[MVAgustaUSA]

That '02 Spyder CC I bought last week I drove for about and hour it began to die like the alternator was not charging. It didn't actually die all the way but all of the lights slowly went out except for the headlights and the car became very sluggish and very slow shifting. I crawled to a hotel and the next morning it was fine- volt meter reading 15 volts. I drove it for five muntes and the volts went down to about 11. I just assumed it was the alternator. The dealer picked it up and has not been able to locate an issue and are taking it to a Maserati dealer now. Has anybody else seen this or have a suggestion? It's a stupid question I know, I'm just a like anxious to get the car back and figure this out.

 

[BeeYouZeeZee]

That '02 Spyder CC I bought last week I drove for about and hour it began to die like the alternator was not charging. It didn't actually die all the way but all of the lights slowly went out except for the headlights and the car became very sluggish and very slow shifting. I crawled to a hotel and the next morning it was fine- volt meter reading 15 volts. I drove it for five muntes and the volts went down to about 11. I just assumed it was the alternator. The dealer picked it up and has not been able to locate an issue and are taking it to a Maserati dealer now. Has anybody else seen this or have a suggestion? It's a stupid question I know, I'm just a like anxious to get the car back and figure this out.

It sounds like a bad battery to me. Typical when the battery becomes heavily resistive and pulls excessive current during the charging process (feels like the alternator). My 2500 yen.

 

[Skidkid]

Battery is a good call. Probably would not have thought of that initially myself.

Most likely it isn't resistive but a cell is shorted. Shorted cells cause excessive current draw and they pull down the system voltage. High resistance doesn't pull current but simply won't turn the engine over; no starting.

Sorry BeeYou. You are a great contributor here and lately it feels like I only contradict people. Maybe I should just keep my keyboard quiet.

 

[MVAgustaUSA]

Those are good points but they have done a load test on the battery and alternator and have produced no issues. The car was fresh from a Maserati Dealer installed clutch job and they are wondering if it has something to do with that. If they didn't didn't reset the wear indicator would that cause a draw on the system- probably not is my guess. At least once Maserati goes over it they are going to tralier down to me for free- so that it breaks down in my area!

 

[dchao]

I crawled to a hotel and the next morning it was fine- volt meter reading 15 volts. I drove it for five muntes and the volts went down to about 11.

If it's not the battery or alternator, then you have a intermittent short *somewhere*. I hope your dealer can locate the fault for you. They need to put a current meter on each fuse to trace the fault. Good luck.

 

[bundas]

mr run the other way, here

had a short develop behind driver seat, from storing items and moving seat to rear, sounds like software problem to me

 

[007]

Had similar problem in my porsche a while back. Turnrd out I used wrong battery so battery flap was touching positive lead. A small fire developed, very lucky-no real damage. there is no battery compartment flap in the 4200 but I do suspect a short somewhere. If there is then sort it out asap. Dont mean to worry you but this was my experience in the porsche. Good Luck!

 

[MVAgustaUSA]

My wife had been messing with the NAV right before it started to die. She was trying to reset it because it was in Italian.

 

[Fred]

Maybe just a dirty connection when the battery was hooked up after the clutch job?

Sometimes it is just something simple.