When is a warning light not a warning light?

[lozcb]

Contacted Maranello and this is there reply

We can plug your car in to the Maserati Diagnostics to trace what the fault is.* It would take approximately 1 hour to investigate which would be £117.00 + VAT, once this has been done the technician will report on what he has found, if the fault can be reset and cleared within that time there will be no further charge, if he finds a part is faulty we can then prepare an estimate for replacement.

This seems expensive to me. The lights that have come up have cleared themselves without having to have a reset or restart the car. Got to be cheaper elsewhere surely?

Most Indies should do a diag for aroung the £50 60 mark , plus whatever transcribes/fixes from there, everyone has a standard figure of what they would like to charge ................but rarely get it if your a tightwad like me , those who ask get a discount those who dont ask (especially first time round )must have more money or sense

Rarely does a diag take a full hour, those that know how to use the sd2/3 fully can usually diagnose and printout within 30 mins , its not really that much of a black art , but there are plenty of dealers/techs that faff there way around it trial and error like .......best leave those well alone , choose an Indie that is happy to let you see what he's doing and whats going on , you'll soon learn about and have a better relationship with your car and the indie , i find mostly there quite chuffed to have an owner that wants to know whats going on rather than the just get in and drive it type

regards loz

 

[Brendan]

Got 2 quotes:


Dear Brendan,
We will not charge for the initial diagnosis. If you would like to make a booking please let me know what day suits you best.
Kind regards,
Claire Prior
Office Manager


Yes we have full Maserati diagnostic equipment on site.
*
We charge £75.00 to carry out full diagnostic check.

 

[lozcb]

Got 2 quotes:


Dear Brendan,
We will not charge for the initial diagnosis. If you would like to make a booking please let me know what day suits you best.
Kind regards,
Claire Prior
Office Manager


Yes we have full Maserati diagnostic equipment on site.
*
We charge £75.00 to carry out full diagnostic check.

As i said those that ask ................................................... money saved


regards loz

 

[Brendan]

Bit confused by the diagnostic machine. I understand that it will read any CEL faults that there have been. I hear people saying that it can clear faults, presumably this when a CEL is not really a fault. So if you have a real fault it will not extinguish until the problem has been resolved/fixed.

 

[lozcb]

Some faults /occasional cels can be spikes ( in other words intermittent or annomilies ) not quite true representations of whats occurring , for example a couple of years back i drove back from the south of France 3/4 hours in excess of 100mph continous , car was fine and loaded onto the ferry , after the 2 hr ferry ride and cooling down period once started produced a cel light which turned out to be Lamda sensor fault (possibly the most common fault/cel ) on a 4200 , battery reset stored the code but eradicated the cel light for some considerable 9 months , seems that for everday usage it was fine but sustained high temperature driving caused a spike for whatever reason

Clearing a stored fault /cel light will let the operator know whether its a true fault or a temporary spike , a true fault will generally re-appear almost immediately after being extinguished

Hope this helps


regards loz

 

[Emtee]

As per Loz's post above, Brendon you give an example of a 'spike' in your first post with the gearbox CEL. This simply indicates there was an instance where the gearbox did not complete the request within the designed parameters. Not a fault as such, indeed it's mentioned in the owners manual, but the error would be stored for future referral, which is a sensible precaution as it is at least logged.

 

[Brendan]

OK thats clearer now

 

[hodroyd]

Brendan,
Well done for getting a lower figure, it's a shame you have to be pushy to get the price down, but it usually works for those that try to overcharge first.
Cheers
R

 

[Brendan]

Brendan,
Well done for getting a lower figure, it's a shame you have to be pushy to get the price down, but it usually works for those that try to overcharge first.
Cheers
R[/


I didn't actually haggle on the price. Goes to show how expensive the MDs really are. Also I think work is a bit short on the ground. Both replies were from independents I have emailed then several times previously and I was ignored. Yet this time a reply within an hour!

 

[Parisien]

Its a pity that people only take the time to respond when times are difficult.....shame to be ignored.


P

 

[hodroyd]

We need those naming that can't be bothered to reply, it will help other members. There may have been email issues, but the question can still be brought up.

 

[Brendan]

We need those naming that can't be bothered to reply, it will help other members. There may have been email issues, but the question can still be brought up.

I have arranged to go to 1 of the independents and will see how it goes. Car is also being serviced next week.

 

[Parisien]

I have arranged to go to 1 of the independents and will see how it goes. Car is also being serviced next week.

Prefer to hear all the recommendations......makes it easier for all if certain indies are mentioned endlessly and positively


P

 

[Brendan]

Prefer to hear all the recommendations......makes it easier for all if certain indies are mentioned endlessly and positively


P

I will let you all know