My son Chris and I bought this Biturbo in 1992. Chris was 16 years old at the time and anxious
to have an automotive "project." Not to mention he was (and still is) crazy about exotic sports
cars. The car was originally built in 1984, the first year of production for this model. When it
came into our possession, it had signs of having been badly abused by a previous owner. The
man we purchased the car from had bought it at a police auction. He sold it to us shortly
thereafter because he had a few too many projects to work on, and not enough space to work on
all of them. The story given to us was that the car was repossessed from a drug dealer. Maybe
true, maybe not. Chris and I looked for secret compartments, but never found any. We've had
the car completely apart. If there are any, they are REALLY secret! Anyway, the body and the
interior were in good shape, but the 'drug-dealer' owner apparently didn't know that engines
need oil to run and badly scored a lot of the internal moving parts. I believe the car has been in
California for all of its 'life' because it has no rust anywhere, and it has factory installed
California smog devices. Chris set about completely restoring it, with me supplying the finances.
It took about a year to finish the work (and $12K in parts and labor). Ever since the work was
completed, though, we both find the Maserati a pleasure to drive. We haven't had any other
problems since then, and it has been very reliable. Don't get me wrong, it is finicky. But the car
and Chris and I have been through a lot together, and we've come to understand all its little
quirks.
So, let me tell you about some of the special "design features" of the Biturbo. The 1984 model
engine was designed with cylinder sleeves that sat flush, metal to metal, on the bottom of engine
block. Unfortunately, this design allowed water to slowly seep into the oil. I believe this was
rectified in the 1985 model, certainly in the 1986 model, by beveling the engine block and adding
rings to seal the sleeves against the block. This Biturbo's engine was fixed by having the original
block custom-beveled to accommodate sleeves with rings. I had this done when I (yes me, not my
son) accidently overheated the car and cracked a cylinder sleeve (I'll explain how I did this in a
bit), then found that flush-mount sleeves were not made anymore. Only the beveled sleeves are
available, unless you are lucky enough to find the 1984 model sleeves at a junkyard. But I figured
beveling the block was the better long-term solution since we were seeing water mixing with the
oil. So, I suppose we've ruined the collectibility of my car, since the block is no longer in its
original condition. But the car is much more reliable because of it!
The other problem that all model Biturbos have is an underdesigned cooling system. It works
great on the open road as long as you are moving fast enough to keep a constant air flow across
the radiator. But it is not suitable for stop-and-go traffic. Living where freeway traffic jams are
the norm, Chris and I only take the Biturbo out for long 'Sunday' drives in the country where we
can stretch her out on the open road. You can't get caught for long in stopped traffic or it will
overheat, particulary during the high heat of the summer. Yes, it does have a fan that kicks in
when the temperature edges over the normal running temperature. But that will only hold for so
long, especially if it is a hot day. Now, we just don't drive this car in city traffic at all when the
temperature gets over 95 degrees, just in case. I learned this lesson when I was driving on a hot
100-degree-plus summer day up a very steep hill at less than 30 mph. The car is quite capable of
taking a steep road at high speed. It has unbelievable torque. But I was unable to go any faster
this particular day because of traffic. About two miles of crawling uphill in the intense heat, and I
cracked a cylinder sleeve. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by pulling to the side of the
road and letting the car cool down, but I was not paying attention to the temperature gauge. Boy,
what a costly way to learn to keep my eye on the temperature gauge! You can bet that I watch
that gauge like a hawk now. I do drive it back and forth to work every once in awhile because it
is only 5 miles on an uncongested section of freeway. But the car is really meant for stretching
out on the open road. It is a great touring car. The car runs smooth and quiet on long jaunts up the
coast.
Another interesting "design feature"of the Biturbo is the card that holds all the fuses for the electrical system. It is curved to fit into the fuse box. The older it is, the more brittle it gets, the more likely it is to crack and cause intermittent shorts. A sign of this is when you turn the key to crank the engine, some of the dash lights come on but you get no power to set off the spark plugs. Turn the key again, all the dash lights light up and once again everything works fine. When that happens, it is time to replace the fuse box card!
And the last little "design feature" is the alternator. It doesn't supply enough power to charge the
battery and run the headlights and the air conditioning compressor at the same time. Choose any
two. But not three. There is a solution. There is a heavier duty alternator available for the car. But
the original model is underpowered. We still have the original in the car, simply because we
haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. It's not that the part is so expensive. It's just that it
hasn't been enough of a pain to make us do it yet, I guess.
Well, that's about it for the idiosyncracies of the Biturbo. I must tell you that we knew nothing about all this when we got the car. We learned as we went. The best sources of information we found were our excellent mechanic and the Maserati Club International. We were very fortunate to locate a master mechanic who knew Maseratis inside and out. For those of you in Southern California, the mechanic is Onofrio De Leonardis, owner of Alfa Italia in Burbank. He was a race car driver in Italy before he came to America. Between Onofrio and the Maserati Club, we were in safe hands. Chris spent his entire summer vacation at the shop where this master mechanic actually taught my son how to work on the car. How many mechanics do you know that would tolerate a 16-year-old underfoot five days a week for three months?
That other great font of knowlege, the Maserati Club International, is actually based in Seattle, Washington. Their objective is to preserve and maintain the marque, so they built a huge manufacturing facility up there that makes parts for every Maserati model. You will never have a problem getting parts for a Maserati. They have everything. Plus, their staff can answer technical questions over the phone. They also publish a quarterly magazine that contains a wealth of knowledge. The magazine is where we learned about the fuse box card - a reader submitted a letter explaining the symptoms and the fix. We had been experiencing the intermittent symptoms but my mechanic was perplexed! As soon as we saw the article, we knew we had the problem licked. If you want to learn more about the Maserati Club (dues are somewhere around $60/year, but well worth it), they have a web site at http://www.maseratinet.com/.
So, I hope my description does not discourage you from enjoying a Biturbo. The car is wonderful to drive. It is sleek, low, has lots of torque, and a wide road-hugging wheelbase. It is light and responsive. It has huge disk brakes that will stop on a dime. When those turbos kick in, you're flying. Especially in this car. Chris added a turbo intercooler (although I personally installed the wiring harness) and rear suspension stabilizers with racing shocks. You definitely know you are in a race car when you press the accelerator. But it looks so unassuming on the road. I think I like that part the most. Cops look for the speeding red Ferrari on the road, and don't even notice our cream coupe Biturbo!
EPILOGUE: "Thank you" to the many Maserati fans who have sent me email. I'd like to share one message in particular from Gabriel in Austin, Texas. He shared some useful technical tips for dealing with the Biturbo's overheating woes. Gabriel recommends three clever cooling techniques: 1) Run Mobil 1 or Redline full synthetic motor oil, 2) eliminate antifreeze and go with a straight mix of distilled water and Redline "Water Wetter," and 3) use oversized underchin air deflectors. As Gabriel explains it, synthetic oil reduces friction heat and is more resistant to thermal damage. Antifreeze is actually a poor heat conductor, so straight water is better. But you will still need the additive properties of Redline Water Wetter. Water Wetter also improves the thermal conductivity of water. Another often overlooked solution is the lower air deflector. It creates a low pressure area behind the radiator to encourage airflow through it rather than under the chin. This is the most expensive solution, however, so you may want to start with the other two, first. Thanks, Gabriel!
And in case you don't already know about these, here are a few classy web sites hosted by Maserati enthusiasts. Enjoy!
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This page last updated: July 1, 2002