air condition Alfa Romeo 156 2006 Owner handbook (in English)

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR46
WARNINGIf an accident has triggered
the air bag, Alfa Romeo Authorized Services
must be contacted to have the devices ac-
tivated replaced and to have the whole sys-
tem checked.
All operations involving checking, repair-
ing and replacing components concerning
the Air bag must be carried out by Alfa
Romeo Authorized Services.
If the car is to be demolished, Alfa Romeo
Authorized Services should be contacted be-
forehand to have the system deactivated.
If the car changes ownership, the new
owner must be informed of the instructions
for use and of the above warnings and be
given this “Owner’s Manual”.
WARNINGThe triggering of the pre-
tensioners, front air bags and side bags is
decided by the electronic control unit in a
differentiated manner depending on the type
of crash. The failure to trigger one or more
of them does not necessarily indicate a sys-
tem malfunction.
GENERAL CAUTIONS
If the
¬
warning light does
not turn on when turning the
ignition key to MAR or if it stays on
when travelling, this could indicate a
failure in safety retaining systems; un-
der this condition air bags or preten-
sioners could not trigger in the event
of collision or, in a restricted number
of cases, they could trigger acciden-
tally. Stop the car and contact Alfa
Romeo Authorized Services to have
the system checked immediately.WARNING
Do not cover the back rest
of front seats with trims or
covers there are not set for the use
of side bags.
WARNING
Never travel with objects
on your lap, in front of the
chest or with a pipe, pencil, etc. be-
tween your lips. Serious injury may
result in the case of the air bag be-
ing triggered.
WARNING
Always keep your hands
on the steering wheel rim
when driving, so that if the Air bag
is triggered, it can inflate without
meeting any obstacles. Do not
drive with the body bent forwards,
keep the seat back rest in the erect
position and lean your back well
against it.
WARNING
If the car has been stolen
or an attempt to steal it
has been made, if it has been sub-
jected to vandals or floods, have
the Air bag system checked by Alfa
Romeo Authorized Services.
WARNING
Please don’t apply stickers
or other objects to the
steering wheel, to the air-bag
cover on the passenger's side or on
the side roof lining to the uphol-
stery on the roof side. Don’t place
objects on the dashboard passen-
ger’s side (such as mobile phones)
because they could tamper with the
correct opening of the passenger’s
air-bag and than cause serious in-
juries to the vehicle occupants.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR62
REV COUNTERThe rev. counter shows engine rpm. The
needle pointed to the danger area (red) in-
dicates excessive high engine speed. Do not
drive for long periods with the needle in this
area.
WARNINGThe electronic injection con-
trol system gradually shuts off the flow of
fuel when the engine is “over-revving” re-
sulting in a gradual loss of engine power.
The rev counter may, when the engine is
idling, indicate gradual or sudden increase
of engine revs as the case may be; such be-
haviour is normal and must not be inter-
preted as a faulty condition as it occurs dur-
ing normal operation, for instance when
climate control or electric fan are switched
on. In particular, slow revs variation helps
keep the battery charged.
FUEL GAUGE AND RESERVE
WARNING LIGHTThis shows the amount of fuel left in the
fuel tank.
This warning light
ç
comes on to indicate
that approximately 7 litres of fuel are left in
the tank.
WARNINGUnder certain conditions
(heavy slopes, for instance), the reading on
the gauge may differ from the actual
amount of fuel in the tank and changes in
level may be indicated late.
This condition falls within the operation log-
ics of the electronic control circuit to avoid
highly unstable readings due to swaying of
the fuel when travelling.
WARNINGRefuelling shall always be
performed with engine off and ignition key
to STOP. If the engine is off but the key
is to MAR, a wrong fuel level could tem-
porarily be indicated. This is due to the in-
ternal system control logic and cannot be
considered as a system malfunctioning.
ENGINE COOLANT
TEMPERATURE GAUGE AND
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE
WARNING LIGHTThis shows the temperature of the engine
coolant fluid and begins when the fluid tem-
perature exceeds approx. 50°C.
The pointer should normally be towards
the middle of the scale. If the pointer
reaches the higher temperature values of
the scale (red area), the request for vehi-
cle performance should be decreased.
