Maserati On Fire

[pewe]

A neighbour's Quattroporte spontaneously combusted on his drive recently.
He was having problems with the battery losing charge but thought this was lack of use.
After charging it with an Optimiser and then going for a run he left it on the drive.
After only 15mins the engine compartment took fire.
Although the Fire Brigade arrived quickly the engine compartment is completely burn out.
Presumably it will be written off.
Needless to say he's totally gutted. Engine bay now looks like charnel house.
Anyone-else know of similar problems?
Cheers, Pewe.

Edited by pewe on Sunday 5th February 11:10

[crostonian]

I had a 2004 4200 GT, same engine as the QP. The main power feed to the alternator is between the engine vee, on mine it was so tightly routed that it had chafed through and was shorting on the head. I was driving and the volt gauge was slowly dropping and eventually the car cut out. When I got the car recovered to my repair guy he said I was very lucky that it hadn't caught fire. It was only a simple repair to replace the cable, I don't know if it was from the factory like this or had been messed about with but this was on an 18 month old car with 10k miles. They are hand made cars at the end of the day...

[pewe]

Crostonian, thanks I'll pass that on just in case it's of some use for his Insurance claim.
Odds-on that's what happened given it took hold so fast i.e. probably dead shorted after his run.
Have also notified ANOther Maser owner I know to have his checked asap.
Cheers, Pewe.

[bryn_p]

I've seen the same on a couple of QPs in Japan.

Not the first Italian model to catch fire and almost certainly not the last

Cheers,
Bryn.

[sjn2004]

Can you let us know the cause? Will the fire brigade do an inspection? One problem common with some F/M dealers is that when doing servicing/repairs they don't always seem to screw things back together how they should be. If you need more detailed clarification on that then PM me.