Automotive Technicians Technical Discussion and Fixes for Apr 16, 2005

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Open Help Requests for All Makes and Models

	Help Request	Answers
	1998 BMW Z3 Roadster 1.9L Cuts out, Stall, MIL Lamp on VIN: 4USCH7325W This gal just bought this car, and having driven it for a few weeks, discovered that it will stall many times when stopping or going slowly. She had the car towed to me from 120 miles away because she "trusts me" (go figure!) Anyway I checked for codes because... Trouble codes: P0420 (Catalyst efficency low bank 1), P0340 (Camshaft position sensor)	View
	1986 Buick Century Custom 3.8L 2nd Clutch VIN: 2G2AH19W2G Hello everyone and thanks in advance for the help on this one. This is one of my own. I wanted to put an overdrive in my car so I went to the junkyard to find one that appeared to be rebuilt. Well, I found one that looked freshly rebuilt, but once the pan wa...	View
	1993 Buick Regal Gran Sport 3.8L steering shaft VIN: 2G4WF14L7P Car came in with broken actuator shaft, could not shut car down.DISASSEMBLED COLUMNAFTER REMOVING from car&replaced actuator.upon reassembly bearing in upper housing willnot seat with steering shaft properly.Just enough play up &down sothat whenhousing and sha...	View
	1994 Buick LeSabre Custom 3.8L Surge, Stall VIN: 1G4HP52L2R Vehicle came in light surge and stall . Vehicle starts right back up and may run fine for a while. After a few surges , the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT will come on and stall. Going down road engine runs fine, with the LIGHT coming on.Code 341.Unplug cam sensor with no... Trouble codes: 341 (cam sensor circuit)	View
	1989 Cadillac Allante 4.5L Battery VIN: 1G6VR3187K I have a drain on the battery of 900ma from fuse #8. I have checked the archives and found several similar posts. All of them found different causes and as we all know each one is a different animal. What I would like to know is a way to track down the draw wi...	View
	1993 Cadillac DeVille 4.9L turn singals VIN: 1G6CD53BXP Hello Everyone I need to know were the turn single flaser is located on this beast. I pulled the head light switch because that is were i found them before on this kind of car and I checked under radio like it shows in the book still cant find flasher any body...	View
	1995 Chevrolet Tahoe LS 5.7L 4-3 downshift VIN: 1GNEK13KXS This is my first help request,please bear with me.This Tahoe seems to "neutral"into 3rd when coasting down from any speed when 4th has been engaged.Also,if you pull the manual lever down into 3rd position with your foot OFF the gas it does not downshift to 3rd...	View
	1994 Dodge Ram 3500 8.0L performance Engine runs rough, sounds like it has a miss. At idle right bank o2 stays full rich right at .92-.98 volts and the left o2 switches great. At 2000 rpm right bank still stays at full rich and left bank goes to full lean. Cant seem to find a miss. Replaced timin...	View
	2001 Dodge Ram 1500 Van 5.2L Cooling Systems VIN: 1B7HC13Y31 Hello Fellow Techs. Todays diagnostic dilemma comes from a 2001 Dodge Ram1500 Pick-Up with a 5.2liter Engine. The customer brought the vehicle in complaining of a coolant leak. We pressure tested the cooling system this morning, and verified the customer compl...	View
	1989 Ford F-150 Custom 5.0L No Start VIN: 2FTEFI4N0K 2 days ago when customer drove it to work and now truck will not start. I tested everything here ECM Ignition module, coil and stator. the end result is the truck has no spark. coil always has power and ground which is telling me the coil has no signal ..pleas...	View
	2000 Ford F-350 Super Duty Lariat 7.3L 1-2 shift VIN: 1FTWW33F2Y Problem is intermittant old or hot, sometimes trans shifts fine with load or no load condition. At times like now it takes a spell to where there are no DTC's, and the truck will not shift unless you take your foot off the APP and then reapply. Trans will hen ...	View
	1990 Honda Accord LX 2.2L Master Cylinder VIN: JHMCB7558L Hello Honda Techs, I replaced the rear brakes 4 months ago and recently it came to me with a complaint of a very low pedal once or twice a day. I then changed the master cyl. with a new unit. Came back 2 days later with the same complaint.Driver said mostly o...	View
	1998 Isuzu Hombre S 2.2L Compressor/Pressure Switches VIN: 1GGCS1442W Hey Isuzu guys, I need a little help with this one. We don't do a lot of Isuzu work. I have already checked the fuses and found none bad. I don't have any power to the pressure switches or to the compressor. Checked a/c relay-had power at four terminals, but...	View
	1999 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L Front Suspension VIN: 1J4FT68S0X I am at my wit's end at this very late Saturday hour. I rebuilt the front and rear brakes, replaced the front rotors (american made, not chinese) During the brake job, I noticed the right front hub was rough and difficult to turn by hand (this is a 2WD) So, I ...	View
	1994 Mercury Sable GS 3.0L cental lock VIN: 1MELM50U8R Hi,Gents i got this merc. with the central locking are not working with the key.the customer doesn't have the remote. Central lock only work on the switch inside the veh.I checked the front lhs latch there is an elec. connection but not fixed on the veh. harne...	View
	1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE 3.3L Cuts out VIN: 1P4GP44RXV When driven on the highway after 4 to 6 miles is just cuts out. Doesn't quit running just stops for about 2 seconds and then runs fine. When the cruise is set when it cuts out the cruise light on the dash goes out, push the cruise button and the light doesn't ...	View
	1981 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 4.9L Unknown VIN: 1G2AW87W3B Hi guys. I need a little help on this one. I have an electrical problem on this Trans Am with the choke heater and alt field circuit. I have a dead short, lots of aftermarket stereo and alarm wiring and no wiring diagram. Mitchell and nodata dont go back far e...	View
	1996 Toyota Avalon XL 3.0L Dome Light VIN: 4T1BF12BXT this for the toyota techs out there. this avalon is blowing dome fuse, i was wondering if there is a common place for these to short. i look at fix data base with not much help. thanks to all	View
	1997 Toyota Camry CE 2.2L MIL Lamp on I have a problem with this 97 camry, the po401 will come back while on the 2nd trip about 40mph. Egr is working, will stall the engine at idle with a vacuum pump and the valve hold vacuum as well. Scanner shows egr on at cruise as well as guage shows vacuum to... Trouble codes: P0401	View
	1986 Volkswagen Scirocco 1.8L ignition system VIN: WVWCAO536G Car has been sitting for a year. Has no spark. Tested coil,ignition control, and hall sender by the manual. Everything tests OK. Found oil in the distributor. When testing for spark at the distributor, there is one spark when you turn the key on without cranki...	View
	1997 Volkswagen Cabrio High Line 2.0L MIL Lamp on VIN: 3VWBA81E8V need some guidance from a vw tech. have this cabrio that repeatly sets p1582 or vag code 17990. idle adapt at limit. vw chart shows to change oil, well oil has been changed. I did find the breather hose on valve cover degraded and replaced possibly skewing mas... Trouble codes: P1582	View

