GranSport (Fuji White) Running report

jasst

Member
Messages
2,313
Thank you for the write up.

Is the pollen filter another case of MDs FSH attention to the service plan?... I suspect the 30 odd fastenings make it a item to save tine and effort on.
Think so, also air filter on my GS hadn't been touched for years, despite full service history.
 

Evo Cymru

Member
Messages
688
Great write up and effort! Always great to know it has been done properly though. Ditto on the filter wrench - fortunately I had the spider type when I did mine from using on my Lancia - now that was almost impossible to get to!
 

Chris155

Member
Messages
196
That was it for the weekend. We couldn't go any further with it without the requisite seal for the thermostat which arrived on the following Tuesday.

Obviously, being maserfarti-less for getting on for a week during gloriously hot weather, I put my excited hat on, finished work early and ran over to my Mum and Dad's house to put it back together.

IMG_3801 by Chris, on Flickr

And, yet again, it was another 4 hour faff to fit it as the jubilee clips holding the 2 hoses I'd removed to access the 'stat were all *******.

And the whole time the sky in the distance was black and thunderous;

IMG_3844 by Chris, on Flickr

It remained dry though.

I said to my Dad, give the menacing sky I'd just take it home and bung it in the garage, but we both talked myself into a quick test-drive.

5 miles down the local test route and approaching a roundabout in the middle of nowhere, it started raining in terms that could only be described as "biblical". The road was flooded within 30 seconds with standing water 2" deep, and with pilot sport cup tyres (minimal tread depth from new) the maserfarti was living up to it's name.

After disengaging the obstructive traction control and crawling home at 20-30mph, virtually by brail as the road had all but disappeared from view, I got it home unscathed.

To find my brother, who unknown to me, had passed me in the opposite direction with a food deliver for my Mun and Dad in his 2020 X440d M whatever genuinely trying to hide a smug grin.... I knew he would likely be on the same road in the opposite direction, he didn't. I was looking for him, he wasn't. I didn't even catch a glimpse of him, his comment was something like, oh, yeah I saw you crawling along the other way with your wipers on full blast, I didn't think it was that bad...
 

Chris155

Member
Messages
196
One thing I have noticed, when the heated rear window is on (I forgot to turn it off) the window refracts light. i.e. If I look in the mirror with it on, what should be straight lines are offset where the wires cross the screen? I hope that makes sense....
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
Can’t say I ever noticed. Perhaps the compound curve of the screen varies slightly with temperature.
 

Manc5

Member
Messages
395
@Chris155 - You have a seriously good looking GT.. if you ever sell it someone will be getting an A1 car. it's stance looks perfect . Enjoying the thread !
 

Chris155

Member
Messages
196
Another simple, routine job.

Change the aux belt and the MAF.??In all fairness, changing the aux belt wasn’t that hard. Access is limited, but it could be worse I suppose;

IMG_4667 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4668 by Chris, on Flickr??You have to remove the under tray which is held in place with a plethora of fastenings, but, the main problem is there isn’t enough clearance between the pulleys and the pipes (EGR and Cold start air pump) across the front of the engine to get the belt in/out.

IMG_4727 by Chris, on Flickr

It wasn’t the end of the world though just need to disconnect the two pipes and looses a couple of brackets to get enough clearance.?
New v’s old belt, even though it didn’t come in a Maserati box, it’s the same thing…

IMG_4731 by Chris, on Flickr

It needed changing too:

IMG_4732 by Chris, on Flickr??Fitting the new belt was simple enough with the pipes out of the way - It has a conventional belt tensioner.


Next up on the to-do list was the MAF - My Dad had found a genuine new one on eBay going cheap so, with them technically being a service item, we thought we’d change that.

We could have just swapped the sensor element out by removing the 2 anti tamper screws that hold it in the MAF body but I wanted to check the condition of the air filter.

Which is where things started to fall apart, both fugitively and literally.

The removable panel you gain access to the filter wouldn’t come off as the retaining screws were seized;

IMG_4676 by Chris, on Flickr??Meaning that the whole air box needed to come out for repair.?

Of course, that wasn’t a simple task either as it’s mounted to the shell using threaded rubbers bushes. Half of which were also seized, meaning that the air box wouldn’t come out either.

