cowsurgeon
Junior Member
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- 354
So here goes.
The symptoms I had were of the engine running too cold most of the time. It would just reach 90 degrees on the gauge if I was sitting for long periods in stop-start traffic on a hot day. Driving anywhere normally, the temperature would drop to below 70 degrees, and at speed or in cold weather, would consistently run at just above 50 degrees.
As has been pointed out on here and on maserati forum, these engines ought to be run at the correct operating temps to avoid damage, so I thought I'd change the thermostat.
The thermostat itself is available from Eurospares for £102.90. The part number is 585045601. Adding VAT and postage this came to £130.25. Not a desperately cheap fix, so by doing it yourself at least you're saving the labour charge.
The coolant Maserati recommends is PARAFLU 11 (blue in colour and ethylene glycol based). This is available online from shop4parts:
http://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=Details&ProdID=79&sku=860
or from your local Alfa dealership - where I got mine. It costs around £6 a litre for concentrate, and should be mixed 50/50 with water.
Here's the how to:
Step 1: Unclip the air temperature sensor connector. You need to lift one edge of the small metal spring clip to do this. Don't let it ping off into oblivion...
Here's the connector removed:
Step 2: Undo clamp fastening air inlet sleeve to throttle body:
Step 3: Undo clamp fastening right air inlet sleeve to metal pipe:
Step 4: Undo clamp fastening left air inlet sleeve to metal pipe:
Step 5: With some wiggling remove the air inlet pipes:
Pipes removed:
and front of engine bay without them (you can now see the thermostat clearly):
Step 6: Waste 10 mins constructing a clever but utterly useless bit of kit to catch the coolant fluid:
Step 7: Undo clamp from coolant pipe to engine, beneath the throttle body:
Step 8: Realise futility of device made in step 6, resort to tried and tested method:
Step 9: Drain coolant from the pipe and thermostat itself by bending the pipe towards the ground into a collector:
Step 10: Undo the clamp connecting the same pipe to the thermostat itself:
Pipe removed:
Step 11: Drain further coolant from the thermostat:
Step 12: Undo clamp on pipe between thermostat and radiator:
Step 13: Undo 2 clamps on remaining small pipe between thermostat and engine, then wiggle thermostat until it comes off:
Front of engine bay without thermostat:
You should by now have collected about 4 litres of coolant, two sections of pipe and a knackered thermostat:
Step 14: Open box from Eurospares and compare old with new.
My old thermostat was jammed open - you can see daylight through it - the new one is closed as you'd expect:
Old:
New:
Step 15: Reconnect the small rubber pipe to the thermostat at the correct angle:
Step 16: Reconnect thermostat to hoses. Push them all on as far as they will go and tighten all the clamps well. Reconnect the air inlet pipes, making sure they are also pushed well onto their fixings before tightening the clamps. Don't forget to reconnect the air temperature sensor connector.
Engine bay all back together:
Step 17: Refill the coolant system with coolant and water in 50:50 mix as follows (my sincere thanks to Nigelo for the instructions):
Hi Chris
I don't believe there are bleed nipples on the 3200, certainly none that I know of, since the configuration has no dead drops unlike most mid-engined chariots.
Refill procedure is straight forward - Take your time, don't rush and under no circumstance be tempted to fill above the max mark on the header tank at any time. You will usually find the coolant disappears from the header tank quite quickly. When you are satisfied you have reached the limit, refit header tank cap, turn heater temp to max, start engine and let it idle for a few minutes but don't allow it to reach normal temp. Stop engine, carefully release cap and fill to max mark. Depending on how much more coolant it has taken, repeat if necessary. Finally bring up to normal temp and perform visual level check only but do NOT release cap. If it needs more coolant, allow engine to cool first. Take it for a short drive, allow to cool and recheck level. Recheck level at increasing intervals until you are confident it has stabilised. To repeat, NEVER refill above max mark
It goes without saying, that you should check for leaks after refilling and again after the engine is up to temp.
Good luck
Nigel
Mine took 3 litres of coolant/water mix (ie: 1.5 litres of each), before it was up to the MAX level. Two 3 min runs of the engine idling, and there was no change in the level. I then ran the engine for around 10 mins, up to correct temp, and until the radiator fans came on. It had then dropped to the MIN level. So I'm letting it cool before refilling as per Nigelo's instructions.
Engine temp came straight up to just below 90 degrees within a couple of minutes of starting her up - all sorted!!:
Hope this helps!!!
