3200 GT: Oil pressure + CEL problems

Y

yjohnny

New Member
Messages
5
Hi,

My car is a 1999 3200GT (Manual) having done 55k km.

Recently, I notice that the oil pressure fluctuates quite a lot. I have 5 bars at cold idle. But after warming up for 10 minutes, it starts oscillating, occasionally dipping to below 2.5 for 1-2 seconds (red warning light comes on) and then getting back to 3-4 bars.

Last night, all was good for 10 minutes. But then when I did a heel and toe and stepped on the throttle while the clutch was pressed, oil pressure went below 2.5 for 1-2 seconds (red warning light on) and then got back to 3-4 bars. But this time, moments later, the “Check Engine†light came on and the rev was limited to below 3000rpm. Oil pressure stayed at 3-4 bars despite the limp mode.

I managed to limp home, restarted the engine and all seemed ok again (3-4 bars oil pressure, no CEL, no limp mode).

Am I having the dreaded end float problem? Or would it just be a faulty oil pressure sensor? Would the faulty sensor bring out the CEL?

I live in Hong Kong and there is no good Maserati garage except the official dealer, which would break my bank account…….!

Any advice welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

John
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,648
Oil pressure sender first, then worry if it does not fix it, but to be fair, 9 times out of 10 its the oil sender.
 
U

Undefined

Junior Member
Messages
78
Hi John,

I got similar oil pressure problem as well... it happens sometimes and I noted that whenever I press the throttle, the pressure goes up again. I've read some post about this problem with the car, seems like it could be the oil pressure sensor problem... although I cannot convince myself it is the problem since if the sensor got some problem, the pressure would goes up again when I step on the throttle.

Anyway, although the problem is annoying, I don't feel it got a real problem to the car... so... I just let it be...

BTW, am in Hong Kong as well, but I am not a professional driver like you are... mine one is just an automatic. :D

Indeed, it is hard to find a good mechanic for Maserati in HK, even the current dealer may not know too well about 3200, since it was the dealer for Maserati when 3200 came out. I was told that, at that moment, DCH was the dealer of Maserati, so, the previous owner of my car sometimes went DCH for repair ... but, of course, even now, the mechanics in DCH may not know too much about this car as well. Now, I used to go visit a mechanic in Siu Sai Wan.

If you need the name of the mechanic please feel free to let me know. Other than that, it would be good to make a friend having the same model of car as well.

Best regards,
Michael.
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,648
One thing you do want to check is if the oil pressure moves when you press the clutch. Try it at idle and at 3k rpm. Also get someone to press the clutch whilst you look for movement of the front engine pully.

So are you two going to organise the first SportsMaserati HK meet????
 
Rex B

Rex B

Member
Messages
657
Conaero is correct the sender units do go faulty, I have had to cahnge one on my 3200 and so have lots of other owners. If you are concerned about the end float a good garage could check this in less than 15 minutes with a dial gauge. They just put the car on a hoist, fix a guage in place with the pointer on the crankshaft pulley and then lever the pulley backwards towards the gearbox, zero the pointer and then lever the pulley forward and measure the movement which should be between 0.15 and 0.20 mm. If all is OK then to reduce the risk of problems in the future it pays to take some precauctions such as, never start the car with your foot on the clutch, always put it in neutral with your foot of the clutch when stationary and I would never rev the engine with may foot on the clutch. Also make sure you do oil changes as a minimum in accordance with the manual and use a good 10/ 60 oil.

Rex B
Manual 3200
Best of luck
 
U

Undefined

Junior Member
Messages
78
Conaero, good suggest for the meet... Well... you know what, it's a bit lonely to have a 3200 or 4200 in HK, it is not a popular brand/model here. Especially, people are deterred from the expected high maintenance cost.

Having said so, recently, Maserati is doing a better job in HK, there are quite a lot of GT and Quattroporte around... I would say, the number of GTs or Quattroporte appear on the street is more than 3200 plus 4200.....

So, it is hard to find another owner of 3200 or 4200 here... other than John, I just know one more owner of 4200.... Sometimes, when I am on the street with my motorbike (I usually use my motorbike to travel around the city) and saw another 3200/4200, I really want to stop them and get to know them.

BTW, just to confirm, when you and Rex mention about the oil pressure sender, you mean the oil pressure sensor, am I correct?
 
Y

yjohnny

New Member
Messages
5
The pressure goes up when I am pressing the throttle and drops when I am not. So the symptom is similar to Michael's one.

But mine comes with CEL and limp mode and this is worrying...... I have the contactless throttlebody and am using the recommended Selenia oil and that should remove two factors out of the equation (I hope....!). I can only hope that the oil pressure sensor is to blame.

I have tried to press the clutch when the engine is idle. No change in oil pressure. Haven’t tried with 3000rpm….. will try and see how it goes.

Michael, it would be great to meet up (perhaps when my car gets around this oil pressure/CEL problem). Do you think your garage knows how to do the end float measurement suggested by Rex?

