DIY Adventures With a 2009 Quattroporte S
- Thread starter Neptune.
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CatmanV2
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Neptune.
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Pretty slowly, less than 20km/h , I was driving around the house
Interesting, I'll check that.
So many sticky things on these cars haha
CatmanV2
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Perhaps if the other diagnostic routes don't pan out, try a slightly faster drive, but they do seem mostly in line
C
Scaf
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That must be some house, I can’t even get my cars through the front door, let alone drive them around
As always, I continue to admire you skills - good luck with solving this particular problem - I have every confidence that you will.
I “sort of hope” it is a wheels sensor and we can place bets of if you are the first to find a way of dismantling and fixing it without the need for replacement
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Neptune.
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Good news, so far the ABS error still hasn't come back.
I don't think it is definitely fixed, it will come back for sure, but it is definitely an improvement over last week when it was ON all the time.
So I think I can rule out a wheel bearing issue at this point.
Wish I had an old wheel bearing to play with, because so far just looking at pictures I don't understand why these couldn't be refurbished.
I don't think it is definitely fixed, it will come back for sure, but it is definitely an improvement over last week when it was ON all the time.
So I think I can rule out a wheel bearing issue at this point.
I was also sort of hoping the same for the very same reason (but also definitely hoped it wasn't that because it would be expensive + a lot of work haha)I “sort of hope” it is a wheels sensor and we can place bets of if you are the first to find a way of dismantling and fixing it without the need for replacement
Wish I had an old wheel bearing to play with, because so far just looking at pictures I don't understand why these couldn't be refurbished.
zagatoes30
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Post the Merc 6.3 race build this is now my favourite technical thread, I love your methodic approach to problem solving long may it continue
Neptune.
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Thanks for your support guys!
Today I decided to work on the biggest cosmetic issue on the car: the headlights.
Two problems:
-The left headlight is not secured, it can move around
-The polycarbonate is cooked and had clearly seen better days
I won't be able to bring the headlight to a perfect state because unfortunately the polycarbonate is too far gone, it seems like it even melted on some spots.
I searched for a new set of covers and they were insanely expensive (150 Euro for a non OEM one) with no real guarantee that they would last very long.
So anyway, here the goal was to try to improve them as much as possible, but at some point I will have to replace them.
First step was to remove the left wheel and the arch liner, which was fairly easy:
then I got access to the three screws that secure the headlight in place:
Well, I said 3 screws but actually only one was still securing the light, the other two anchoring points were broken. Someone apparently tried to repair them using what looks like windshield glue, but that wasn't very succesful (nor very good looking).
Anyway, I took the light off the car and bring it to the garage. As you can see it clearly needed some work:
Unfortunately this cloudy spot is long gone and I won't be able to recover it, looks like it melted and created many tiny microscopic bubbles or something.
So first I repaired the broken tabs. I used some bits of metal mesh everywhere to reinforce the structure. The anchor points are now as solid as can be:
Then it was a matter of sanding the glass, first with 240 grit, then 360, 600, 800, 1000, 2000, 5000 and finally some polish:
Not perfect, the cloudy area remains, but it's still a whole lot better.
Then there was the side quest of this very rusty box that was installed at the back. It doesn't seem to be of any purpose since there was nothing inside it. I wondered if I should just remove it entirely as it's basically just 2 kilos of pure dead weight, but for some reason I decided to restore it and put it back where it was:
Took a while to remove all that flaky paint and rust.
Then I gave the wheel arch area a good clean in order to better spot any issue:
Not a spec of rust on the subframe, everything looked ok except for a dangling wire going to the brake pad wear sensor. For some reason it has been cut off.
There is also a random connector (on the top right of the picture) that wasn't connected to anything. I wonder what that is for.
Anyway, I reinstalled the useless box in its spot after it was painted:
Then reinstalled the headlight, the fender liner and the wheel... went for a ride until I felt something wrong... I completely forgot to tighten the wheel!
Luckily I was able to make it back home driving very slowly.
Tightened the lognuts, went for a ride and this time everything was ok.
