# Four minutes to Failure How long does it take for an Alfa to breakdown? #Alfa_Romeo [[Articles]] ![[alfa_romeo_small.png]] Four minutes, that's how long it took for a breakdown. Handover had been [[Where’s my car?|delayed by a week]], getting the car moved to the dealership ; it finally arrived at midday on the Friday (a very, very long week). The handover was subsequently moved from the Saturday morning to late Saturday afternoon, which at the time didn’t seem to be a major issue. Saturday afternoon arrived, a gloriously sunny afternoon. Handover complete, and we drove off the forecourt just as the dealership was closing, quite literally the gates were being closed behind us. Credit to the sales department - "Any issues over the weekend email me, I'll keep an eye on my work account". The first four minutes of the journey was slow speed stuff, roundabouts and the like. On to a dual carriageway, opened the throttle a little further, then the dreaded yellow engine warning light lit up, accompanied by an almost complete loss of power. Too late to return to the dealer and the service centre was closed anyway. Resigned to the fact that this was a faulty, expensive, brand new car which I was now going to have to deal with. Not prepared to sit for hours waiting for recovery I limped the 90 minute journey home; that was an adventure in itself - slipstreaming lorries and avoiding the motorway. Alfa Romeo assistance was very helpful, as too was the RAC. Not so much the contracted haulage firm that should have delivered the car back to the dealership on the Monday morning: car collected five hours later than originally promised, locked up locally overnight rather than delivered to a waiting dealership. Promises made that the car would be at the dealership first thing the following day, for it then to sit at one of the haulier's off-route depots. When challenged they claimed a problem with the lorry, and lied about the location of my car - problem solved once I pointed out that the car had a tracker and I could see exactly where it was. The 'two hour' lorry repair became twenty minutes. An Alfa Romeo senior technician had been waiting at the dealership all day on the Monday to examine the car - day wasted. Problem identified as a clip and spring having failed/not been fitted correctly, connecting the actuator to the turbo wastegate. The dealership didn't realise that the spring and the clip were listed under separate part numbers - result - half the parts arrived on the Thursday, final part arrived and fitted on the Friday. Car delivered back to me early Friday evening, driven by one of the dealership team - full credit to them for foregoing a family meal in order to get the car back to me, being needed for a holiday trip three days later. **Quattro Minuti** - I was really tempted to call the car ’Quattro Minuti’. ![[alfa-recovery-40.jpg]]