Thanks and regards,
John
 
U

Undefined

Junior Member
Messages
78
I am not sure whether my mechanic use the same method to test the oil pressure. However, believe that he may be able to figure out some way to do similar test. In fact, I am going to visit him soon as I ordered some coil packs and some other maintenance stuff from Eurospare and am going to ask him to put them on to my car. Can have a chat with him on your problem.

Does you car got OBD II port? If so, you may try buying a OBD II reader, so, when the CEL on, you can read what fault code was on. I got one with bluetooth, so that I can use my phone to check and clear the code.
 
ledlights

ledlights

Junior Member
Messages
189
Hi John,

I had an oil pressure sensor problem on my 3200 with symptoms as you describe, apparently the sensor is used in an alfa as well and causes the same problems on that car. In my case, a sharp tap on the sensor cured it.

If your oil pressure gauge actually drops to zero, as was said above either the sensor is faulty or you've got end-float problems. My guess is that as you don't suffer from oil pressure drop when you depress the clutch when the gauge is working, it's more likely that it's a sensor fault. A local garage can probably check this with a separate gauge to give you peace of mind.

On the CEL issue, it might be something else causing it and you probably need to check it. There are 3 series of ECUs in 3200s. The first used a 3-pin ISO connector for access to the ECU, the second used a similar ECU (non-OBDII compliant) with the OBD plug to access it and the third is OBDII compliant. I think the change-overs seem to have happened in mid-2000 and 2001. There's a thread on this site to help you read error codes if you want to do this under the "technical fixes" folder.

Regards,

Steve
 
Y

yjohnny

New Member
Messages
5
I press the clutch when the engine is at hot idle and the oil pressure does not drop (remains at 3-4 bars).

However, the most marked drop in oil pressure is at the moment when I change a gear. Stepping on the throttle gives 5 bar. But when changing gear, I have to lift up the throttle and then press the clutch, that very moment the oil pressure dropped significantly for 1-2 seconds.

I am really worried that this is the end-float......

Any ideas, please?

Thanks!
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,648
Are you sure its not just the drop in rpm that causes the movement and the fact your pressing the clutch is just coincidence?
 
Y

yjohnny

New Member
Messages
5
AT SPEED:

When stepping on the throttle and, say, at 3000rpm, I have 5 bars.

Lifting the throttle without stepping on the clutch, rev drops to, say, 2000rpm. Oil pressure drops to 3-4 bars.

Then stepping on the clutch (for a gear change), rev drops to idle at 900rpm….. Oil pressure drops to below 2.5 (red warning light on) for 1-2 seconds.


MOVING FROM STATIONARY

Stepping on the clutch when hot idle, no change in oil pressure (3-4 bars).

Stepping on the clutch, engage 1st gear, then releasing the clutch (without stepping on the throttle), rev drops to 700rpm, oil pressure drops to below 2.5 (red warning light on) for 1-2 seconds.

Any comments welcome. Thanks very much in advance!
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,648
Oil pressure sender or your clutch is not disengaging completely (causing revs to drop to 700rpm and correctly throw the ERROR OIL warning)

Your gauge is directly linked to the rpm which in turn links to how fast the pump spins.

Correct readings:
Cold idle: 5 bar
Cold 3k rpm plus: 5 bar

Hot idle: 2.5 bar
Hot 3k rpm plus: 5 bar
 
Y

yjohnny

New Member
Messages
5
Thanks everyone for the input.

I have taken my car to the official dealer in Hong Kong.

a) Fluctuating oil pressure – faulty oil pressure sensor. The guy said nine out of ten 3200GT suffered from this problem. Unfortunately, both the dealer and Eurospares do not have stock. It is ok to drive the car, and I just have to ignore the oil pressure meter.

b) CEL – throttle potentiometer. However, the problem was solved by itself after disconnecting/reconnecting the unit. So it might just be poor connections.

c) End-float – They said it was not a standard test procedure and refused to check it. I have shown them all the relevant articles from the internet and said it would take them just 15 minutes…. But they just did not care!!! It tells so much about these people just work by the book. Anyway, I trust the comments from you guys that, as long as the oil pressure does not drop when the clutch is pressed, it should be ok. But then, obviously it is a bit of a “Catch-22” situation as the oil pressure meter is not really reliable.

Anyway, my car is back on the road again….. fingers crossed that I will have trouble-free motoring for a while!

Thanks again for all of you guys.

John
 
Coxy13

Coxy13

Junior Member
Messages
120
Hi guys,

Just to revive an old thread, I am having similar issues at the moment and I am starting with the sensor. I see someone mentioned it was the same part as an Alfa, is there a part Number for the sensor (Alfa Part #) It may be a cheaper alternative to the Maserati price if it's the same part....

Tim
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,884
Just looked at the part sheet from that thread. Can't see an oil sensor on there, I'm afraid.

C
 
allandwf

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,998
My guess would also be the sensor. It is an electro mechanical device, internally there are a lot of moving parts, which stick, ( Probably also subject to temperature fluctuations, parts expanding etc.) a bit like an old mechanical watch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.