Maserati 3200 - help!!

[D_M]

Hey guys

My 3200 (model year 2000) has been giving me nothing but grief for the last couple of months...

Symptomps:
- random CEL and going into limp mode;
- the REVs would simply drop to 0 and the car would stall;
- losing power momentarily while driving, kind of "lurching";

The dealership diagnosed a faulty throttle body. Significant bill later, the car was fine for 3 weeks, although for some reason it idled at 1,300 when moving, but as soon as I come to a complete stop it dropped back to 1,000.

Then yesterday, while the car was in idle, with no input from me whatsoever, the revs dropped to 500 and CEL came on. I tried resetting the throttle, the car was OK for 5 mins, then the same problem. Pressing the throttle softly didn't have any effect, so I pressed it down hard - it revved OK and seemed to stay above 1,000, although hardly any power. Managed to get it home at 40 km/h.

What could it be? Potentiometer or something more serious?

[3200gt]

email members nigelo and wicked1 through their profiles, both are very hot on these cars as they work on them day in day out. Sounds like more than one fault to me. Good luck.

[maser sod]

Also, get the scan tool on it straight away. I would presume any previous errors were cleared when your car was in the shop for the throttle body work, so the new error or errors should point directly to the problem (or let us hope so).

Be prepared though to get charged for the CEL read, some places are £120 - ouch! Best perhaps to take it back whence it came, and complain that the problem has not been cured so you should not have to pay again.

[D_M]

Yep, planning on taking it down on tuesday.

I'm not so worried about getting a read-out, the guys have done it for free in the past. The last time it pointed to the throttle body. However I am not so convinced since (a) there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the one they took out (compared to another one I saw where the valve was so worn that it would hardly move) and (b) the problem persists. The car has only done 30,000 kms.

Could it be a wiring issue, a loose plug or something similar?

[David A]

D_M said:

Yep, planning on taking it down on tuesday.

I'm not so worried about getting a read-out, the guys have done it for free in the past. The last time it pointed to the throttle body. However I am not so convinced since (a) there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the one they took out (compared to another one I saw where the valve was so worn that it would hardly move) and (b) the problem persists. The car has only done 30,000 kms.

Could it be a wiring issue, a loose plug or something similar?

Could well be just a loose earth somewhere - bugger to find though.

[Ravix]

Had something similar a few months back. Turned out the be the Oxygen Sensors which was relatively inexpensive for a mas! CEL was quite sporadic.

[D_M]

Update:

Drove it into the dealership at 40km/h with no turbos. The SD2 threw up a "Revol. Manifold Pressure Inconsistent" error, amongst 4 or 5 others. The other errors didn't reappear once the car was switched off and restarted.

Any ideas on what can cause this?

Sounds like an unrelated issue to the throttle body... Must be my lucky month!

[3200gt]

Its starting to sound electrical as several sensors are all playing up at the same time. Its time to hunt down all the earths and ensure good contacts.