CEL Light

hukent

hukent

Junior Member
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452
My CEL light keeps coming on intermittently, I bought a cheap OBD reader but it doesn't pick up anything?
Apart from going to the dealer and paying £120 for an hours labour, any other solutions?
 
davy83

davy83

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2,826
how long does the CEL light stay lit? Normally the errors are logged in the ECU for a while and then once they are repeated or constant then the light goes on and the car drops into limp home mode, and will not come out of limp home until the errors are reset via ODB. So if the light goes out on its own and the reader does not see it, then its an intermittent fault that is getting cleared. Can you hook up a software based ODB package to a laptop and log it while driving see if you can pick up the problem?
 
hukent

hukent

Junior Member
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452
davy83 said:
how long does the CEL light stay lit? Normally the errors are logged in the ECU for a while and then once they are repeated or constant then the light goes on and the car drops into limp home mode, and will not come out of limp home until the errors are reset via ODB. So if the light goes out on its own and the reader does not see it, then its an intermittent fault that is getting cleared. Can you hook up a software based ODB package to a laptop and log it while driving see if you can pick up the problem?
Click to expand...

On constantly now, never goes into limp mode, which makes me think it's a Lambda sensor, the throttle pot has been modified
in the past.
 
Contigo

Contigo

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Could be O2 or Brake pedal switch. Anything really. Would need to check it out in SD2/3 or UniDiag. I'd give it an "Italian Tune" and Battery reset first then see how it is. Also do pedal reset too.
 
davy83

davy83

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i have used several cheaper ODBII readers and they all worked to some extent in the 3200. i have recently got "dash command" using a WIFI ODBII adapter and its very good, as it also does a good job of live gauges and plots of sensor outputs and so can help with diagnosis.
 
davy83

davy83

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However i would say if the light is on all the time there is a code in the ECU which will tell you whats upsetting it, guessing with these cars can be a very expensive business!!! i would agree that if it does not go into limp home mode then its less likely to be TB or pedal sensor, so lambda sensors maybe or knock sensors, these are also prone to problems and don't create limp home mode but some times off peak performance.
 
hukent

hukent

Junior Member
Messages
452
davy83 said:
However i would say if the light is on all the time there is a code in the ECU which will tell you whats upsetting it, guessing with these cars can be a very expensive business!!! i would agree that if it does not go into limp home mode then its less likely to be TB or pedal sensor, so lambda sensors maybe or knock sensors, these are also prone to problems and don't create limp home mode but some times off peak performance.
Click to expand...

Performance is as it should be.
 
hukent

hukent

Junior Member
Messages
452
davy83 said:
i have used several cheaper ODBII readers and they all worked to some extent in the 3200. i have recently got "dash command" using a WIFI ODBII adapter and its very good, as it also does a good job of live gauges and plots of sensor outputs and so can help with diagnosis.
Click to expand...

Don't understand a word of that!!!:battered:
 
Maser Sod

Maser Sod

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1,965
If it's on permanently, and you can't clear it via battery reset and some spirited driving, then it looks like a trip to the Stealership or Indie is imminent.

There's a new Maser dealership on the Penarth Road - Arrow Maserati - you could give them a call for a quote. If the service staff have anyone from the old Dick Lovett Cardiff dealership on their books then I'm sure they will do their best to accommodate you for minimal cost.
 
hukent

hukent

Junior Member
Messages
452
Maser Sod said:
If it's on permanently, and you can't clear it via battery reset and some spirited driving, then it looks like a trip to the Stealership or Indie is imminent.

There's a new Maser dealership on the Penarth Road - Arrow Maserati - you could give them a call for a quote. If the service staff have anyone from the old Dick Lovett Cardiff dealership on their books then I'm sure they will do their best to accommodate you for minimal cost.
Click to expand...

Last time I spoke to them,they did not seem to know anything about 3200 GT's!!!!!
So I'm not at all impressed with them.
 
Fangio63

Fangio63

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614
Tracey, who runs the service reception and answers the phone at Porsche Centre Cardiff right next door to Arrow is a big Maserati fan.. Porsche centre are part off Dick Lovett and she sorted my service and issues with Lovetts in Swindon including tracking down missing codes, and info etc from HR Owen... ( Bought a used GT from them they'd had traded in for a 911)...

Very helpful lady.. and she's just the sort of person who'd tell you where to find the Maserati trained service guys from the Dick Lovett Group..... well worth a call...
 
davy83

davy83

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hukent

hukent

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452
hukent

hukent

Junior Member
Messages
452
That's TWO OBD readers I've got now.................................and neither of them will connect to my 3200GT??????
 
Contigo

Contigo

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Are you connecting to the correct OBD port? I think you said your car is a later OBD-II and not the 3 pin which the earlier cars have.
 
Contigo

Contigo

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I think it would be worth trying the Unidiag with the USB VW/Audi interface...... I think I've read somewhere that there were a number of cars produced with the new style socket but original comms protocol, and if so, you could try Unidiag running the KWP2000 protocol and slow 5 baud initialisation on the cable straight into your OBD socket.

Have a look at your ECU and post a picture of it. The serial number/model number will tell you if it is EOBD.
 
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