Newbie, Maserati Ghibli 2.8 ABS

[Dutch_Cerbera]

Hi all,

I am new here on the forum and like to introduce myself.

3 weeks ago I bought a Maserati Ghibli 2.8L ABS (LHD) and I got delivery yesterday.

The car has been off the road for last 15 years. She has 60,000KM on the clock, leather etc in very good condition and no rust
All books and service history with the car.

The last weeks Maserati was busy changing the belt and flushing (hope it is the right word) the engine etc.

But there are still some, hopefully smaller niggles like, seatbelt warning light does not switch off (only after driving a bit), steering wheels column is, I think, missing a bush in the steering wheel column support near the feet (...???), the switch on the steering wheel box is not doing anything..., front ashtray is not with wooden trim and broke, the central door lock is not working (drivers door unlocks directly after locking...)

So very likely that soon I will have some technical questions.

Thank you very much and happy to join the forum




Below you will find some photos

 

[zagatoes30]

Welcome to the forum I am sure the Ghibli experts will be along shortly to provide advice.

It does look nice.

 

[safrane]

Welcome...lovely car.

 

[jluis]

Welcome, looks very nice.
Not ghibli specific but I had other cars that unlocked the door immediately after locking.
This was a normal behaviour when the door was not properly closed.
Check that your switches that detect the door is closed are operating properly.

 

[hodroyd]

Hi Mr TVR Cerbera, (should I put that name on here..??)
Your car looks great and lights coming on is normal, it's an Italian Mistress and you have to gently stroke them a certain way to get the best from them..!! If it's been stood a while they will maybe correct themselves as they get used, or renew switches..!! Best of luck with the car..!!

 

[allandwf]

Lovely looking car. Welcome. Hopefully all just small, easily fixed, niggles.

 

[StuartW]

Welcome along & what a fine looking car, for me they age so much more gracefully in the darker colours like yours - good luck with getting these small problems fixed

 

[Andyk]

A big warm welcome to the forum and what a lovely Ghibli.........

 

[Wally]

Good colour! The central locking problem will be caused by a malfunction in one of the microswitches inside the door-locks. However, since the car has been standing for al long time, it might as well be one of the connectors that is corroded. But i suggest you first open an close the lock repeatedly,(some 20x) sometimes this helps to revive the switches. The steering column is centered by a nylon bushing in a metal support. Sometimes this bushing breaks.( Maserati Part #367800321) It's easy to replace: unscrew the tho (M6-) bolts holding the support and the bolt that clamps the "intermediate shaft"(part 18 in the picture) Pull shaft backward, change bushing. Take care to replace shaft in the exact same position otherwise your steeringweel is no longer correct aligned. This takes a mechanic app. 10 min's.
Use this link for a picture:

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/parts/m...sion-steering/steering-column-and-wheel-21413

Take good care of this beauty!!

Wally

 

[dickyb]

A very warm welcome and congratulations on buying a Ghibli in the best colour . I see yours has the electric folding door mirrors.

As Wally says, your electrical problems are probably due to lack of use and corrosion in the connectors. Try cleaning the contacts with electrical contact cleaner and operating the switches several times, they may come back to life.

For the ashtray you could try Koen at kjbparts.com, he may be able to help.

Good luck with everything and enjoy your new toy!

 

[Dutch_Cerbera]

Thank you all for the welcome and the ideas about the niggles

I checked so that the doors were closed correctly, tried to operate the central lock... nothing changed, still not working.
Tried it something like 20 times but same story, locks and directly after unlocked again. But when I try to central lock from the passenger side, the passenger door does lock and stays locked. But drivers side door does not even lock at all. No reaction...

I fixed the rear right indicator, the connection turned out be a bit corroded. Now fine and working as it should

For the steering wheel column, I really think that the bush is missing below you will see a photo. The bush which should be in the metal support is missing at all... So that is on my Europares buying list I think I will order the front ashtray there as well, guess they come with wooden trim as they should.

The stupid thing today, a friend came over to check the Ghibli but shortly after, the engine warning light came on...
After staring the car sure it switched on and after 15 seconds off but... after driving 30 seconds it cam on and stayed on.
So I hope that some one here can tell me what software and cable I need to connect the Ghibli to a computer. I think that 1 (or more) sensor(s)
will be faulty. But for that I need to connect her.
So please let me know what i need for that and where I can even find the ECU socket.

Attached you will see steering wheel column without the bush in the metal support... And a a photo 2 cables on the passenger side (LHD car) which are not connected but perhaps the should be... I have no idea, i just know that it is better to ask before connecting cables

Guess I better post this in the Technical part of the forum, but I also wanted to update and thank all of you.








PS. Completely forgot, but I yeah well... I own a TVR Cerbera so I am on the Pistonhead forum as well, I thought it would make sense to use the same "nick name" as on PH.com. But if you prefer... some call me Rik

 

[Dutch_Cerbera]

A very warm welcome and congratulations on buying a Ghibli in the best colour . I see yours has the electric folding door mirrors.

As Wally says, your electrical problems are probably due to lack of use and corrosion in the connectors. Try cleaning the contacts with electrical contact cleaner and operating the switches several times, they may come back to life.

For the ashtray you could try Koen at kjbparts.com, he may be able to help.

Good luck with everything and enjoy your new toy!

Yes the Ghibli has the electric folding door mirrors and they even work.
The colour is very nice I agree, Blu Sera as you surely noticed ;-), but to be fair... I think a Maserati Ghibli looks very nice in every original colour.