The illumination of the warning light
ç
(together with the message shown by the
Infocenter display) indicates an excessive
temperature of the engine cooling fluid. In
this case, stop the car and contact Alfa
Romeo Authorized Services.
WARNINGThe temperature of the en-
gine coolant may rise towards the maximum
values (red) when the vehicle is driven at
low speeds, especially when the ambient air
temperature is high. In this case, the vehi-
cle should be stopped and the engine
switched off for a few minutes after which
the journey can be resumed, preferably at
a higher speed.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR95
Warning light Message
on display¬
AIR BAG FAILUREWhen the ignition key is turned to MAR, the warning light on the check panel comes on, but must
go out after a few seconds. This warning light will come on glowing steadily if there is an operating
failure in the Air bag system.
F
PASSENGER’S FRONT AIR BAG DEACTIVATEDThe check panel warning light
F
turns on when the passenger’s front Air bag is deactivated by means
of the relevant key switch. With the passenger’s front Air bag activated, turning the ignition key to
MAR, the warning light on the check panel comes on but must go out after approx. 4 seconds.
If the
¬
warning light does not turn on when turning the ignition key
to MAR or if it stays on when travelling, this could indicate a failure
in safety retaining systems; under this condition air bags or pretensioners could
not trigger in the event of collision or, in a restricted number of cases, they
could trigger accidentally. Stop the car and contact Alfa Romeo Authorized Ser-
vices to have the system checked immediately.
The failure of the warning light
¬
(warning light off) is also indicated by the
flashing of the passenger’s front Air bag deactivated warning light
F
for more
than the normal seconds.
WARNING
Warning light Findicates also warning light ¬failure. This is indi-
cated by intermittent flashing, over 4 seconds, of warning light F.
In this event, warning light ¬could be not up to indicate restraint system fail-
ures, if any. Stop the car and contact Alfa Romeo Authorized Services to have
the system checked immediately.
WARNING

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
111
HEATINGTo obtain the temperature required, pro-
ceed as follows:
– turn knob (1) as far as it will go clock-
wise
– turn knob (4) clockwise to the required
speed;
– urn knob (7) to set air distribution as
follows:Q
Z
to warm feet and to demist the
windscreen
ZE
to warm feet and to keep the face
cool (bilevel function)
Z
to direct warm air to the front and
rear lower parts of the passenger compart-
ment.
E
for summer ventilation
Q
to defrost/demist the windscreen
– turn off inside air re-circulation (if on).
fig. 99a
A0B0598m
QUICK FRONT WINDOW
DEMISTING / DEFROSTING
(MAX-DEF FUNCTION)Press button (5)
-
to quicken demisting
/ defrosting of the windscreen and front side
windows (MAX-DEFfunction).
Max. quick demisting / defrosting func-
tion will be activated.When this function is on the relevant but-
ton led will come on.
To turn this function off, press button (5)
-
again (the button led will go off) or turn
whatever knob or press any manual climate
control system button.
After demisting/defrosting, turn the
MAX-DEF function off to maintain the op-
timum conditions of vision.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
113
SWITCHING THE INSIDE AIR
RE-CIRCULATION FUNCTION
ONPress button (3)
v
to turn the inside air
re-circulation function on.
When this function is on the relevant but-
ton led will come on.
It is advisable to turn on the inside air re-
circulation function in queues or tunnels to
avoid admitting polluted air from outside.
The prolonged use of this function should
however be avoided, especially with several
persons on board, to avoid the possibility of
the windows misting inside.WARNINGThe inside air re-circulation
function makes it possible to reach the re-
quired "heating" or "cooling" conditions
faster.
It is however inadvisable to use it on
rainy/cold days as it would considerably in-
crease the possibility of the windows mist-
ing inside, especially if the climate control
system is off.
CLIMATE CONTROL (COOLING) Proceed as follows:
– turn knob (1) as far as it will go coun-
terclockwise (blue led next to TEMPlit);
– turn knob (4) to the required speed;
– turn knob (7) to
E;
-– press buttons (2) √
and (3)
v
the
relevant leds will go on.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
119
HOW TO USE THE AUTOMATIC
TWO-ZONE CLIMATE CONTROL(fig. 101)
WARNINGThe knob rings are not pro-
vided with automatic stopper; therefore,
they are free to rotate in both directions once
they have reached the maximum or mini-
mum values.