The ABS light is still gone so far, it's a lot more comfortable to ride with the skyhook system actually working. The only slightly annoying issue is that I have to switch off the MSP manually every time I get in the car now.
Next I'll have to work on the other headlight. This one doesn't move around so hopefully all the tabs are still in good shape, but the polycarbonate cover is in even worse condition.
Today I decided to work on the biggest cosmetic issue on the car: the headlights.
Two problems:
-The left headlight is not secured, it can move around
-The polycarbonate is cooked and had clearly seen better days
I won't be able to bring the headlight to a perfect state because unfortunately the polycarbonate is too far gone, it seems like it even melted on some spots.
I searched for a new set of covers and they were insanely expensive (150 Euro for a non OEM one) with no real guarantee that they would last very long.
So anyway, here the goal was to try to improve them as much as possible, but at some point I will have to replace them.
First step was to remove the left wheel and the arch liner, which was fairly easy:
then I got access to the three screws that secure the headlight in place:
Well, I said 3 screws but actually only one was still securing the light, the other two anchoring points were broken. Someone apparently tried to repair them using what looks like windshield glue, but that wasn't very succesful (nor very good looking).
Anyway, I took the light off the car and bring it to the garage. As you can see it clearly needed some work:
Unfortunately this cloudy spot is long gone and I won't be able to recover it, looks like it melted and created many tiny microscopic bubbles or something.
So first I repaired the broken tabs. I used some bits of metal mesh everywhere to reinforce the structure. The anchor points are now as solid as can be:
Then it was a matter of sanding the glass, first with 240 grit, then 360, 600, 800, 1000, 2000, 5000 and finally some polish:
Not perfect, the cloudy area remains, but it's still a whole lot better.
Then there was the side quest of this very rusty box that was installed at the back. It doesn't seem to be of any purpose since there was nothing inside it. I wondered if I should just remove it entirely as it's basically just 2 kilos of pure dead weight, but for some reason I decided to restore it and put it back where it was:
Took a while to remove all that flaky paint and rust.
Then I gave the wheel arch area a good clean in order to better spot any issue:
Not a spec of rust on the subframe, everything looked ok except for a dangling wire going to the brake pad wear sensor. For some reason it has been cut off.
There is also a random connector (on the top right of the picture) that wasn't connected to anything. I wonder what that is for.
Anyway, I reinstalled the useless box in its spot after it was painted:
Then reinstalled the headlight, the fender liner and the wheel... went for a ride until I felt something wrong... I completely forgot to tighten the wheel!
Luckily I was able to make it back home driving very slowly.
Tightened the lognuts, went for a ride and this time everything was ok.
The ABS light is still gone so far, it's a lot more comfortable to ride with the skyhook system actually working. The only slightly annoying issue is that I have to switch off the MSP manually every time I get in the car now.
Next I'll have to work on the other headlight. This one doesn't move around so hopefully all the tabs are still in good shape, but the polycarbonate cover is in even worse condition.
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philw696
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Steady away and what you've done looks so much better.
Boy you were Lucky with that wheel and no damage done too.
The inner arch cleaned up nicely and always nice to see a good subframe.
Does the car have to have a safety inspection there like the MOT test équivalent ?
Boy you were Lucky with that wheel and no damage done too.
The inner arch cleaned up nicely and always nice to see a good subframe.
Does the car have to have a safety inspection there like the MOT test équivalent ?
Neptune.
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Yes, and since the car is more than 10 years old it has to pass every year.
I'll have to do it next month or something. Hopefully it should be ok.
I have no idea, it's weird.
Maybe it got parked with the headlights on for several hours (high heat from the lamps and no air flow)
Or maybe at some point it has been fitted with some aftermarket lights that were putting too much power
Or maybe those are low quality replacement using some bad polycarbonate.
I really don't know, both sides show the same exact problem.
perfect guide, i also have to do the same things
It's possible that I know the answer to this... The old solution for a headlight cluster that had water ingress was to remove a bulb and dry the inside by placing a hairdryer/heat gun into the hole the bulb was in, turn it on and the moisture disappears.......... Except on Maseratis! It causes the polycarbonate to melt.