I have looked at the kjbparts.com website before already, but I did not see the correct ashtray so guess I will order it from eurospares.co.uk if they are good.
At kjbparts.com most parts are also used parts, no problem for an ashtray but for my steering wheels column bush... I prefer a new bush of course.

It is very likely that corrosion in the connectors are the issue of (some) of the electric niggles. But to fix that... I also need to find the connectors... I have no idea were they are located in the door etc, guess I need the workshop manual. Guess that will be ebay?
I prefer not just to open the door according to what I think might be ok... I like to do things the right and proper way.
The workshop manual are probably not somewhere to download, but I guess it is a matter of being lucky on ebay?

Thank you

 

[Wally]

to be able to plug into the Ghibli's system, you must have a specific Tool. The old version works with ligths that blink with a specific interval. Later versions are more advanced. Difficult to find. Maybye GTA Automobili can help you (used to do Maserati's in the past)
One common cause is the lambda sensor which sits quite low so gets defective sometimes. Workshop manual: ebay. But many things are easily fixed by a good mechanic.

 

[Dutch_Cerbera]

to be able to plug into the Ghibli's system, you must have a specific Tool. The old version works with ligths that blink with a specific interval. Later versions are more advanced. Difficult to find. Maybye GTA Automobili can help you (used to do Maserati's in the past)
One common cause is the lambda sensor which sits quite low so gets defective sometimes. Workshop manual: ebay. But many things are easily fixed by a good mechanic.

Thank you very much.

I will contact GTA Automobili.

I will take a look at the lambda sensor, I was thinking myself about the relays that control the ignition/injection. I forgot to say that i noticed that when the engine warning light switched on, the car was hesitating on throttle. Well, could be the "limp home mode" due to fuel mix fault. But hard to say from just looking at her... That is why I was interested in the diagnostic tool.
Another job for another day ;-)

The workshop manual for the Ghibli 2.8L ABS would that be the same as the Quattroporte IV? I think I have that one on PDF but I would actually prefer the real and correct Ghibli workshop manual... I also need to remove the rear leather cross member of the roof in the interior. The previous owner thought he was able the install an aerial himself... but of course it is leaking

 

[hodroyd]

Hi Rik, Your heading in the right direction by the sounds of it, keep going..!!

 

[Arfa]

To the best of my knowledge there is no Ghibli manual. You have to cobble along using the Biturbo and QP 4 manuals.

I also had a similar problem on the central locking on my Ghibli which was due to a failed actuator motor. Cost about €100 if they are still available.

 

[dickyb]

As Arfa suggests, your central locking problem could be a failed actuator, finding one may not be too easy though. A few parts on 1990s Maseratis are shared with Alfa Romeos of the same era so you might find the locking actuators are an Alfa Romeo part. Did you use Officina Valenti for the mechanical work? They also specialise in Alfa Romeos and may be able to help you. Otherwise you could try McGrath Maserati who have broken up a Ghibli fairly recently, or maybe try Campana in Modena who have a lot of Ghibli parts.

Be aware that although Eurospares may list a lot of parts, some of them may not actually be available when you come to order them. It may also be worth contacting Ross in the parts department at Meridien Modena, he is very helpful & very knowledgeable on Biturbo era cars.

I agree with Arfa, I don't think there is a specific Ghibli manual, there is 24v v6 engine manual and Ghibli parts manuals plus QP iv/Ghibli electrical manuals but I've never seen a Ghibli specific worksho manual. Have a look at the manuals section on Enrico's website, www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk. Enrico is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world on Ghiblis so if you have any questions that can't be answered on here its always worth emailing him, if he doesn't know the answer he'll know someone who does.

As suggested, your engine warning light could be a sensor of some kind, lambdas are a good place to start, they're quite vulnerable to damage due to the lack of ground clearance.

 

[StuartW]

I believe David Askew still carries some Ghibli parts too

 

[Dutch_Cerbera]

Thank you all for in info and your thoughts.

I had a busy day today so was not really able to do something useful... like working on the Ghibli.
But I did manage to take a look if there was an obvious problem with the lambda senors. Well... of course nothing special to see, but it did surprise me that the wires are so close to the exhaust, more or less on top of it. I thought this must have been a TVR mechanic ;-)
Any way, nothing special to see there. Guess the only way will be to disconnect the battery and to take the senors out. Heat them with... well... guess a paint burner and see if there is some voltage on the other end. And in case you are wondering, of course I dont have a paint burner ))
But there must be a way.

Oh yes, I discovered some very light surface rust on the jack support. But I think I am the only one in the world who will call that rust or surface rust. Any way, a bit of Aquasteel will or should solve that issue.

I actually did find 1 Servomotor Actuator for every Biturbo model ever made.. according to the seller... Only problem... the part number is different than the part number on eurospares. And sure, I dont even know if I would need it... could be a corroded connection. And i think is was reading somewhere that it might even be possible to have the servomotor actuator rebuilt. So now thinking if I should buy it anyway or just wait until i am sure what the issue is.

And after some searching, I discovered that I even have the Biturbo workshop manual (PDF), dont ask me where I got it from... I have no idea. I probably have it for many years... simply because a real man sooner or later will need to have a Maserati, and looking at my bank account... could only be a Biturbo. So there you go... ;-)

edit... forgot the photos of the Lambda senors, specially for the Die Hards on here




And by the way, previously I posted a photo with 2 cable/sockets not connected... And I was wondering if that is correct or if they should be connected? Any ideas?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Wally]

Biturbo-manual is not (1on1) to be used for your more modern type of 24V engine I think. I think i have Ghibli workshop manual. I'll get into this when I get home.