The system can be started in different
ways, but it is recommended that the re-
quired temperatures are set on the
displays; then, press (14)
AUTO
button.
Thus, the system will start operating fully
automatic, to reach the set temperatures
in the shortest possible time and keep them.
During the fully automatic operation of the
system, the set temperatures can however
be modified at any time: the system will au-
tomatically modify its own settings to adapt
itself to the new requirements.WARNINGThe temperature difference
between the driver’s and the passenger’s
sides must not be greater than 7°C in order
to be accepted by the system.
The selections made by the system in au-
tomatic mode can be customized by man-
ually acting on the following controls:
– fan speed adjustment knob (3)
– air distribution selection button (8)
– inside air recirculation on/off button (7)
v– climate control compressor on enable
button (12)
√
.
Manually selecting one or more of these
functions turns off the right led on the but-
ton (14)
AUTO
.With one or more functions switched on
manually, the temperature control for the air
admitted to the passenger compartment will
in any case continue to be monitored auto-
matically by the system (left led on button
14
AUTO
on), except with the climate con-
trol compressor off.
In fact, in this condition, the temperature
of the air admitted into the passenger com-
partment cannot be lower than the outside
air temperature; this condition is indicated
by the turning off of the two leds on but-
ton (14) AUTO
and flashing on the display
(2) and/or (5) related with the tempera-
ture rate that cannot be obtained.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
121
fig. 103
A0B0064m
HI function
(highest heating power - fig. 103)
It is switched on by setting a temperature
of more than 32.5°C on the display, and
can be switched on independently from the
driver’s or passenger’s side, or both of them;
this setting brings the system to the “one-
zone” mode and is shown by both displays.
This functions can be switched on when
you wish to heat the passenger compart-
ment as quickly as possible, by taking the
greatest advantage from the system po-
tential.
The function uses the maximum temper-
ature of the heating fluid, whereas air dis-
tribution to feet and 5
thfan speed.
With the function switched on, however,
all the manual settings can be made.
To switch the function off, you only need
to turn the ring of a knob (1) or (6) of the
temperature set to a value lower than
32.5°C; the opposite display will show
32.5°C.By pressing button (14)
AUTO
, the dis-
play indicates a temperature of 32.5°C and
falls within an operating condition with au-
tomatic temperature control.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
122
LO function
(highest cooling power - fig. 104)
It is switched on by setting a temperature
lower than 16.5°C on the display; this set-
ting is shown by both displays.
This function can be switched on when you
wish to cool the passenger compartment as
quickly as possible, by taking the greatest
advantage from the system potential.
The function cuts off air heating, switches
on both internal air recirculation (to prevent
hot air from entering the compartment) and
the climate control compressor, brings air
distribution to E
and 5
thfan speed.
With the function switched on, however,
all the manual settings can be made.
To switch the function off, you only need
to turn the ring of a knob (1) or (6) of the
temperature set to a value greater than
16.5°C; the opposite display will show
16.5°C.
fig. 104
A0B0065m
By pressing button (14)
AUTO
the display
indicates a temperature of 16.5°C and falls
within an operating condition with automatic
temperature control.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
125
fig. 107
A0B0068m
To turn the system on again, you only need
to turn the ring of knob (3) clockwise, or
press any button, except the internal air re-
circulation button (7) and rear window
heater button (9); this operation resumes
all the operating conditions previously stored
in the memory.
WARNINGAfter exiting the conditionOFF
, the internal air recirculation
v
is re-
sumed to the condition preceding the switch-
ing off.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
127
CLIMATE CONTROL
COMPRESSOR ON/OFF
ENABLE BUTTON
√
(fig. 109)
Pressing button (12)
√
enables the turn-
ing on of the climate control compressor.
This condition is shown by the lighting up of
the led placed on the button itself.
When the climate control compressor is
turned off, the leds on buttons (14)
AUTO
and (12)
√
go off; automatic inside air re-
circulation control is also excluded (both leds
off on button 7
v
) which always stays
off to prevent window misting; in any case,
the automatic operation of inside air recir-
culation can be resumed (though it is not
recommended) by pressing button 7
v
.
fig. 109
A0B0070m