Even better is a non-interference design like the FIAT JTD 1.9 120hp which was also used in the Vectra I used to have. Despite FIAT it's a very reliable engine.
The 1.9 litre common rail diesel? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that engine originally developed by Alfa Romeo before the takeover by Fiat?
If it’s a 1.3 variant of that engine it’s a fucking turd. Absolute shit show beyond all compare. I owned one.
My bad, I meant Alfa Romeo, not FIAT. Still, given they have a similar (well deserved) reputation for unreliability, I stand by my use of the word "despite"...
You’re excused
This time
The 1.3 is not the same. I had a Croma with the 1.9 16V mJTD 150 HP version and that was an excellent engine. It also made a lie of current wisdom that if you put ANY petrol in a common rail diesel it will wreck it as soon as you start it or even turn the electric pump on. On a run back from Cornwall to Cambridge via Bristol in filthy weather I stopped for fuel. It ws not a brand I normally used and I picked up the black pump handle. SWMBO then distracted me by asking if I wanted nything from the Kiosk. I fuelled up, later calculation showed I added more than half a tank. SWMMBO paid which is unusual. I'd got straight back in the car because the rain was almost horizontal.
So a little while later doing the speed limit down a long hill the car felt a bit judderry but I thought it was just wind buffeting. Stopped in Bristol for about an hour visiting a friend. Came out and the car was slowwer to start than usual but I put oit down to the very steep hill we were on. Then on the M4 I started thinking about it and asked SWMBO if she had the receipt but it was in her bag in the back. I pulled into the next services, dug out the receipt - UNLEADED
Well sod it I'd done about 150 miles on it so any damage was done. I topped the tnnk up as high as posible with premium diesel as it contains more lubricity additives and drove home. Put some diesel additive with a lubricity agent (many are just IPA) and changed the fuel filter. Over the next week or so I topped up the tank with premium when it was down a quarter twice and then half then ran it down.
The engine did another 50,000 miles before I sold it without muissing a beat. It's still registered as on the road.
The A would hve told me not to start the car and charged e £200+ to drain the tank nd flush the system......
The 150hp is slightly different to the 120hp, and the valves do interfere on it. It is reckoned to be less reliable, but as I haven't owned one, I can't comment directly on that, though I suspect that like much unreliability related to cars there's a certain amount of lack of proper maintenance and/or poor driving style involved.
You are correct, it is interference.
It has one big maintenance advanage over the 8V. They both have long glow plugs. The thread is near the bottom of the 8V plug, far from the hex where torque is applied. As a result they have a habit of shearing off. To make it worse access is bad. On the 16 the thread is at the top, next to the hex and they are very easy to access.
The oil filter access is another matter
. I'd quite happly do things like wheel bearings but come oil change it was down to the local independent garage. I did supply the oil though, they are quite fussy about that.