Automotive Technicians Technical Discussion and Fixes for Jan 4, 2004

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Open Help Requests for All Makes and Models

	Help Request	Answers
	1985 Chevrolet C10 Custom 4.3L Poor Idle Quality VIN: 2GCCC14N9G Boy do I have the questions! I am working on this truck and am looking to find some info on timing it. Under the hood it says to disconnect the vacumm advance and plug the hose. When I do that and time it to 0 degrees it doesn't run good. Then I read in the Mo...	View
	1989 Chevrolet R1500 Suburban Scottsdale 5.7L Excessive Emissions, Fail Emissions Test VIN: 1GNER16K5K I am looking for Opinions and thoughts on this Suburban. This is my wife suburban and has 170,000 miles on it (110,000 on engine). It has failed the emission test for Harris County in Houston Texas. I had this tested and faile with these Numbers(We will only d...	View
	1992 Chevrolet Cavalier RS 3.1L Mechanical VIN: 1G1JC81T2N HI to everyone just a quick question on removing the engine to replace worn cam shaft . is it easyier & quicker to drop complete unit out the bottom with sub frame or just the engine assy from the top. if someone has done one of these any advice will be appr...	View
	1997 Chevrolet K1500 4.3L transfer case VIN: 1GCEK19WOV No 4WD shifts on this truck. Push button lights will come on for a few seconds on power up. Then all lights go out on indicator, including the 2WD light. When pushing 4Hi or 4Lo no clicks can be heard or felt at the controller, no lights come on. Power is pres...	View
	2000 Chevrolet Astro 4.3L Misfire VIN: 1GCDM19W6Y vehicle came to us from another repair shop with new tune-up,mass airflow & tps.parts replaced per multiple codes. we have scaned vehicle & test drove van cold & hot many times.problem disappears sometimes when hot.we have ran fuel injection clean and was no h... Trouble codes: P0300 (random misfire)	View
	1994 Ford E-250 Econoline 4.9L Misfire VIN: 1FTHE24Y4R van came int missing under load. Test drove and determined that ignition missfire under load and spark knock. Checked under hood and found factory wires, burned out plugs, and coils with severely corroded towers. Replaced coils, plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Ve...	View
	1995 Ford Thunderbird LX 4.6L power assist VIN: 1FALP62W3S hello iatn members, i have this thunderbird that feels like the brakes have no power assist, i had what sounded like a vacuum leak from the brake booster, when applying the pedal, so i replaced the booster and the vacuum leak noise is gone but there is still n...	View
	1996 Ford Taurus GL 3.0L No Start VIN: 1FALP5211T vehicle brought in as no start. zero compression in several of the cylinders. pulled heads had them reworked. has compression now approx. 140 psi average. spark is there got jolted!!! inj pulse appears to be weak, but with alternative fuel source still doesnt ...	View
	1996 Ford F-350 XL 7.3L Drive Engagement VIN: 1FTJW36F8T Hello all, I just rebuilt this E4OD trans for a delayed/no reverse. What I found was metal throughout trans comming from torque converter. Internals looked pretty good (nothing burnt). Valve body had a lot of metal in it (cleaned it). Replaced TC w/extreme du...	View
	1999 Ford E-350 Econoline Club Wagon Custom 5.4L Poor Idle Quality, Hesitation, Surge VIN: 1FTSE34L9X Hello techs., I have this 1999 E250 that has no power. I feels like a blocked cat, but checked the back pressure but it's less than a pound. At idle it seems to miss, butI cannot pinpoint a specific cylinder. On pull it has no power, and the only code showing...	View
	1999 Ford Windstar SE 3.8L digital odemeter,front temp. blend door actuator,b VIN: 2FMZA5240X hi everyone this van came to my shop with the # 10 fuse in the underdash fuse panel blown. in november the customer smelled smoke in the van and the a/c quit blowing cold air. when she got home her husband found the # 10 fuse bad and replace it. everything was...	View