The symptoms I had were of the engine running too cold most of the time. It would just reach 90 degrees on the gauge if I was sitting for long periods in stop-start traffic on a hot day. Driving anywhere normally, the temperature would drop to below 70 degrees, and at speed or in cold weather, would consistently run at just above 50 degrees.
As has been pointed out on here and on maserati forum, these engines ought to be run at the correct operating temps to avoid damage, so I thought I'd change the thermostat.
The thermostat itself is available from Eurospares for £102.90. The part number is 585045601. Adding VAT and postage this came to £130.25. Not a desperately cheap fix, so by doing it yourself at least you're saving the labour charge.
The coolant Maserati recommends is PARAFLU 11 (blue in colour and ethylene glycol based). This is available online from shop4parts:
http://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=Details&ProdID=79&sku=860
or from your local Alfa dealership - where I got mine. It costs around £6 a litre for concentrate, and should be mixed 50/50 with water.
Here's the how to:
Step 1: Unclip the air temperature sensor connector. You need to lift one edge of the small metal spring clip to do this. Don't let it ping off into oblivion...
Here's the connector removed:
Step 2: Undo clamp fastening air inlet sleeve to throttle body:
Step 3: Undo clamp fastening right air inlet sleeve to metal pipe:
Step 4: Undo clamp fastening left air inlet sleeve to metal pipe:
Step 5: With some wiggling remove the air inlet pipes:
Pipes removed:
and front of engine bay without them (you can now see the thermostat clearly):
Step 6: Waste 10 mins constructing a clever but utterly useless bit of kit to catch the coolant fluid:
Step 7: Undo clamp from coolant pipe to engine, beneath the throttle body:
Step 8: Realise futility of device made in step 6, resort to tried and tested method:
Step 9: Drain coolant from the pipe and thermostat itself by bending the pipe towards the ground into a collector:
Step 10: Undo the clamp connecting the same pipe to the thermostat itself:
Pipe removed:
Step 11: Drain further coolant from the thermostat:
Step 12: Undo clamp on pipe between thermostat and radiator:
Step 13: Undo 2 clamps on remaining small pipe between thermostat and engine, then wiggle thermostat until it comes off:
Front of engine bay without thermostat:
You should by now have collected about 4 litres of coolant, two sections of pipe and a knackered thermostat:
Step 14: Open box from Eurospares and compare old with new.
My old thermostat was jammed open - you can see daylight through it - the new one is closed as you'd expect:
Old:
New:
Step 15: Reconnect the small rubber pipe to the thermostat at the correct angle:
Step 16: Reconnect thermostat to hoses. Push them all on as far as they will go and tighten all the clamps well. Reconnect the air inlet pipes, making sure they are also pushed well onto their fixings before tightening the clamps. Don't forget to reconnect the air temperature sensor connector.
Engine bay all back together:
Step 17: Refill the coolant system with coolant and water in 50:50 mix as follows (my sincere thanks to Nigelo for the instructions):
Hi Chris
I don't believe there are bleed nipples on the 3200, certainly none that I know of, since the configuration has no dead drops unlike most mid-engined chariots.
Refill procedure is straight forward - Take your time, don't rush and under no circumstance be tempted to fill above the max mark on the header tank at any time. You will usually find the coolant disappears from the header tank quite quickly. When you are satisfied you have reached the limit, refit header tank cap, turn heater temp to max, start engine and let it idle for a few minutes but don't allow it to reach normal temp. Stop engine, carefully release cap and fill to max mark. Depending on how much more coolant it has taken, repeat if necessary. Finally bring up to normal temp and perform visual level check only but do NOT release cap. If it needs more coolant, allow engine to cool first. Take it for a short drive, allow to cool and recheck level. Recheck level at increasing intervals until you are confident it has stabilised. To repeat, NEVER refill above max mark
It goes without saying, that you should check for leaks after refilling and again after the engine is up to temp.
Good luck
Nigel
Mine took 3 litres of coolant/water mix (ie: 1.5 litres of each), before it was up to the MAX level. Two 3 min runs of the engine idling, and there was no change in the level. I then ran the engine for around 10 mins, up to correct temp, and until the radiator fans came on. It had then dropped to the MIN level. So I'm letting it cool before refilling as per Nigelo's instructions.
Engine temp came straight up to just below 90 degrees within a couple of minutes of starting her up - all sorted!!:
Hope this helps!!!
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