TopCat-Tom
New Member
- Messages
- 4
Hi all, I haven't done many of these but I hope I can post my recent findings which may help others in the future.
To start this of, I have a 2008 4.2L Granturismo (however this post will apply to some Quattroportes that have a similar engine to the GT and to the 4.7L GT however the pipes do still have a very slight difference)
So it all started with driving home from work and hearing what I thought to be a fan or pump running unsually fast and loud, At first I thought it was a car nearby in traffic as my temperature gague was normal, but as the sound followed me I thought I would turn the engine off and on again to ease my mind and yeah the temp gauge was now 3/4 up and my cooling fan was in overdrive.
I pulled over "popped the hood" and the expansion tank was empty and there was a loud hissing, luckily I was next to a Tesco and only 5 mins from home. So I got some water bottles and pored water slowly into the tank (it took 4 litres..) and let the car sit for 5-10 mins, for two reasons; one to let the engine cool a bit and secondly to make sure the fresh water heated a little as I know cold water and a red hot engine can cause a crack in the head.
Once I was home I jumped on the forums and I found posts about leaks from lot's of places but narrowed it down to two main places, one - under the front radiator area and two - at the back of the engine above the bell housing for the gearbox (there are lots of horror stories about that pipe) I was hoping it was the front pipe as I can attempt to fix that myself.
So that's the why, now the how.
The first thing to do that is quick and free, is investigate your car.
Secondly make sure to top up the water, I raised the front of the car with a jack (& jack stands as I was going to be under it)
Start the engine and wait for it to heat up. You will either have coolant leaking from behind the engine like me and be a very sad man or leaking from the front and still be sad but less so. I always grab pictures & videos some of these places I would rather not have to revisit!
I could be sure it was "the pipe of doom" at the back of the engine that was the issue and it is not accessible.
The attached pictures show the pipe and how hard it is to get to, whilst it's on the car and even if do you take the inlet manifold off.
So time to look into a fix and to DIY you really only have two options:
For having a mechanic work on it there are again two options:
I have previously done DIY work on my car and am pretty confident having worked on wheel bearing, breaks, cabing fan motor, and most recently the oil valve regulators (that required taking the rocker covers off). It was that last one that let me know just how much you have to take apart to get back there. Spoilers It is a lottttt of work.
Not wanting to rush back to take it all back off again and waving goodbye to 2/3days to do the work, I looked into having someone fix it for me. I knew if i couldn't find someone to do the work for a reasonable price I would do it myself as posts mentioned prices in the £2000 - £3000 range. I would rather pay myself half that and do it.
I dived head first into what I knew was a bad idea and called the Masarati main dealer service center and got back between £1300 and £1500.
So I'm thinking I will need to do this myself, but called SportsItalia at the last minute and got a quote from them and found out there is a discount for being a forum member, once that was applied it was £500 to £700. This was pretty good news, I jumped at the chance to book my car in with them they said that they are booked up till the end of the following month but as this was more of a "breakdown" issue they could fit me in next week if I could get my car to them myself.
This is not only really good service but a very reasonable quote. Quotes have changed to ranges by me as costs change over time and it more fair to them
I will be visiting them this week and will post an update on the back of this post.
Hopefully this helps someone down the line!
Referance threads:
QP5 COOLANT LEAK (REAR)
Coolant leak, back of engine
Total Coolant Loss
To start this of, I have a 2008 4.2L Granturismo (however this post will apply to some Quattroportes that have a similar engine to the GT and to the 4.7L GT however the pipes do still have a very slight difference)
So it all started with driving home from work and hearing what I thought to be a fan or pump running unsually fast and loud, At first I thought it was a car nearby in traffic as my temperature gague was normal, but as the sound followed me I thought I would turn the engine off and on again to ease my mind and yeah the temp gauge was now 3/4 up and my cooling fan was in overdrive.
I pulled over "popped the hood" and the expansion tank was empty and there was a loud hissing, luckily I was next to a Tesco and only 5 mins from home. So I got some water bottles and pored water slowly into the tank (it took 4 litres..) and let the car sit for 5-10 mins, for two reasons; one to let the engine cool a bit and secondly to make sure the fresh water heated a little as I know cold water and a red hot engine can cause a crack in the head.
Once I was home I jumped on the forums and I found posts about leaks from lot's of places but narrowed it down to two main places, one - under the front radiator area and two - at the back of the engine above the bell housing for the gearbox (there are lots of horror stories about that pipe) I was hoping it was the front pipe as I can attempt to fix that myself.
So that's the why, now the how.
The first thing to do that is quick and free, is investigate your car.
Secondly make sure to top up the water, I raised the front of the car with a jack (& jack stands as I was going to be under it)
Start the engine and wait for it to heat up. You will either have coolant leaking from behind the engine like me and be a very sad man or leaking from the front and still be sad but less so. I always grab pictures & videos some of these places I would rather not have to revisit!
I could be sure it was "the pipe of doom" at the back of the engine that was the issue and it is not accessible.
The attached pictures show the pipe and how hard it is to get to, whilst it's on the car and even if do you take the inlet manifold off.
So time to look into a fix and to DIY you really only have two options:
- Take the inlet manifold off or (Link to DIY video)
- Take the gearbox off (unless you have a four post lift and a lot of know-how I would not recommend this one.)
For having a mechanic work on it there are again two options:
- a main dealer service station
- a 3rd party service station (you want to only go with specialists)
I have previously done DIY work on my car and am pretty confident having worked on wheel bearing, breaks, cabing fan motor, and most recently the oil valve regulators (that required taking the rocker covers off). It was that last one that let me know just how much you have to take apart to get back there. Spoilers It is a lottttt of work.
Not wanting to rush back to take it all back off again and waving goodbye to 2/3days to do the work, I looked into having someone fix it for me. I knew if i couldn't find someone to do the work for a reasonable price I would do it myself as posts mentioned prices in the £2000 - £3000 range. I would rather pay myself half that and do it.
I dived head first into what I knew was a bad idea and called the Masarati main dealer service center and got back between £1300 and £1500.
So I'm thinking I will need to do this myself, but called SportsItalia at the last minute and got a quote from them and found out there is a discount for being a forum member, once that was applied it was £500 to £700. This was pretty good news, I jumped at the chance to book my car in with them they said that they are booked up till the end of the following month but as this was more of a "breakdown" issue they could fit me in next week if I could get my car to them myself.
This is not only really good service but a very reasonable quote. Quotes have changed to ranges by me as costs change over time and it more fair to them
I will be visiting them this week and will post an update on the back of this post.
Hopefully this helps someone down the line!
Referance threads:
QP5 COOLANT LEAK (REAR)
Coolant leak, back of engine
Total Coolant Loss
