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A Mechanic's Life - Tales From Under the Hood

2970 messages,  Last post on May 25, 2013 at 4:55 PM

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Messages Page 80 of 298

#785 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [carmichael2] by imidazol97

Jan 09, 2013 (8:44 am)

> they won't need
car service or drivers to navigate them!
 
We have that now. In the metro Dayton area there often are cars that have accidents and there is no driver anywhere to be found. They just hit something on their own.

#786 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [thecardoc3] by srs_49

Jan 09, 2013 (8:59 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Jan 09, 2013 8:15 am)
Let's go back to the "failing the evaporative emissions check" that you favor running a full set of diagnostics on vs replacing a $20 gas cap first" for a minute.
 
Last week when I went to drive the 2009 Infiniti to work, the Service Engine Light (CEL) came on, steady. Pulled it back into the garage and took another car to work for the week.
 
Looked through the owner's manual, and it said words to the effect that a steady on CEL indicated a non-serious emissions test failure, and suggested 1) making sure the gas tank was not near empty and 2) re-seating the gas cap.
 
So this week I drove the car to work (CEL on the whole way) and on the way home filled up with gas. Lo and behold, the CEL went off! So, the way I look at it, I'm two or three hundred dollars ahead of the game by not running to a shop and having the CEL problem "professionally" troubleshot.

#787 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [Mr_Shiftright] by isellhondas

Jan 09, 2013 (9:07 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 08, 2013 8:24 am)
I would have done the same "repair" as you did with that piece of foam.
 
I've learned that a lot of dealership and "boutique" repair shops seem to think that every car should be perfect and every repair should restore the car to the way it was when it rolled off the assembly line.
 
I once had a Toyota Celica that the dealer told me needed a power steering pump reseal. After another 20,000 miles they told me this once again when it was in for service. I thought this odd because I had never had to add any fluid.
 
So, when I got home I took a flashlight and a mirror and took a look for myself.
 
Sure enough, there was ever the slightest seepage of oil around the shaft.
 
I drove that car another 50,000 miles or so and I think, once I added a couple of ounces of fluid to top it off.
 
So, did it "need" a PS reseal? According to the Toyota dealer it did but somehow I managed without it.

#788 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [srs_49] by thecardoc3

Jan 09, 2013 (10:58 am)

Replying to: srs_49 (Jan 09, 2013 8:59 am)
So this week I drove the car to work (CEL on the whole way) and on the way home filled up with gas. Lo and behold, the CEL went off! So, the way I look at it, I'm two or three hundred dollars ahead of the game by not running to a shop and having the CEL problem "professionally" troubleshot.
 
When we diagnose and PROVE that the fault really is a loose cap you're looking at an average cost under $40, not two or three hundred. Meanwhile since there is/was no testing or documentation as you have reported you really don't know if the cap was loose and causing a mil or not.The code could be anything, you are only able to ASSUME it was an evap code. BTW, haven't you ever heard that when you assume you make an a$$ out of u and me.
 
 Now the next question is if this was really a loose cap, why in 2009 hasn't Infinity caught up with the technology that my 2002 Explorer was built with? My Explorer runs specific testing that detects if the cap is loose after a refilling event and makes a proper report of the condition, with a loose cap light without ever having to wait for the rest of the system to run through it's testing and result in a full check engine light.
 
So this week I drove the car to work (CEL on the whole way) and on the way home filled up with gas. Lo and behold, the CEL went off
 
Now it's time to shout "Bravo-Sierra". Once the light comes on for a large or medium evaporative leak, it will take a minimum to two full tests, that both have to pass in order to turn the light back off, and that won't happen until the next time that the car is started after the second test completed. By design, the tests will rarely run more than once a day and your refueling event would have shut down the monitor if it was even trying to run at that time you refueled. You see there is really knowing how the cars work, and there are the myths like the one that you just tried to push.
 
Let's give you the benefit of the doubt and say the mil acted exactly as you described. That can only add up to the the fault being something other than a medium or large evap leak, and it darn sure wasn't a small leak because that test runs several hours later after you turn the car off.
 
Thanks for helping me make one of my points. Without real training and experience with how today's vehicle systems work, it doesn't matter what you do for a living. The simplest systems can leave you exposed as actually having no clue in a heartbeat.

#789 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [thecardoc3] by steve_ HOST

Jan 09, 2013 (11:12 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Jan 09, 2013 10:58 am)
My Explorer runs specific testing
 
Good to see that Ford is getting there with self-diagnosing cars.

#790 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [thecardoc3] by srs_49

Jan 09, 2013 (2:18 pm)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Jan 09, 2013 10:58 am)
My Explorer runs specific testing that detects if the cap is loose after a refilling event and makes a proper report of the condition, with a loose cap light...
 
Maybe that's because Ford has a problem designing gas caps and so puts a special "loose cap light" on the dash .

#791 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [srs_49] by explorerx4

Jan 09, 2013 (5:42 pm)

Replying to: srs_49 (Jan 09, 2013 2:18 pm)
I have an '02 Explorer that I bought new.
It is a great design as an SUV.
There are plenty of things (mechanical) that could have been executed better.
I still would rather drive it than my '11 Explorer, other than fuel mileage.
It's just a vehicle that my kids and I feel comfortable with.
In all that time, it's never been anywhere other then to the dealer where I bought it for service, other than for it's 3rd set of tires.

#792 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [srs_49] by stickguy

Jan 09, 2013 (9:49 pm)

Replying to: srs_49 (Jan 09, 2013 2:18 pm)
Ford fixed that problem. they stopped putting the gas cap on at all!

#793 of 2970 Re: Pressured to not do your best [stickguy] by thecardoc3

Jan 10, 2013 (5:46 am)

Replying to: stickguy (Jan 09, 2013 9:49 pm)
Yep. My Escape has the cap-less filler neck.

Messages Page 80 of 298

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