	1999 Ford Taurus LX 3.0L heat VIN: 456T32G80I customer brings car in for heat problem, says he has had radiator,themostat, water pump replaced and heater core flushed. we drove car and heater worked fine for about 40 min's then started blowing cold air. if you move heat lever you can hear damper close and...	View
	1998 Honda Accord EX 2.3L 3rd & 4th Gear VIN: 1HGCG565XW This car set a code for P1739 3rd clutch pressure switch. The car takes off in 1st gear, shifts to 2nd and never upshifts to 3rd or 4th gear no matter how fast you go. The 3rd pressure switch doesn't trip to indicate a pressure increase for 3rd apply. I suspec...	View
	1990 Isuzu Pickup LS 2.6L Firing Order VIN: JAACL16E5L I'm trying to find the firing order on this P-U. I have two repair manuals with two different diagrams. The wire towers aim up, two near engine two away, towards right side of vehicle. Check Chart tune-up manual has #1 cylinder at the back of engine #4 where #...	View
	1987 Mercury Lynx GS 1.9L Excessive Emissions, Poor Idle Quality, Cuts out, Stall VIN: 1MELM45RTY This vehicle shoots out of injector a extra burst of fuel at any given time .Some times it just for a split second and some times it could last a few seconds or more . As indicated the fuel pressure is not high and map sensor falls into limits at idle . Have ...	View
	1997 Mitsubishi Galant ES 2.4L Poor Idle Quality, Hesitation, Cuts out, Stall VIN: 4A3AJ56G7V Hello all, I think this car has gremlins! Customer came to me with MIL problem. Pulled codes and it was the O2 sensor. Also car was idling rough. I replaced sensor, wires, cap, button, and plugs. Started vehicle and idle was REALLY bad, worse then before. I di... Trouble codes: P0130 (o2 sensor circuit malfunction)	View
	1994 Nissan Altima SE 2.4L harmonic balancer cannot remove crankshaft balancer,is any special tool or method ?	View
	1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 3.4L Engine VIN: 1G3WH54XOM I can use some help now from all of you out there who might of had this problem. Mitchell on demand says this engine bends valves on this 3.4 DOHC engine. Well i went ahead and put a new timing belt and tensioner anyway to see what would happen and it runs gre...	View
	1988 Pontiac Grand Prix 2.8L Poor Idle Quality, Cuts out, Stall, Misfire VIN: 1G2WJ14W5J when car came to me it would idle for about 1 second then stall would do the same over and over checked fule pressure it was good the pressure would even rise when it stalled put snap on scan tool on and no codes changed the crank pos sensor did not help found...	View
	1999 Pontiac Grand Prix GT 3.8L Surge VIN: 1G2WP52K1X Hi iATN I need help.This car surges under med acceleration aprox. 500 RPM. It will surge from 1800-2300 RPM it feels like a Rev. Limiter kicking in & out. It doesn't feel like 1 or 2 cylinders breaking down or the trans. slipping. When we watch the scan data t...	View
	2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE 2.4L engine missfire VIN: 1G2NF52T7Y well hello all!i have a freind with a nice one-it just started to miss all at once-we pulled the quad cluster(coils and module out)we could not see any tracking-only one plug was wet-i was wondering if anyone has ran into this problem,with this engine-i am at ...	View
	1991 Subaru libery 2.2L Cooling Systems VIN: 1887384848 What is the coolant bleeding sequence for this vehicle I know about the bleed screw, Someone said fill radiator with bleed screw open then shut bleed screw start engine and run till not then let cool overnight and refill in morning and should be ok...Is this s...	View
	1993 Subaru Legacy L 2.2L No Start VIN: JF1BJ6347P Good-evening Subaru techs.I am having a problem with this legacy that will not start cold intermittently.I checked for injection and for spark to begin with.Plenty of injection to the point that it fills the oil pan with gas,but a very intermittent spark at th...	View