Fixes & Summaries for All Makes and Models

	Fix/Summary	Answers
	1995 BMW 525i 2.5L door locks VIN: WBAHJ6325S Sorry for the late reply. This vehcile is final fixed. Rear fuse box had a blown fuse for central locking system. Which was odd because lock system would operate with out fuse in box. We discovered this vehcile was in an accident and both right doors where rep...	4
	1995 Buick Park Avenue Ultra 3.8L Electronic VIN: 1G4CU521XS Hello techs, the Park Avenue air cond works well now. Robert from Florida gave good information on how to check and were its location. To check blend door operation pull glove box and on top of heater case you can see motor, on this one it would go so far and ...	5
	1996 Chevrolet Beretta 3.1L Cuts out, Stall VIN: 1G1LV15M2T hey guys we replaced the mass-air flow sensor, tps sensor, coils, disconnect egr valve, disconnect knock sensor and still no help, replaced ignition module and have test drove this for three cold morning and ran fine, there is a small rattle noise when cold an...	9
	1997 Chevrolet K2500 Suburban 5.7L Hesitation VIN: 1GKGK26R3V thank you all who took the time to try to help me out. all who said it was cmp retard were right on. was at 8 degrees retarded and moved it to 0 degrees and it is like a new truck again. it took awhile to find because our snap on scanner would not show cmp ret...	16
	2002 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport 2.2L MIL Lamp on VIN: 1G1JH52F42 Thanks for all the replies. The O2, P0135, code was repaired with some simple repair of the O2 harness. As we thought, the P0440 code, will not come on until the O2 code was repaired, it seems that the all the monitors will not run when the CEL records a har... Trouble codes: P0135 (Oxygen sensor heater circuit bank 1 sensor 1).	14
	2002 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 5.3L Engine VIN: 3GNEC13T13 Guys, Thanks very much for your assistance, the problem was the fuel pump had a short circuit which was blowing the ECM-B fuse in the fuse box. As I have no info on this vehicle, and it is the only one on the island, I managed to fix it in a resonable time. ...	11
	1999 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9L no up shift VIN: 1B7MC3365X I had to bail out of this one, after much time with borrowed drb i felt that the problem was internal transmission, most of the posts mentioned speed sensors has a concern, closely watched them with scanner, never saw any problems, owner took to trans shop, th...	8
	1990 Ford F-250 Custom 7.5L Excessive Emissions VIN: 1FTHX26G1L The consensus on this vehicle is that it is not really fixable, since the problem is essentially a programming situation that cannot be changed. No, the EGR does not come on during the smog test, and no, it is not supposed to, due to the way Ford engineered th...	7
	1996 Ford Windstar GL 3.8L MIL Lamp on VIN: 2FMDA5148T Sorry to all that responded to my request, but this van went back to auction. So maybee one of you will see it next? Thanks for all the help, Korey. Trouble codes: P0171, P0174.	33
	1998 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer 5.4L starter VIN: 1FMRU17L2W Thanks to everyone who helped me. The fix was simple as soon as we found it. We had unpluged a wiring harness under the hood. It is held tight with a 10mm bolt. the bolt actually pulls the two plugs together and makes the connection tight. We had left this bol...	8
	1999 Ford F-150 XL 4.2L upshifts VIN: 1FTZF1825X No fix customer decieded to run vehicle as is. Thanks to everyone who replied. Most said either MAF or TPS could not find any faults with these. One said to check for exhaust resriction. Another said check fuel filter.	9
	2000 Ford Taurus SE 3.0L MIL Lamp on VIN: 1FAFP5326Y Information supplied was from Mitchel,which is wrong,and from ALLDATA,ALSO WRONG,The dealer says on the dide of AIR PUMP BRACKET,A PLACE EXISTED THERE,but no relay.A couple of dealer techs said they had found it on core support,I never did locate relay,I have ... Trouble codes: P1413 (Eair pump).	6
