[Dr.Ron]

Came our from dinner at a restaurant and the car won't start..engine doesn't even crank, won't click even..nothing. pressing the start button does nothing.
Dash lights up, remote locks the doors, the MTC goes on.
Battery tested to 12v. Still tried to jump it with cables-nothing.
My mechanic friend thus far is stumped.
I checked the couple of fuses That Seemed would be involved with the car running and they're good.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.
Ron

 

[Hundie1]

Came our from dinner at a restaurant and the car won't start..engine doesn't even crank, won't click even..nothing. pressing the start button does nothing.
Dash lights up, remote locks the doors, the MTC goes on.
Battery tested to 12v. Still tried to jump it with cables-nothing.
My mechanic friend thus far is stumped.
I checked the couple of fuses That Seemed would be involved with the car running and they're good.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.
Ron

Try remote start only--no pressing start button. It needs less juice to start the car. The fact that jumper cables didn't work is worrying. We have a Balco jump start thing and there is a "force start" button that started ours when it was like that when the usual Balco normal jump setting didn't work. We also once had a fairly new battery die on us and despite using the trickle charger and getting some voltage back we couldn't get the car to start. Ended up towing to dealer for new battery install (I'm not brave enough to try to install my own). Hope it starts at some point!

 

[Dr.Ron]

Hey. I don't have auto start.
The battery doesn't appear to be the problem.

 

[Dillon E]

It's the battery... It needs at least 14+ volts to crank the engine... there's tons of these stories on this site...you should look them up & FYI: if you need to jump, you're gonna need TWO cars- one to hook to the battery in the trunk & one to hook to the jumper pos. terminal & the car body (neg.) from under the hood of the car. I bought one 2000 amp & one 4000 amp jump starter just for my 2014 SQ4 it'll should turn that engine over like a cheese omelet...but it sucks that these cars have such problems. I've had to change my battery twice since I bought my Ghibli a year ago; the second time was a bad battery & was replaced for free (warranty) 1st time was when I bought it; the car still had the original battery in it.. 6 years!

 

[Preetham]

Pull the ignition fuse, clean the blades with a electrical contact cleaner, and try again. If in a hurry, you can even scrape the blades with knife or something similar, just enough to remove some of the oxidized layer.

 

[Fredvr]

Hi Dr Ron, have you tried to put the key fob right in contact with the start button and push it with the key fob, if the battery in the key fob is weak or flat you will not start.

 

[Dr.Ron]

Yes, tried that. Battery was recently replaced in the fob as well.
Thanks.

 

[brianh17]

I'd check the brake pedal switch and make sure it's working with an ohm meter.

 

[Dr.Ron]

It's the battery... It needs at least 14+ volts to crank the engine... there's tons of these stories on this site...you should look them up & FYI: if you need to jump, you're gonna need TWO cars- one to hook to the battery in the trunk & one to hook to the jumper pos. terminal & the car body (neg.) from under the hood of the car. I bought one 2000 amp & one 4000 amp jump starter just for my 2014 SQ4 it'll should turn that engine over like a cheese omelet...but it sucks that these cars have such problems. I've had to change my battery twice since I bought my Ghibli a year ago; the second time was a bad battery & was replaced for free (warranty) 1st time was when I bought it; the car still had the original battery in it.. 6 years!

But the batteries are only 12v??

 

[Fredvr]

Hi Dr Ron,
Dillon is mistaken, the charging voltage is ~14.5V , the voltage after a night's rest should be ~12.5V.
Could it be that the brake pedal switch has failed? This would stop the engine starting.
Or the Gear is not in neutral, or does not detect neutral.

 

[Dr.Ron]

Hi Dr Ron,
Dillon is mistaken, the charging voltage is ~14.5V , the voltage after a night's rest should be ~12.5V.
Could it be that the brake pedal switch has failed? This would stop the engine starting.
Or the Gear is not in neutral, or does not detect neutral.

It is reading that the car is in P.
I told him to check the brake pedal switch. He will when he can...later or tomorrow.

 

[Dr.Ron]

I went to the shop to help out. I tested the brake pedal switch. It seems fine.
I tested all of the fuses in the trunk and the 4 circuit breakers that go to the bcm. All are good. Fuses tested with a test light and the breakers tested with an ohm meter.
He said they get a message saying no communication with the pcm from the obd reader.
Will check the fuses and such under the hood next week, but anyone have any ideas?

Ron

 

[Dr.Ron]

No one else has any suggestions?

 

[BeerGuy]

No one else has any suggestions?

Sorry, I'm not an expert but hearing what others have experienced. It could be power, (bad fuse or ground), some are under hood. Loss of communication to PCM has been sometimes due to brake interlock, ignition switch, transmission, immobilizer or ECU. I know some techs make sure it's only the PCM module that can't communicate properly than start tracing the wiring signals to and from the PCM to see if it is getting signal or potentially a faulty module.

 

[Fredvr]

Dr Ron, your ECU might not get any power, it should make a light whining sound when the igniion is on, if not, either you have a 12V issue somewhere or the ECU is dead.
Check that you get 12V on pin 16 of the OBD socket.

 

[Dr.Ron]

I'll tell him. Would that be done to see if there is voltage getting to the front of the car from the battery?
Do you know the ECM part #?
I'm hearing that the car needs to be towed to the dealer for the install and reprogramming.

 

[BeerGuy]

During troubleshooting, the tech will also check power and grounds to the ECU. If those are good, they will check PCI communication signal using a graphing multi-meter or scope. And as Fredvr suggested whether you are getting power at the OBD socket. If your getting power but still no communication it's likely a bad ECU. I can't find the electronic diagram for the Ghibli ECU maybe your mechanic or someone else on forum has access.

One thing I do know.. The ECU comes out of the car really easy. Many pull the ECU's to have them tuned remotely. If the ECU is bad, technically you could remove and have Maserati dealer re-flash a new unit to your VIN which you can plug back in. I suspect many dealers will want the car for a complete job. You can see the ECM in the diagram #1 and I've attached the PDF with instructions.

 

[Dr.Ron]

Thanks for the tips. They were passed along to my mechanic buddy.

 

[Dr.Ron]

UPDATE:
My buddy removed my Maddness piggy back tune and had a charger on the battery and the car started only problem is he changed 2 variables at once so we don't know 100% which one was the problem. I guess if the car dies again with the tune off we know it was the battery all along.
The connection at the back of the motor was a royal pain to get connected, so I wish he would have spoken to me before doing that! I had a defeat plug in the center console he could have installed to eliminate that as a possible issue source.
We shall see what happens.
Ron

 

[Fredvr]

Excellent, really pleased for you that it started again, and thanks for giving us the solution.
Always good to know.