Fiat Abarth Maserati tributo edition

[will-w]

You're right but at least the Toyota IQ has the look of an Aston Martin and has, I believe, passed through the Aston factory.
The Abarth Maserati edition doesn't even look like a Maserati, they could have changed the front at least to look like a Strad.

The 695 Tributo Ferrari and Edizione Maserati cars were actually assembled (well, finished) in Italy, which is much more than can be said about any of the other 500 models which are all made in Poland..

At the time of launch they were significantly different to the standard vehicles on sale; turbo, suspension, brakes, exhaust, interior.. Abarth has a history of regurgitating their model lineup and cheapening previous models in the process, which makes these special early vehicles (now) look like an expensive and 'pointless' model.

5 years ago you could buy a Edizione Maserati for £20k, and a Tributo Ferrari for £25k - a somewhat bargain for vehicles which have oodles of character and feel very different to their Polish made siblings.

 

[Wack61]

My Abarth is going to a specialist abarth tuner tomorrow, he's well regarded in the community

A couple of weeks after I got it there was a cough , loss of power , EML on for a second then normal service resumed

A week or so later it did it again but over the last few months it's been getting more frequent , now it's 3-4 times every trip more than a few miles

No codes stored apart from one that read pre cat lambda sensor , changed it, made no difference, tried new plugs , no difference , so tuners tomorrow , he's going to put it back to a standard map and take it from there , I'm not sure if it's been mapped or not as I've never driven another but it does seem pretty fast for 145bhp

Whatever happens I just want it back without the stutter even if it's standard, though it being the later model with a Garrett turbo over 200bhp is possible

 

[philw696]

You're right but at least the Toyota IQ has the look of an Aston Martin and has, I believe, passed through the Aston factory.
The Abarth Maserati edition doesn't even look like a Maserati, they could have changed the front at least to look like a Strad.

It did and I worked on them for Toyota at Gayden.

 

[Wack61]

Bad news
The stutter isn't anything to do with tuning , it's gone back to stock and still doing it , eml on for a second, loss of power then back to normal

Was doing it once a week 4 months ago, now 4-5 times a trip so it's looking like I'm just going to have to drive it until it breaks or generates a code , can't let him diagnose it at £££ an hour when it could be anything nor throw random parts at it hoping they'll fix it

What a PITA

 

[CatmanV2]

Bad news
The stutter isn't anything to do with tuning , it's gone back to stock and still doing it , eml on for a second, loss of power then back to normal

Was doing it once a week 4 months ago, now 4-5 times a trip so it's looking like I'm just going to have to drive it until it breaks or generates a code , can't let him diagnose it at £££ an hour when it could be anything nor throw random parts at it hoping they'll fix it

What a PITA

Not even showing a pending code?

C

 

[philw696]

Bad news
The stutter isn't anything to do with tuning , it's gone back to stock and still doing it , eml on for a second, loss of power then back to normal

Was doing it once a week 4 months ago, now 4-5 times a trip so it's looking like I'm just going to have to drive it until it breaks or generates a code , can't let him diagnose it at £££ an hour when it could be anything nor throw random parts at it hoping they'll fix it

What a PITA

Have you checked the throttle body that it's not oiled up and needing a good clean ?

 

[Wack61]

Not even showing a pending code?

C

Nothing , the only code that ever stayed on was pre cat lambda sensor , bought a genuine sensor , no difference

It's been suggested to try replacing the crank sensor because the older fire engines which this is a development of would let a crank sensor break down to the point of failure before they'd put the eml on.

I've only run it on Tesco E5 since I've had it , it's had new plugs and millers oil the correct grade so I know that's ok , air filter is new.

I might pick it up from the tuner and take it to the garage I usually use to get them to swap the sensor and have a look at the throttle body as Phil suggests.

I love the car but I can't trust it , my days of nipping out at junctions because I can boot it are over in case it drops the power.

