Ongoing Maintenance

Here is a chronological  list of all of the maintenance work that I have had done on the car since I bought it. 

The car was purchased in October of 1999. I knew from inspecting the car that there was a fluid leak in the power steering, that the windshield was delaminating and needed replacing, and that both mufflers were shot. Once I got it into the shop there seemed to be no end of small things to be done, as described in the first three visits to the repair shop below. While the last owner did a decent job of taking care of the car, there were still many 'defered maintenance' things to be done. 

I have also been shocked by the endless number of things going wrong with it. A number of items have been replaced or serviced multiple times. (fuseboxes, power steering racks, and as of '08 a new windshield is needed again).

When I first got it, the car was in the shop an average of once every two months which is brutal, considering that I don’t drive it much in the winter. I have put many times as much into the car in maintenance as I paid for it up front. And the enhancements are on top of that. The car is in nice shape now and in the shop much less, though I know I will not recover anywhere near all the money that I have sunk into it.

Make sure you are sitting down, then click here to see page two (!) of a bill for some work I had done in the fall of 2000.  This was maintenance work, not enhancements, and I have others that are similar to this one.

Every year before we can get our car insurance renewed here, we need to take our cars and get them tested for emissions.  I have no idea how these tests relate to emissions testing performed in other parts of the world, but I'd be curious to find out. Maseratis have a reputation for being tough to tune properly to get through the testing here, especially the carburated biturbos. There are a variety of strategies that can be used to increase success. They boil down to leaning the car out, resetting the timing, fuel additives, ethanol blend fuel, and then setting the car back after the testing is done.

I never had a problem with my car until I put the new engine in, and then I had a problem with hydrocarbons at idle in the 2002 test. The old engine computers had to be put back in to get through. In 2003 I actually failed the test and had to accept a conditional pass, which means I failed but paid a fine to allow me to pass.

Here are my emissions and mileage results for the last few years. I have been averaging about 4,000 kilometres per year in the car, up to the end of 2008. This includes three round trips Vancouver to Monterey, of about 200 miles each.

Yearly Maintenance

2007

Generator, battery, A/C problems, flat spot on acceleration, radiator, left rear caliper siezed, A/C compressor, rear suspension noise, adjust height of rear, charging problems, fuse box.

2006

A bunch of work relating to the catalytic converter, O2 sensor, and the ignition computer.The rear brake calipers were adjusted, the rear shocks replaced. Climate control system had to be reset, suspension welding was required, some exterior trim pieces had to be reattached, rear sway bar adjusted.

2004/2005

I was abroad for a year during this period and the car was stored. Thus, little maintenace. The high beams didn't work any more when I got back, one of the interior lights almost caught fire, one of the front turn signals fell off, and a new battery was put in.

2003

All the previous owner's deferred maintenance seemed to be completed by this point, and there were no new needs (yet!). Focus was on the enhancements.

October 2002

Wierd electrical problems cropping up so replaced alternater with a larger GM one, more fiddling with squishy brakes, replaced the master cylinder.

July 2002

Brakes a bit soft, install new a/c condenser, add grease fittings to sway bar, tie rod ends.

 February 2002

(Wow, 7 months between visits to the shop. Almost like a real car!)

Minor service, tighten coolant hoses, trunk latch not closing properly, lubricate, replace circuit board in engine compartment that holds various relays including starter relay.

July 2001

Power steering hose, second fuse box (symptom was the climate control system acting weird), rear A arms (old ones were getting rusty), new carpet underlay, new air conditioning condenser and A/C components required to convert from freon to new refrigerant.

Removed a bunch of wiring that was used by the old alarm system, old radar detector, and old stereo system.

Had the old undercoating scraped off, any rust that was uncovered repaired (very little luckily), and new undercoating applied. The car’s jackpoints had been crushed and there were some dents in the floor, so I had these repaired also.

March 2001

I purchased a number of interior components from MIE to replace items that were either getting worn, or that were brown coloured and did not match the black interior.  This included all new door, trunk, and hood gaskets, right side mirror, front turn signals, and window switches. I also purchased new rocker panel covers for the car.  None of these items have been put on yet, as I am waiting for the car to be painted first.

November 2000

Re & re transmission, adjusted the turbo boost, cleaned some plugged drainholes.

October 2000

New hood supports, new underhood sound damper, fix some rattling paneling, tune up, lubricate everything.

Cam seals, transmission mount, re & re the radiator, valve adjustment, oil pump parts, re & re differential, replace rear engine seal, move the battery to the trunk and rewire.

August 2000

Tightened the caliper bolts on the new brakes, repaired an electrical short, tune up the engine, adjusted the wiper mechanism, lubrication service,

March 2000

Replaced the clutch.

February 2000

The speedo had to be repaired, it was bouncing all over the place, had the suspension bolts tightened to eliminate a clonking noise.

January 2000

Installed xenon headlights, a pan guard, fixed the passenger seat, fixed a leak that was resulting in my seatbelt getting wet and another one in the back seat, took off the old cell phone antenna, replaced one of the vents on the dashboard, replaced the ashtray, new trunk supports, new wiper motor, complete set of manuals for the car.

November 1999

Repaired the reverse lights, replaced the fuse box, had the trunk steam cleaned as it smelled like someone had stored a dead body in it, fixed the wiring for the rear defroster, fixed the lights on that back of the doors that go on when you open the doors, replaced the steering rack, replaced a steering u joint, reattached a ventilation duct under the dashboard.

October 1999

Oil, fuel, and air filters, oil seal caps, engine belts, battery, lubricate everything, glue some loose gaskets, re & re cam covers, new timing belt, adjust valves, fix the cooling fan, replace the power steering rack, steering wheel bushing, parking brake adjustment, clutch adjustment, fix glove box, replace ignition pickup.