Yes this is the voice of experience! My ex brother in law found out the hard way, as I watched on in horror.
philw696
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A hairdryer on a low heat.
Would be better leaving the lamp in a small room with a dehumidifier on.
I did try to warn him, but this is a man who would rather knock down a wall with a sledge than cut it with a still saw and push it over.
Neptune.
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Some more work done over the past few days: trying to repair some damage on the "leather" parts.
I had this ugly damage on the passenger side door panel:
I suppose someone tried to repair the side of the dashboard at some point and their repair sticked to the door. Then they tried to wipe it off with some solvent which didn't work and created even more damage by discoloring some parts of the panel.
It looked quite awful.
So first I used sandpaper to get rid of most of the damage.
Already a little bit better:
Still, not good enough. So the next step was to recolor the damaged area. I spend many, many hours trying to get the color right. That was a challenge because first, I had to learn color theory, watching many youtube videos in order to understand the mysteries of color matching and how to properly mix colors to get a good result. Then, I spent an entire day mixing colors in order to try and get it as close as possible. That wasn't easy because you can get the color matching perfectly on a bit of paper, but then it doesn't look the same once put onto the leather.
Took many attemps, sometimes it looked perfect on the leather when the paint was wet, but then became too orange once dry... It really took a while to get there, I have a whole new respect now for people who do color matching, it's really not easy.
Anyway, I finally found a color that worked, so I put several layers of it on the door:
Then some more sanding, some more painting, progressively blending the color with its surroundings using a towel.... and eventually:
I'm very happy with this result, the color is pretty much spot on, its almost impossible to tell where it starts.
It's been very scary because there were many times where I thought I screwed up completely and would never get the door panel back in good shape.
I took this opportunity to repair the window switch that wasn't working anymore. It was a very easy fix as it was just a simple matter of the button that got unclipped from its axis.
Also repainted the black parts of the leather, as they were quite sticky and too shiny. Now they are a little bit more mate and they don't stick to the clothes anymore.
Another thing I've done was to remove two liters of oil from the engine....
When I got the car, first thing I've done was to check the dipstick. It was much higher than the maximum, so I removed about one liter at the time. It was still way too high, but I didn't trust my own judgement and I thought surely the mechanics who handled this car know better than me.
But I recently got the car inspected by an actual mechanic and he confirmed that the car had way too much oil.
So I removed some until the dipstick showed a more reasonable level, between the minimum and maximum levels. Which I obviously should have done sooner.
Well, this actually made a difference regarding how the engine runs. It is a lot smoother.
I used to have an annoying vibration at around 1500 rpm, now it's entirely gone. The car feels a lot more comfortable. That being said, it is slightly less exciting, the motor vibrations did contribute a little bit to the drama, haha.
Anyway, that was interesting.
Also the car is dripping a bit of oil. I'm not sure yet from where it comes from. It's dripping at the very back of the gearbox, but it can come from many places and I'm not certain if it's even gearbox oil or motor oil.
So far I assume it's a simple oil pan gasket or maybe the gasket where the oil cooler tubes connect to the gearbox, but I can see that the engine cam covers are leaking as well at the back, so I wonder if the oil would find its way up to the rear of the gearbox somehow?
Anyone knows if it's even possible ?
Any suggestion as to where the oil might be coming from? I know it isn't coming from the wire harness opening as I've checked this already and this spot is dry.
Anyway, I will keep trying to locate the origin of this leak and then fix it.
In the meantime, I keep working on the interior, right now I'm trying to plug the holes that were used to attach the DVD screen at the back of the central armrest. There was this piece that was very crudely cut in order to secure the screen brackets:
Now I've plugged the holes already, next I'm gonna smooth it and then try to replace the leather with something new:
Ah and also, I did the other light as well. Before:
During:
And after:
The outside is perfectly smooth, the remaining damage is actually inside.
Maybe someday I will try to repair it from the inside as well, but it's not a project for now.
