Skip to content
Emergency

Before you buy a used Lancia Thesis.

2002–2009 · Petrol / Diesel · 2 engines

Taken only from Testigo's sourced sheets. Use it to question the seller and on the test drive: it does not confirm that any particular car is affected.

Lancia Thesis, real photo of this generation
Giovanni Colombraro · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Photo source

The essentials.

Typical faults by engine

The period and mileage are those mentioned by each sheet's sources. They are not a maintenance interval and do not predict that any particular car will fail.

2.0 / 2.4 / 3.2

Petrol

  • Period mentioned
    Campaign-specific production period; confirm by VIN.
    Mileage mentioned
    The sheet does not mention a mileage.

    Applies if: Only Thesis with ESP built February–May 2003, VIN ZLA84100000005211–ZLA84100000009358; confirm recall 4570 is pending. In the grouped row only the 2.0/2.4 sub-versions built at that time; do not attribute to the later 3.2.

2.4 JTD

Diesel

Which engine has the fewest documented faults?

Documented faults and recalls by engine for the Lancia Thesis
EngineDocumented faults
2.0 / 2.4 / 3.2Petrol11 with conditions
2.4 JTDDiesel1

According to the data we have, all its engines have the same number of documented faults.

We only count the sourced sheets we have. An engine with fewer is not guaranteed to be more reliable: it may have been studied less or sold in smaller numbers.

Official recalls: ask before you pay

We have no official recalls on record for this model. Our list is not complete: ask anyway, with the chassis number.

  1. Ask the seller for the chassis number (VIN): it has 17 characters, appears in the car's documents and can usually also be seen at the base of the windscreen.
  2. Ask an official Lancia dealer, or the brand's official website if it lets you check by chassis number, whether each recall has been done or is still outstanding for that VIN.
  3. Manufacturer recalls are normally carried out free of charge by the official service network. If one is outstanding, ask for it to be done before you close the sale.

On the test drive: what to look and listen for

Taken from each sheet's symptoms and checks. You can tick off what you have already looked at: it is saved only in this browser.

0 of 2 checked

Intake / EGR / flywheel

  • Look out for: Power loss, rough idle and an engine light with “swirl actuator malfunction”; soot around the intake manifold; vibration and knocks in low gears (dual-mass flywheel).

    Ask them to check: Check the rod and flap operation on top of the manifold, read actuator codes, inspect the EGR and listen to the flywheel when starting and stopping.

Suspension and steering

  • Look out for: The source describes the risk stated under cause; it does not document DTCs or additional advance symptoms.

    Ask them to check: Confirm VIN; check and replace the sensor as specified by campaign 4570.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these Testigo sheets and their original sources. Sources are not checked in real time.

More Lancia buying guides

View the model pageAll buying guides