[BlondeSicilian]

Last Satutrday afternoon I was enjoying my new '04 Coupe (I picked it up Friday afternoon) and I just made a turn on a city street. The car automatically shifts to N and I can't change gears. I'm guessing F1 pump based on previous threads.

Of course, I happened to be in the same lane as the city rail bus so when that came around the corner the operator had to help me push the car to the side. Very embarrassing as this part of Dallas (West Village) is filled with Porsches/Mercedes/Ferrari's and I'm sure they're smirking as I sat there disgusted.

I immediately called MNA to get a tow. While I was waiting for the tow, I decided to give the car another shot to see if maybe it was due to overheating (it was over 100 degrees). I WAS able to shift and started toward the dealership, however, I didn't get more than 1 block and it happened again.

It took TWO HOURS for the towing service to arrive and pick up my car. Needless to say, I was extremely agitated at this point. Luckily, the dealership was still open and when I got there they give me a Mercedes E350 demo to drive until the car gets fixed. I almost missed my flight to Vegas - unfortunately, my luck followed me there but that's a different story... At least the Guns N Roses concert at the Hard Rock kicked ass!!!

Spoke to the service manager today, they're still diagnosing it and don't know the exact issue yet. They SUPPOSEDLY replaced the transmission (they say transmission, I assume they meant clutch) right before I took delivery.

Very frustrating to enjoy the car for a few hours and then have to give it back and wait for them to fix it!!!! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.... Thanks for listening to me vent

 

[maseratifan]

i'm sure they will put it right, don't give up on the maser yet!

sorry to hear about your trouble.

 

[M!]

Car dies within 24 hrs of delivery


Last Satutrday afternoon I was enjoying my new '04 Coupe (I picked it up Friday afternoon) .... Thanks for listening to me vent

sorry to hear. but how new is your 04 Coupe?

how many miles and how many owners have the coupe been thru?

 

[BlondeSicilian]

The coupe has 9000 miles and had one owner. The service date on the coupe is Feb '04, so it has about 1.5 yrs left on the warranty.

I'm not giving up yet, I enjoyed driving it way too much to give up - I just hope they get it right and don't take all week! I'm already having withdrawals and hate listening to my girlfriend tell me she told me so (She suggested I get a Mercedes which, ironically, I have now while I wait for the Maser).

 

[DeaneG]

My own experience with Mercedes is not good at all. If you want reliability, it's Toyota/Lexus. If you want a driver's car, it's something else, and you take what you get.

 

[bundas]

crank less

my 02 developed a drain on battery. short developed behind drivers seat. i had been stuffing things in that area and running seat to rear? i dont know how that caused a problem, but it did. girl friend is very helpful, to advise, how nice. ship the monster out! enjoy your car, luv mine.

 

[BlondeSicilian]

Well the dealer has had the car two days and can't reproduce the problem. They said they've been trying to reproduce and it 'shifts like a champ'. Isn't there a way to look at past error codes? I was literally sitting on the side of the road not being able to shift into any gear for over an hour - how is it they can't reproduce the problem?!?! Is it possible it was heat related? While the car was sitting idle with my hazards on, the outside temp reached 107....

BTW - as far as girlfriend goes, I move into a new condo on Saturday and she won't be joining me

 

[demoe]

Could it be this possibly??

Are you aware that when the car senses either the hood or trunk being open, it will drop into N and you can't shift out. did you check the liittle light near your Gear Indicator LED where there is a Symbol of a Car with a RED LEDS at the Doors/hood/trunk areas?

I have often had a situation where I hit a bump and the hood popped open, and went into N, ..I had several instances, where the hood seemed to reset and allowed me to continue on without having to get out of the car to push it closed

 

[mont]

Well the dealer has had the car two days and can't reproduce the problem. They said they've been trying to reproduce and it 'shifts like a champ'. Isn't there a way to look at past error codes? I was literally sitting on the side of the road not being able to shift into any gear for over an hour - how is it they can't reproduce the problem?!?! Is it possible it was heat related? While the car was sitting idle with my hazards on, the outside temp reached 107....

BTW - as far as girlfriend goes, I move into a new condo on Saturday and she won't be joining me

I´m sorry to hear your problem.
From my experience working and driving Maserati, modern and older, I've to say that sometimes they can be a "nightmare"...
Nevertheless, I love them and I can say that they're in my blood.
From my point of view and looking at what you wrote, I guess it is a safety mode. You said that it shifted to Neutral and no more gears, anymore.
Can't be the outside temperature.
The system works from an electronic impulse (shifting) to an hydraulic/mechanical system, the pump/gearbox.

Or, if you want, it is a mechanical gearbox with electronically controlled electro-hydraulic operation.
The clutch works, based on other hydaulic control.
So you see, oil is important.

I almost sure that something went wrong when the new clutch was fitted.
It is crucial to look at the oil level once the work done. No oil at the gear box/diff. bad working system!!
Also, if the clutch was instaled but not adjusted as it should, can be the problem.
Also the electric components, relays/fuses and sensors. It is worth to check them.
Finally, if you do not know how to use the Cambiocorsa system, you can develop some bad "movements", leading to several errors on the "centralina".
You or the previous owner.

Hope this helps,

Mont
Italia Exotic, Lda
Portugal

 

[mont]

Are you aware that when the car senses either the hood or trunk being open, it will drop into N and you can't shift out. did you check the liittle light near your Gear Indicator LED where there is a Symbol of a Car with a RED LEDS at the Doors/hood/trunk areas?