Fixes & Summaries for All Makes and Models

	Fix/Summary	Answers
	1999 BMW 740iL 4.4L MIL Lamp on VIN: WBAGH8334X yes,there was water in the electric air pump!i removed the electrical connector,that is on the bottom of the pump,and water poured out!i replaced the pump,air valve(and gasket),and the plastic tube between the two.cleared the codes,test drive to run drive cycl... Trouble codes: 80 (sec. air system bnk. 1), 81 (sec. air system bnk. 2).	3
	1993 Buick Park Avenue Ultra 3.8L abs VIN: 1G4CU5313P hello everyone. Thanks to those that replied. Waiting for customer to return to look at vehicle again. thanks again.	6
	1995 Chevrolet Lumina LS 3.1L Intake manifold gasket VIN: 2G1WN52M5S First of all, I would like thank all the Tech's that replied to my help request keep up the good work.I became increasingly fustrated by not being able to isolate the exact location of the coolant leak, so i decided to let a machine shop check the head for tru...	17
	1997 Chevrolet Lumina 3.1L Poor Idle Quality, Misfire, MIL Lamp on VIN: 2G1WL52M9V Thank you all for the replies and sugestions.Mostly replies were leaning to fuel injector problems.Like most people said-these cars have alot of injector problems.In the past I've always has enough evidence to prove injector problems.On this car injector resis... Trouble codes: P0300 (random misfires).	16
	2001 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LT 5.3L rear pads VIN: 1GNFK16T41 Many thanks to those who replied to my post. I will recommend the mudguardsas suggested to the customer when he returns. Happy new year to all!	12
	1996 Dodge Stratus 2.4L Excessive Emissions, Poor Idle Quality, Misfire VIN: 1B3EJ46X8T Belive it or not, I fixed this car by replacing the plugs. Just for fun I put the old plugs back in, and it started up and ran good. I still don't know why. Maybe the plugs that I installed were faulty. This is just another reminder to not forget the basics. T...	9
	1991 Ford F-350 Custom 7.3L Radiator VIN: 2FTJW36M9L most all agreed that a broken block or head caused the problem. we installed a new long block assy.	5
	2000 Ford Windstar LX 3.8L MIL Lamp on VIN: 2FMZA5148Y Thanks for everyone who replyed to this help i got 35 replies and most hit the nail on the head the windstar had a bad intake gasket. We found a tsb on this whitch had u replace the intake gasket the left valve cover and the vacuum line for the fuel regulator.... Trouble codes: P0171, P0174.	35
	1996 GMC Yukon SLE 5.7L No Start VIN: 1GKEK13R0T First off, thank you to all who took the time to reply. I had several tips suggesting the Distributor was bad. I recall there being two different Dists in these, one with a magnetized shaft that would lose it's magnetism, and one without that would magnetize, ...	19
	1998 GMC Jimmy Envoy 4.3L Transfer Case? VIN: 1GKDT13W3W Many thanks for the six replies. Of the six, four pointed to the vacuum switch on the transfer case. Steve provided the most complete explanation: 'I'd say your three port vacuum switch on top of the transfer case is junk. Instead of being stuck fully in the 4...	6
	1991 Honda Civic LX 1.5L No Start VIN: 1HGED3558M Thanks for all the input. Found and replaced main pgm relay, car fired right off. You guys were great.	18
	1992 Honda Civic DX 1.5L No Start VIN: 1HGEG8542N Thanks for the overwhelming responses,a junkyard ECM fired it right up.Over $500 my cost for a new Honda.Majority of responders agreed ECM's of this vintage are problematic.A few said main relay,as I posted this would work if provided a ground.Something I didn...	21
	1997 Honda CR-V LX 2.0L abs light VIN: JHLRD1851V Well I have a update/fix for you guys, I road tested the vehicle home and the light [ABS] never came on, the next morning on the drive in,it set on the on ramp to the highway [freeway], so I pulled over, entered ABS data [not easy to do on the side of the high...	5
	1998 Honda Passport EX 3.2L cam timing VIN: 4S6CM58W2W Thanks Gerald [...]. from the two replies that I received one stating (unverified ) that it was possible to bend exhaust valves on the passenger head if the crank shaft was incorrectly timed with crank key pointing up ( pointing over to the drivers side is...	3
	1998 Mercedes-Benz ML320 3.2L No Start, Stall VIN: 4JGAB54E9W yes the crankshaft position sensor was the fix. i just wasn't sure why the pcm didn't set a code as the vehicle is equipped with a cam position sensor as well. i guess euro pcm's are not as advanced as domestics. thanks to all who replied for the reassurance o...	14
	1994 Mercury Sable GS 3.0L trans VIN: 1MELM50U8R took trans apart and found cracked aluminum forward clutch piston. I will replace with a new steel one. I won't get around to this for a few weeks, but I wanted to post the cause of the problem. In short, thanks everybody for the help!	12
	1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette GL 3.4L bearings VIN: 1GHDX03E3V All the responses were excellent. We always reseal the intakes on engine swaps so changing the intake is no big deal. Changing of the exhaust manifolds is very easy out of the vehicle so this swap should be no different than all the others, thanks very much fo...	4
	2000 Saturn SL1 1.9L Misfire VIN: 1G8ZH5289Y Thank everybody who responded to my problem. Through all replies i found the intake manifold gasket was leaking which caused #1 cylinder misfire along with a high idle. Thanks to everybody, this is a great tech site. Trouble codes: P0300.	14
	1992 Toyota Camry LE 2.2L balance assy VIN: JT2SK12E4N Hey guys, Thanks for all the help. I finally got this engine finished and the customer is very pleased. Most of the replies said you can leave the assy out, but you must plug the oil supply hole. The only problem I saw was the support leg for the oil pick scre...	12
	1998 Toyota Camry CE 2.2L Master Cylinder Most responses were to check for stuck caliper slides. That was the problem. The left caliper was so bad it had to be replaced. The right side was cleaned up. Works fine now. Thanks to all who replied.	13
	1999 Toyota 4Runner Limited 3.4L Accessories VIN: JT3HN87R3X Several people said recalibrate the guage and sent me info. Tried recalibrating but did not solve the problem. Went under the rear seat and unplugged the sending unit. Guage went back to empty. Everyone tells me this indicates the problem is the sending unit. ...	9
	1986 Volkswagen Vanagon L 2.1L Hesitation, Cuts out, Stall VIN: WV2YB0259G This van APPEARS to be repaired. I have driven my van and the client has driven their van for the past week and a half with the ECMs swapped out. I belive that having the batterey disconnected for the 45 minutes it took to swap out the ECMs may have been the f...	17

(Also Available: All, Asian, Chrysler, European, Ford, GM.)