be made more frequent as just like the Saab the pick up pipe blocks and starves the head of oil then its a new top end (ouch !!!)

Buy a good one maintain it regular and it will serve you well, but if you want a diesel for MPG then this is not the car for you the 1.8 petrol is just as fuel efficient less complex, cheaper maintainence and petrol is 10p litre cheaper

 

[stephen coy]

I've owned a 159 saloon with the same engine(s). There are 2 variants-one, the 200bhp version, the other, the 210bhp replacement. I think the main difference between the 2 was the turbocharger.

Mine was the 200bhp version. I could'nt get rid of it quickly enough-30 to 37 mpg.Significant turbo lag and vitually no torque unless above 2000rpm. Interestingly, examples of corroding front subframes are being reported.

 

[machineheadrock]

I was going to buy a 159 2.4 JTDM, its looks really had me going for ages.

I went and drove a beautiful example, black, with black leather interior, on a 57 plate, with 52k miles on it. It was gorgeous, ticked all the boxes, and the guy only wanted £4300 for it (this was three weeks ago).

Then, I drove a Mercedes, and forgot all about the Alfa.

 

[DSM10000]

Buy a good one maintain it regular and it will serve you well, but if you want a diesel for MPG then this is not the car for you the 1.8 petrol is just as fuel efficient less complex, cheaper maintainence and petrol is 10p litre cheaper

Thanks Ian

What about swirl flaps breaking? A common problem?

Cheers

David

 

[machineheadrock]

Swirl Flaps Ingested by Engine | Ask Honest John | Honest John

 

[flango]

Thanks Ian

What about swirl flaps breaking? A common problem?

Cheers

David

They do have issues but not as bad as the 1.9, a lot of owners used to complain of excessive swirl flap leakage on the 2.4 and we did clean up quite a few and replaced seals that were gunked in carbon, but very rarely saw complete failures like on the 1.9

 

[DSM10000]

They do have issues but not as bad as the 1.9, a lot of owners used to complain of excessive swirl flap leakage on the 2.4 and we did clean up quite a few and replaced seals that were gunked in carbon, but very rarely saw complete failures like on the 1.9

I believe that BMW have had similar problems, can the flaps be removed without causing problems?

 

[flango]

I believe that BMW have had similar problems, can the flaps be removed without causing problems?

Yep you can remove them and blank off the holes but its a bit of a pain, I think on the 2.4 Alfa engine you can get around the swirl flap issue by fitting the earlier manifold which was only Euro 3 compliant and did not have the swirl flaps.

I've looked at Alfa's a lot over the years as the styling of some of them is gorgeous but i've never been brave enough to actually buy one