I also repaired the damaged brackets, just like I did on the other side. Also There was the same useless metallic box and it was completely rusted of course, just the same. Got a fresh coat of paint.
Also a bit of bad news, the ABS light seems to be coming back more often. Although its a lot less often than it was when I just got the car.
I'll have another look at the ABS unit someday.
I had this ugly damage on the passenger side door panel:
I suppose someone tried to repair the side of the dashboard at some point and their repair sticked to the door. Then they tried to wipe it off with some solvent which didn't work and created even more damage by discoloring some parts of the panel.
It looked quite awful.
So first I used sandpaper to get rid of most of the damage.
Already a little bit better:
Still, not good enough. So the next step was to recolor the damaged area. I spend many, many hours trying to get the color right. That was a challenge because first, I had to learn color theory, watching many youtube videos in order to understand the mysteries of color matching and how to properly mix colors to get a good result. Then, I spent an entire day mixing colors in order to try and get it as close as possible. That wasn't easy because you can get the color matching perfectly on a bit of paper, but then it doesn't look the same once put onto the leather.
Took many attemps, sometimes it looked perfect on the leather when the paint was wet, but then became too orange once dry... It really took a while to get there, I have a whole new respect now for people who do color matching, it's really not easy.
Anyway, I finally found a color that worked, so I put several layers of it on the door:
Then some more sanding, some more painting, progressively blending the color with its surroundings using a towel.... and eventually:
I'm very happy with this result, the color is pretty much spot on, its almost impossible to tell where it starts.
It's been very scary because there were many times where I thought I screwed up completely and would never get the door panel back in good shape.
I took this opportunity to repair the window switch that wasn't working anymore. It was a very easy fix as it was just a simple matter of the button that got unclipped from its axis.
Also repainted the black parts of the leather, as they were quite sticky and too shiny. Now they are a little bit more mate and they don't stick to the clothes anymore.
Another thing I've done was to remove two liters of oil from the engine....
When I got the car, first thing I've done was to check the dipstick. It was much higher than the maximum, so I removed about one liter at the time. It was still way too high, but I didn't trust my own judgement and I thought surely the mechanics who handled this car know better than me.
But I recently got the car inspected by an actual mechanic and he confirmed that the car had way too much oil.
So I removed some until the dipstick showed a more reasonable level, between the minimum and maximum levels. Which I obviously should have done sooner.
Well, this actually made a difference regarding how the engine runs. It is a lot smoother.
I used to have an annoying vibration at around 1500 rpm, now it's entirely gone. The car feels a lot more comfortable. That being said, it is slightly less exciting, the motor vibrations did contribute a little bit to the drama, haha.
Anyway, that was interesting.
Also the car is dripping a bit of oil. I'm not sure yet from where it comes from. It's dripping at the very back of the gearbox, but it can come from many places and I'm not certain if it's even gearbox oil or motor oil.
So far I assume it's a simple oil pan gasket or maybe the gasket where the oil cooler tubes connect to the gearbox, but I can see that the engine cam covers are leaking as well at the back, so I wonder if the oil would find its way up to the rear of the gearbox somehow?
Anyone knows if it's even possible ?
Any suggestion as to where the oil might be coming from? I know it isn't coming from the wire harness opening as I've checked this already and this spot is dry.
Anyway, I will keep trying to locate the origin of this leak and then fix it.
In the meantime, I keep working on the interior, right now I'm trying to plug the holes that were used to attach the DVD screen at the back of the central armrest. There was this piece that was very crudely cut in order to secure the screen brackets:
Now I've plugged the holes already, next I'm gonna smooth it and then try to replace the leather with something new:
Ah and also, I did the other light as well. Before:
During:
And after:
The outside is perfectly smooth, the remaining damage is actually inside.
Maybe someday I will try to repair it from the inside as well, but it's not a project for now.
I also repaired the damaged brackets, just like I did on the other side. Also There was the same useless metallic box and it was completely rusted of course, just the same. Got a fresh coat of paint.
Also a bit of bad news, the ABS light seems to be coming back more often. Although its a lot less often than it was when I just got the car.
I'll have another look at the ABS unit someday.
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