Should I be worried?

ScaldedCat

Moderator
Staff member
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396
Hi all
My car is currently at Meridien for service. Scott has emailed the following which "may require attention"
Chassis plates corroded
Both cam covers have minor oil misting (client to monitor)
I'd also asked them to check a rattle coming from the back end (only noticable over bumps) which, having read a post on here, I thought might be a heat shield coming loose. Apparently these are all ok and they think this may be exhaust valve flaps.
The car is 63 plate GT Sport sub 20k miles and has 1 week left under warranty
Is any of this particular cause for concern, especially the oil misting?
Advice appreciated!
Ta
 

SJX

Junior Member
Messages
81
The chasis plates were not given any corrosion protection from new, had mine replaced under warranty and coated them myself, they don’t seem to serve any purpose and are often mistaken for jacking plates, they are just thin almost tin style mild steel plates.
 

ScaldedCat

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396
Thanks for the replies
Meridien are quoting £114 to replace these so presumably they don't consider them to be warranty work. I've not spoken to them yet as didn't see the email until they had gone home.
 

Contigo

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18,376
No!!! The plates are £20 and take 2 minutes to fit. They are sacrificial. Don’t let Meridien change them at that cost! But them at
Eurospares or from Ross and get them fitted at next service or yourself. The oil mist is standard stuff, cam covers will need doing at
Some point as they are made of weetabix, again sacrificial.
 

ScaldedCat

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Staff member
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396
No!!! The plates are £20 and take 2 minutes to fit. They are sacrificial. Don’t let Meridien change them at that cost! But them at
Eurospares or from Ross and get them fitted at next service or yourself. The oil mist is standard stuff, cam covers will need doing at
Some point as they are made of weetabix, again sacrificial.
Cheers for this
Right, I'll get them and get one of the mechanics at home to fit them. Slight sigh of relief that the cam cover thing isn't the beginning of something bad!
Thanks again
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,549
Plates are cheese as others have said.
You can check the rattles in the exhaust valves simply enough by tapping with a hammer! If they are done (not unheard of) they will eventually get stuck. Then you're going to have to either get the cut out and replaced (£2-300 all in) or replace the entire rear boxes (£1500+VAT).....

The oil misting will get worse. Up to you really.

C
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,040
No!!! The plates are £20 and take 2 minutes to fit. They are sacrificial. Don’t let Meridien change them at that cost! But them at
Eurospares or from Ross and get them fitted at next service or yourself. The oil mist is standard stuff, cam covers will need doing at
Some point as they are made of weetabix, again sacrificial.

This is why the forum is great and another example of rip off Maserati prices.
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
£114 for chassis plates, come on Meridien!

As others have said 3 bolts to remove, wire brush, any old black paint and refit.

It might be an idea to ask Meridien what anti corrosion warrant the car has????

As for the cam covers if you can get it done under warranty then do.
 

Ryandoc

Member
Messages
1,839
I’ve had both my cam cover gaskets done, seems to be one of the fairly regular issues that pop up at certain age.

Can’t remember exact price would be on an invoice somewhere. Not exactly cheap due to labour. You’ll start to notice a burning smell as it gets worse and drips onto hot parts.

Dare say could be done at home if you had the time and can be arsed to do it
 

safrane

Member
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16,749
If you can use the warranty for the cams covers do so as (per Catmans post) they will get worse and cost you at sale time ir at a later date.
 

ScaldedCat

Moderator
Staff member
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396
I've spoken to Scott now. Basically the warranty will not cover both items (plates are considered weathered, cam cover gasket misting very slight and some way off of a leak which would be covered). The usual story of a warranty not really worth much. Anyway, we will fix the plates here and "monitor" the gaskets with a view to getting them done by an indy (Meridien quoting an 8 hr job £1200) or possibly the mechanics at home if they feel confident about it.
Thanks again for all your help.
 

Contigo

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How they can not consider that part of the bodywork/chassis I don't know. I'd argue the case personally.
 

Rwc13

Member
Messages
1,668
Things like this is why residuals for most Maserati's are very poor in comparison to their peers.

Have you had any experience of warranty claims for their peers? I had similar challenges with Ferrari and friends have had similar with Porsche. Although I have heard Aston tend to be more accommodating......
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
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21,013
Echoing all comments. Chassis plates are a 5-minute job. Can cover misting seems to happen around the same time as timing cover misting, which does get expensive. Keep a close eye and push to get it done under warranty if at all possible.
 

ScaldedCat

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
396
Did query pretty hard as to why misting is not considered to be a leak anyway but they won't have it and as there is less than a week left on the warranty I doubt whether I could thrash it enough to make it leak more, even if I practically lived in it for the time that's left, although that might be fun! This warranty is nowhere near as accommodating as the Jaguar one on my previous car, that ended up paying out £17k in total (so Harwoods told me) with no arguments, not much was original in the end.
Anyway thank you all for your comments, its great to know you're out there to ask.