2006 Alfa Romeo 156 warning

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
137
Inspect the care carefully to make sure that
there are no fuel leaks, for instance in the
engine compartment, under the vehicle or
near the tank area.
If no leaks are found and the vehicle can
be restarted again, press button (A) to ac-
tivate the fuel supply system.
After a collision, remember to turn the ig-
nition key to STOP so as not to run the bat-
tery down.
INERTIAL FUEL CUT-OFF
SWITCH
(fig. 119)
This is an automatic safety switch which is
triggered in the event of crash to interrupt
the flow of fuel.
The intervention of the inertial switch is in-
dicated by a message + symbol on the In-
focenter display (see “Infocenter Display”
in this chapter) and by the door unlocking.
fig. 119
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fig. 120
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OPENING THE FUEL FLAP(fig. 120)
The fuel flap is released from inside the car
raising the front part of the lever (A).
If a smell of fuel is noted
following an accident, or
the fuel system is leaking, to avoid
the risk of fire do not reset the
switch.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
138
HEADLIGHT CORRECTOR (fig. 121)
If the car is fitted with xenon headlights,
beam aiming is electronic and therefore con-
trol (A) on the mask near the steering col-
umn is not present.
The headlights should be aimed correctly
depending on the vehicle load.
The control (A) on the plate at the side of
the steering column can be moved to four
positions corresponding to the vehicle loads
given below:
position 0: 1 or 2 people occupying front
seats, full fuel tank, on-board equipment pre-
sent;
position 1: 5 people on-board;fig. 121
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HAND BRAKE
(fig. 122)
The hand brake lever is located between
the two front seats.
To operate the brake when the vehicle is
“stationary”, pull the lever (A) upwards un-
til the required braking action is obtained.
When the ignition key is in the MARpo-
sition, the
x
warning light will come on on
the instrument panel.
fig. 122
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position 2: 5 people on-board, luggage
compartment full (50 kg approximately);
position 3: Driver and 300 kg in luggage
compartment.
Check the positioning of
the headlight beams every
time you change the load to be car-
ried.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
139
To release the hand brake:
– slightly lift the lever (A) and press the
release button (B);
– holding the button down lower the lever.
The
x
warning light on the instrument
panel will go out.
To prevent the car from moving acciden-
tally, keep the brake pedal pressed when
engaging the handbrake.WARNINGThe handbrake lever (A) is
fitted with a safety device which prevents
the brake from being released when, if the
lever is pulled, button (B) is pressed. There-
fore, to release the brake, in addition to
pressing button (B), it is also necessary to
pull lever (A) further upwards to release the
safety device, then lower the lever com-
pletely
GEARSHIFT LEVER
(fig. 123)
Depending on the versions the car is fitted
with a five or six speed mechanical gearbox
(see “Technical specifications” chapter).
The position of the individual gears is
shown by the pictogram on the gearshift
lever knob.
When changing gear, always fully depress
the clutch pedal. Before engaging reverse
gear (R) wait for the car to be stationary.
fig. 123
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The wheels should be
locked after a few clicks of
the hand brake. If this does not oc-
cur, contact Alfa Romeo Authorized
Services to have the hand brake
adjusted.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
140
For 2.5 V6 24V versions and Diesel ver-
sions, to engage reverse gear (R), it is nec-
essary to wait for the car to be stationary,
then raise the ring under the grip (with the
fingers of the same hand holding the lever).
After engaging reverse gear, release the
ring. It is not necessary to raise the ring on
the lever when shifting from reverse to an-
other gear.WARNINGReverse gear can only be en-
gaged with the vehicle completely stopped.
With the engine running, before engaging
reverse gear it is necessary to wait for at
least 3 seconds with the clutch pedal fully
pressed, to avoid grating and the possibil-
ity of damaging the gears.Do not drive with your
hand resting on the
gearshift lever, since the
applied pressure, though slight,
may, with the passing of time,
damage parts inside the gear.
To change gear smoothly,
the clutch pedal must be
fully depressed. Therefore, there
should be no hindrances under the
pedal unit. Make sure that any
mats are well laid and do not in-
terfere with the pedals.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
141
Gearshifting takes place through a floating
control lever (A-fig. 124) with only one
stable central position. Using this lever it is
possible to request increase/decrease of the
ratio of the gear engaged and/or engage-
ment of reverse gear (R) or neutral (N).
There are also two levers on the steering
wheel spokes (fig. 125) through which,
only with the car on the move (with speed
above 0.5 km/h), it is possible to shift gear
up or down.
