Club Alfa RomeoNederland

Hi Everyone,

I could use some advice concerning my Alfa 159 1750 TBI.
Stationary the engine appears to run fine at plusminus 800 rpm.
I can feel hiccups or subtle shakes, but no loss of power when I drive with the rpm's steady, for example at 2500rpm in third gear with cruise control at 50 km/hr or on the highway with the cruise set at 100 km/hr with rpm's about 2000.
When I accelerate in whatever gear, the car is a beast with no hessitation.
There are no fault codes and I do not have a clue about what parameters/live data could tell me. I use a registered version of MultiECUscan.
Last week, I replaced the last two of my four injectors after injector nr.4 was leaking. All injectors have been tested and the manifold gaskets are new. New spark plugs, new bobines(ignition coils). Air filter is also new...and ofcourse new oil and filter...again.
Tomorrow I will receive a new gasket for the vacuum pump, It's leaking very little oil, no droplets but enough.

I have had on two occasions failed injectors and both times it started with a hiccup and then fumes and then loss of power. On both occasions the error codes came and I replaced them.
The hiccups raise my bloodpressure. Now lately,I've been driving with a lot of acceleration to trigger a fault code. Thus far no dice.
I'm under the impression that a vacuum leak would cause more evident  symptoms.
Can any of you help me trouble shoot?
Thanks for your time and Good weekend!

No fault codes, minor (but annoying) hiccups. What is the mileage on this car? With direct injected fuel carbon build up over time is quite a common issue. Maybe it needs walnut blasting?

@Dutchdriftking 
240K,  Do you recommend anyone, not to far from Amsterdam?  Thanks for your response!

I've been looking for one for quite some time. There are a few out there but none of them do diesel.... So, finally I found one that is willing to do my diesel, located in Rotterdam. They will do my car next month. I will share my experiences in my topic 😉

@Dutchdriftking thanks

What brand sparkplugs & coils did you get? The cam phasers are a known issue with the TBi engines as well (though strangely it seems more common on the later aluminium TBi 2014+ engine then the older ones), though this typically starts with poor starting cold, rough idle, perhaps even dying/stalling first time starting which you dont seem to experience.. Though with 240k's i can't imagine they are in the best of health..

@thijsk89
ILKAR7D6G NGK plugs and the Coils are Bobine BAEQ230 Magneti Marelli, both coils and plugs  about 5 months old. Tomorrow I willreplace the seal on the vacuum pump. Thanks

Citaat van: BBK op 28 oktober 2025, 22:08:54
@thijsk89
ILKAR7D6G NGK plugs and the Coils are Bobine BAEQ230 Magneti Marelli, both coils and plugs  about 5 months old. Tomorrow I willreplace the seal on the vacuum pump. Thanks

In that case, there is a good chance it's because the coils. I have bad experience with these (albeit on a different fiat engine, 1.4 t-jet, but still). Why would you swap from the original Bosch to Magnetti Marelli? Original works best, same goes for the plugs..

Citaat van: thijsk89 op 28 oktober 2025, 22:37:13

In that case, there is a good chance it's because the coils. I have bad experience with these (albeit on a different fiat engine, 1.4 t-jet, but still). Why would you swap from the original Bosch to Magnetti Marelli? Original works best, same goes for the plugs..

Yeah i agree replacing bobines to non oem ones can be a bit tricky.
If the originals were Bosch than it's probably better to stick with Bosch.
Some cars can be pretty sensitive for such kind of things.

Yesterday I removed the vacuum pump and after a fair bit of cleaning, I installed a new seal I've driven 300 km just now, no more hiccups, no oil sweating. About  the coils, Magneti is fine. You just need the same brand when you replace jone. They don't mix well

Great that you got it fixed.

@MysteryAngel Thanks! Good weekend!

Smoke leak detection revealed to major inlet leaks. Fixed💪