	1997 Honda Prelude Type SH 2.2L Power assist VIN: JHMBB6154V I replaced the seal and flushed out the power steering system with Honda PS fluid and all is well. Thank you for the replys and assistance.	12
	2004 Honda Civic Si 2.0L right front strut VIN: SHHEP33664 I have replaced the struts back to OEM and the RF strut has not failed after about 1 month. I will posst again if I get anymore updates.	4
	1995 Jaguar XJ6 4.0L alarm system VIN: SAJHX1749S Sorry to take so long to post.I received 2 replies suggesting the alarm system is in the passive mode.Proprietary Jaguar scanner is needed to change mode and I am in contact with a friend who is a Jag tech who is investigating a fix without their scanner. I ...	4
	1986 Jeep Cherokee 2.5L Poor Idle Quality VIN: 1B3XC463XL Thanks for all the help guys, the numbers got the job done quick once i got the truck back in the shop. Sorry bout the wait on the fix. All of the temp sensors and the iac all tested perfect when i looked at it.The fix came from finding a direct fit 02 sensor ...	6
	1999 Lincoln Town Car Executive 4.6L Compressor VIN: 1LNHM81W5X The cluch had intermitten operation due to ac clutch relay. Replaced relay and all works fine. Thanks for all your help.	6
	2000 Lincoln LS 3.9L Hesitation, Cuts out, Stall, MIL Lamp on VIN: 1LNHM87A1Y Thanks again to iATN this one got fixed. As mentioned by several people it turned out to be coils. Even though tested good every possible way two coils were bad. As William from NC mentioned when the coils short they spike computer and communtication lines cau... Trouble codes: P1633, P1233, P0320.	9
	1988 Nissan Sentra 1.6L Excessive Emissions, Stall VIN: JN1PB22S8J The old Nissan lives. All responses were helpful and appreciated in that I had to test just about everything to come to a conclusion. All of the inputs to the computer tested ok, and when I tricked the O2 I got activity and response from the ECM, but the engin...	9
	1996 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Elite 3.8L A/C Control VIN: 1G3CX52KOT Thanks so much to everyone who replied. Everyone was on the right track in that it was a vacuum problem even though it was an Automatic Temp System. Several replies got it right on the nose but It was the #1 GM Tech in the Nation that called me and actually to...	6
	1998 Toyota RAV4 2.0L Axle seal housing VIN: JT3HP10V3W I have not yet fixed this car, we had to order the axle seal. It was not leaking bad enough to repair right away. She is going to fix it at the next oil change. The replies I got said it was as easy as it looks. Just remove the axle, the seal , and the bolts h...	5
	2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI 1.9L lack of power VIN: 3VWSP29M92 We are still working on this,but the time is up for the posting.We did receive some good replies.Thomas from Florida suggested a compression test to check for piston damage to the point of sticking the rings.(The pistons did collide with the valves).The compre...	9
	1993 Volvo 850 GLT 2.4L MIL Lamp on VIN: YV1LS5516P Thank you very much to Robert, Christopher, John, Joe and Doug!!! Great responses!! I was not clearing the codes correctly. So after clearing them, codes for CMP and Crank Sensor re-occured. I then replaced the CMP sensor ( the second time!!) and cleared codes... Trouble codes: 214, 314, 411.	5
	1995 Volvo 960 2.9L heater core VIN: YV1KS9615S Thanks for all the replies, yes the dash has to come out for the heater core, however if you are only doing an evaporator core, the dash does not have to come out. Thanks especially to Bob of Bob's Auto Air for faxing me the instructions for doing the repair...	8

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