I have often had a situation where I hit a bump and the hood popped open, and went into N, ..I had several instances, where the hood seemed to reset and allowed me to continue on without having to get out of the car to push it closed

You are absolutely right!!

I didn't think of this... Can be also the problem!!!

Mont

 

[BlondeSicilian]

Are you aware that when the car senses either the hood or trunk being open, it will drop into N and you can't shift out. did you check the liittle light near your Gear Indicator LED where there is a Symbol of a Car with a RED LEDS at the Doors/hood/trunk areas?

I have often had a situation where I hit a bump and the hood popped open, and went into N, ..I had several instances, where the hood seemed to reset and allowed me to continue on without having to get out of the car to push it closed

No, I wasn't aware of this. I honestly can't remember seeing this, but I was probably seeing RED anyway, so it's POSSIBLE I may have missed this. Would this also result in the cambiocorsa light flashing? I did, however, stop/start the car several times and it would not work. I will say after I stopped/started the car a few times trying to get it in gear, it wouldn't even start anymore. After I pushed it to a corner and let it sit for a few minutes would it even start again (I would get an engine light after stopping/starting about 5 times trying to get it in gear). Then after I let it sit longer, I could actually drive it for about 2 blocks before the same thing happened....

The dealer is at a loss as well, this is pretty frustrating. They think it may be the pump related, but without getting an error code they can't just replace it for no reason. I asked about them being able to look up previous history codes and they said they couldn't, which was frustrating to them as well.

I'm tempted to just say screw it and pick it up and see if I can replicate the problem, but that's no guarantee it still won't work by the time it's towed (again) to the dealer...

 

[EuroCarNut]

Upgrade your loan car

BlondeSicilian,

I am very sorry about your current experience. As the sales director of Maserati here at Park Place Maserati, I want to make sure that you get started off on the right foot with the marque. I want to make sure that our service department gets it right, so I do not want to rush them. I also know how difficult it is to buy a new car and not have use of it while it is in the shop. Therefore, I want to offer you the use of our 2005 pre-owned Maserati GranSport Coupe to drive while we are working on your car. That car should be available sometime later this afternoon (after 3:00 pm). Just let me know when you would like to come by and I should have it ready for you to take home.

Karl Chiao
Park Place Maserati

 

[BlondeSicilian]

BlondeSicilian,

I am very sorry about your current experience. As the sales director of Maserati here at Park Place Maserati, I want to make sure that you get started off on the right foot with the marque. I want to make sure that our service department gets it right, so I do not want to rush them. I also know how difficult it is to buy a new car and not have use of it while it is in the shop. Therefore, I want to offer you the use of our 2005 pre-owned Maserati GranSport Coupe to drive while we are working on your car. That car should be available sometime later this afternoon (after 3:00 pm). Just let me know when you would like to come by and I should have it ready for you to take home.

Karl Chiao
Park Place Maserati

Karl,

Thank you for offer and I am indeed going to take you up on this. I appreciate the fact that your dealership is doing whatever they can to make me happy while I wait for my car to be repaired. I'm glad I'll be able to drive the car I wanted while I wait.

See you this afternoon.

Thanks again!

 

[Steeldream]

Good on yer Park Place!

 

[BlondeSicilian]

car died again

Update to those interested:

Had the car delivered today after dealership repaired the center console shift stick (the little one that puts it in forward and reverse) - apparently that was broken. They think this caused my issue a couple of weeks ago. Apparently that was not it.

My father took delivery of the car today since I'm out of town for work. He put it in auto mode as he's never driven it before and started driving home. He came to a stop light and it automatically shifted into neutral. He could not shift out of neutral (same thing that happened to me).

After he got back home (dealer came by and swapped out the cars again), I asked him some questions to ensure he just didn't mistakenly put the car into neutral. He claims he didn't, he said he tried shifting, taking it out of auto mode, everthing - it wouldn't move out of neutral. He said what he thought was an oil light was blinking, and I confirmed with him which light it was - the cambiocorsa light.

Strangely enough, whlie he was waiting for the dealer and he shut the car off on the side of the road, I had his girlfriend start the car and try putting it into gear. It went into 1st, but I didn't have her try driving it. I guess the dealer was able to drive it back. What the heck is going on?!?! The dealer claims they drove it all over the place and never had a problem - how is it possible that both myself and my father get stuck with the same problem but the dealer can't reproduce?

This is extremely frustrating....

 

[squid]

Are you sure they're tapping the paddle to put it in 1st at stoplights? Auto drivers usually just put it in "A" and think it's just going to drive all by itself.

 

[300zxtt]

If someone is completely unfamiliar with the cambiocorsa it is VERY easy to get confused and panic and end up going nowhere...........teh first day I had mine I got stuck in neutral...pilot error

 

[BlondeSicilian]

If someone is completely unfamiliar with the cambiocorsa it is VERY easy to get confused and panic and end up going nowhere...........teh first day I had mine I got stuck in neutral...pilot error

That was my original thought as well - but would the cambiocorsa light be flashing?

 

[dchao]

cambiocorsa light flashing?

Then there must be some sort of DTC code stored on the ODB. Dealer should be able to pull the code out now. It would be interesting to see what the code is.

 

[Steeldream]

do they have their foot on the brake when trying to engage 1st?