SELESPEED GEARBOX (optional for versions/markets
where applicable)
The 2.0 JTS engine can be supplied with
a mechanical gearbox with electronic con-
trol, called “Selespeed”.
The Selespeed considerably simplifies the
use of the car, it reduces driving fatigue in
town or when frequent gearshifting is nec-
essary, but at the same time it assures bril-
liant performance.WARNINGTo be able to use the Sele-
speed correctly, this chapter should be read
in full to understand the correct, permissible
operations to be carried out right from the
start.
This device comprises a conventional me-
chanical gearbox to which an electronical-
ly-operated electro-hydraulic device has been
added which automatically controls the
clutch and gear engagement.
The clutch pedal has been eliminated and
the vehicle moves off using only the accel-
erator pedal.
fig. 124
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fig. 125
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GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
142
Failures of Selespeed gearbox are signalled
to the driver through a warning light (B-fig.
126) accompanied by an acoustic signal. The gearbox can work in two operating
modes:
– the first is semiautomatic(then called
MANUAL), in which the driver directly re-
quests gearshifting through the lever on the
centre console or pressing the buttons at the
steering wheel;
– the second is automatic, calledCITY
(mode selectable with the specific button
B-fig. 124, the CITYsign appears on the
display fig. 126fitted on rev-counter), in
which the system decides directly when to
shift gear.With the gearbox in the CITYmode it is
still possible to carry out manual gearshift-
ing, both using the gear lever and the steer-
ing wheel controls. The gearbox remains in
the CITYmode.
The gear engaged (fig. 126) is always
signalled on the display regardless of the se-
lected mode.
N= neutral;
1= first gear;
2 = second gear;
3= third gear;
4= fourth gear;
5= fifth gear;
R= reverse.
fig. 126
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GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
143
SYSTEM ACTIVATIONWARNINGOpening the driver’s door,
the Selespeed starts the hydraulic part of
the system to prepare it for the engine to be
started. This function (noted by the turning
of the electric pump) is deactivated after 10
openings/closings of the door that are not
followed by actual system activation using
the ignition key.
Turning the ignition key to MAR, all the
segments of the display (A-fig. 126), the
gearbox failure warning light (B-fig. 126)
and the word CITYlight up. After about one
second, the display indicates the gear en-
gaged (N, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, R); from this mo-
ment, the Selespeed system accepts
gearshift commands.
WARNINGIf after 10 seconds the dis-
play segment do not display the gear en-
gaged or the failure warning light stays on,
turn the ignition key to STOPand wait for
the display to go off, then repeat the sys-
tem activation procedure. If the fault per-
sists, contact Alfa Romeo Authorized Ser-
vices
OPERATION WITH THE
ENGINE OFFWARNINGBefore operating the gear-
shift control lever, always check the gear en-
gaged on the display (N, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, R).
When the engine is off and the vehicle is
stationary, it is possible to engage all the
gears.
With the vehicle stationary and with the
brake pedal pressed, requests to shift gear
are accepted onlyif they are carried out
through the control lever on the central con-
sole.To request gearshifting, in addition to keep-
ing the brake pedal pressed it is necessary to:
– to increase gear (+) (fig. 127) push
the lever “forwards” (if the car is in first gear
this shifts to second, if it is in second gear
it goes to third and so on up to fifth). If the
system is in neutral (N) or reverse (R) the
forward movement on the lever causes en-
gagement of first gear (1).
– to shift down (–) (fig. 127) push the
lever backwards (if the car is in fifth gear
it moves to fourth, if fourth gear is engaged
it shifts to third and so on down to first).
fig. 127
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GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
144
WARNINGOnce a gear has been shifted
it is necessary to release the gearshift con-
trol lever immediately after making the re-
quest. A prolonged action (over 10 seconds)
causes automatic shifting to CITY; previous
conditions are restored when releasing the
lever.
WARNINGIf wanting to leave the car
parked on a sloping road with a gear en-
gaged to keep it braked, it is necessary to
check that the Infocenter display shows the
new gear engaged and then wait for 1 to
2 seconds before releasing the brake pedal
to allow complete clutch engagement.
fig. 129
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To put the gearbox in neutral (N), start-
ing from the condition with the vehicle sta-
tionary and the brake pedal pressed, it is
necessary to move the gearshift control lever
to the right (fig. 128).From any gear (N, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and
with the vehicle practically at a standstill,
it is possible to request engagement of re-
verse gear, pushing the lever to the right and
then backwards (fig. 129). If the vehi-
cle is on the move, the request is not ac-
cepted; wait for the car to stop and then
request reverse gear engagement againfig. 128
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