It was at this point we realised that the outlet from the air box to the MAF was also broken. (Insert several expletives here…)

The solution to getting it out was to loosen the front bumper on the one side and the head light / foglight to give enough clearance to get it out. Oh and the front grill. And the wheel arch liner…

IMG_4689 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4679 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4685 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4684 by Chris, on Flickr

The air box looks like it had been repaired (badly) before. But, using some (expensive) epoxy super glue, my Dad was able to fix it, whilst also repairing all the corroded fastenings

IMG_4680 by Chris, on Flickr?? IMG_4735 by Chris, on Flickr

There was no way the airbag was going back in with the bumper in place though. It may be possible but the risk of breaking something was too great. My Dad have been there, done that before.

IMG_4718 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4722 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4755 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4723 by Chris, on Flickr

Going back to the MAF.??The new MAF (body) which came in a genuine box bearing the PN…
? IMG_4745 by Chris, on Flickr

Which is the same as the MAF that was on the car;

IMG_4738 by Chris, on Flickr

However, the sensors themselves have different PN’s:

Old one:

IMG_4740 by Chris, on Flickr

New Sensor:

IMG_4742-2 by Chris, on Flickr

Given that the new sensor is a genuine part, it should be the right PN but the car doesn’t seem to like it when it’s cold. Feck knows what’s going on there, if anyone could shed any light on this, it would be appreciated.??This effectively concludes the 3 day saga that was the simple job of replacing the MAF and Aux belt….

Except it doesn’t…
 

Chris155

Member
Messages
196
The 3 day saga didn't stop with the planned work as we spotted another problem.

IMG_4784 by Chris, on Flickr

I didn't think to take a pic to frame what that is so kudos to anyone who recognises it as the nearside steering rack boot. We replaced the track rod last year but not the boot, which I'll admit was something we should have considered.

However, it seemed to be in good condition at the time, they only come in pairs, they're £70 and they're know for failing... i.e. being ****.

I decided that I wasn't going to pay that kind of money for an inferior part and went on the hunt for a replacement. This started with taking some measurements:

IMG_4769 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4781 by Chris, on Flickr

The overall length is about 192mm. After scratching about on eBay, I found a Volvo part that closely matched the measurements I'd taken. The ID of the rack end is slightly smaller for the Volvo part, but I felt it was worth risking it as a pair of boots was less than £16 delivered.

IMG_4796 by Chris, on Flickr

Here's the PN for future reference - AFAIK, it should fit all 4200 Masers.

IMG_4798 by Chris, on Flickr

On mine, it turned out to be a perfect fit (I used to silicone lube) and seems to be made of a more robust material. Result.

Obviously, with the front end apart, we took the opportunity to clean and upgrade what we could. Side lights being an obvious starting point as they're part of the fog light cluster. The standard filament bulb isn't even a halogen job and is basically s:censored:t

IMG_4764 by Chris, on Flickr

It was replaced with a higher output LED version:

IMG_4763 by Chris, on Flickr

With the whole arch liners out, they were shown the pointy end of the pressure washer and some soap. The inner arches weren't that dad but were given a more sympathetic clean with a stiff brush engine degreaser and a hose pipe.

Before;

IMG_4758 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4757 by Chris, on Flickr

After;

IMG_4766 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_4767 by Chris, on Flickr


Finally, noting that the holes in the discs were blocked with brake pad material I used a slightly undersized 3.5mm drill bit to clean them out. I didn't think it's make much of a difference but it has curbed the slight rumble that was prevalent under hard braking.

IMG_4760 by Chris, on Flickr
 

Wattie

Member
Messages
8,640
Great thread, hope you can resolve the air sensor issue. I'm sure a few on here will have some ideas as to whats going on.
 

dgmx5

Member
Messages
1,142
The wisdom is that a car such as this should have a well documented service history whether main dealer or one of the well recognised independents throughout its lifetime. But the care, attention and thinking you have put into this car will hopefully give you a car you can enjoy for many years ahead, or a car that a new owner should have plenty of confidence to take on.
 

jasst

Member
Messages
2,313
Well done Chris, aux belt change is possible without removing anything, did it myself last year, took about 1/2hr, and apparently it is possible to rmove airbox without removing much, @TimR is the expert on this, I replaced my air filter last year with a BMC one, and was lucky in that all but one of the bolts came undone, but all of the anti vibration mountings were broken, so I bought some new ones and replaced them, but have now decided to do the @2b1ask1 modification to the induction system this winter, so will have to remove it again, but at least the bolts will come undone! interested in that you say the maff is a service item.