Reminds me of the civic I had with the dim witted hondamatic gearbox

You'd approach a junction in 2nd , look , yes plenty of time , go to pull out and the gearbox would go

Now , do I want to be in 2nd , or 1st , I think we'll go for 1st

By this time I'm halfway out of the junction with a bus bearing down on me screaming , come on you b@stard

I hated that car

 

[ScottH]

We had a turbo Audi that did something similar with the power stuttering, flash of EML and no codes. One garage diagnosed as a goosed turbo which didn't seem right, they strangely didn't recommend fixing it but we wouldn't have with them anyway! Months later when every journey was limited to 2.5-3k revs we took it somewhere else, still no codes but turned out to be an ignition coil.

 

[Wack61]

We had a turbo Audi that did something similar with the power stuttering, flash of EML and no codes. One garage diagnosed as a goosed turbo which didn't seem right, they strangely didn't recommend fixing it but we wouldn't have with them anyway! Months later when every journey was limited to 2.5-3k revs we took it somewhere else, still no codes but turned out to be an ignition coil.

I think it's going to be drive it until it dies or start throwing money at it , the odd thing is apart from the unpredictable blips it drives completely normally , goes like stink, though the one time it did do it when I was at 6000rpm the blip was much more dramatic , like an anchor had just been dropped

 

[philw696]

Another think to check carefully are the turbo intercooler hoses as recently had a little fun and cames on our Twinair and again no engine light came on or any faults logged.
Even with me as a passenger and watching live data on my diagnostic gear it was hard to find but one of the hoses was starting to split now replaced with nice performance ones to match the blue of my eyes.

 

[philw696]

A 2 cylinder engine of less than 900cc and less room under the bonnet than a V8 Maserati.

 

[CatmanV2]

Given my recent success, I wonder if it's a loose connection somewhere

C

 

[spkennyuk]

Bad news
The stutter isn't anything to do with tuning , it's gone back to stock and still doing it , eml on for a second, loss of power then back to normal

Was doing it once a week 4 months ago, now 4-5 times a trip so it's looking like I'm just going to have to drive it until it breaks or generates a code , can't let him diagnose it at £££ an hour when it could be anything nor throw random parts at it hoping they'll fix it

What a PITA

Any forum members near you than can hook you up with a launch or similar than can read the live data while your driving round ?

If its blipping 3 or 4 times a trip now it should be easier to spot something on the live data.

You said you have changed the pre cat lambda sensor. Its possible thee connector / wires to it are damaged or breaking down or corroded throwing a blip in the data. The ecu would then adjust the fuel air mixture before correcting itself. The blip if it is an issue connected to the pre cat 02 sensor would show up in the live data.

 

[philw696]

Given my recent success, I wonder if it's a loose connection somewhere

C

Could it be that the 3 phase is spiking ?

 

[Wack61]

thanks for the tips

He's checked the earth straps and pulled the plugs to check for corrosion but it all seems Ok

I've bought a scanner that does live data so I'll give that a go when I get it back tomorrow

 

[Wack61]

There may be a development

Picked it up from the tuner , its not the map because it stuttered with it on and off

But while he's had it it's barely stuttered at all

I get in it to drive it the 30 miles home , 5 times in 20 miles , once every 4-5 miles

Then I noticed something , when I picked it up the AC was off , so I'm wondering if its something to do with the AC compressor kicking in and the extra load that generates, I turn the AC off and it doesn't do it the last 10 miles home.

So i'll run it for a few days with the ac off to see if that's what's causing it .

 

[Wack61]

Bad news , AC on or off makes no difference , something I'd forgotten, when I got it I had the cambelt changed , they might not have had the locking pins so I'm going to get the timing checked to make sure it's 100%

It needs sorting as driving it like this is sucking all the fun out of it

Parked it today , made a friend

 

[DLax69]

It's not, but figured this thread could use it.

 

[DLax69]