Automotive Technicians Technical Discussion and Fixes for Mar 15, 2013

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	Help Request	Answers
	2008 Audi S5 4.2L Hesitation, Surge, Misfire VIN: WAURV78TX8 Hi guys, we have this 08 S5, can not find any info on this car so need some help here. It came in running a little rough at idle, at 2800 rpm, it would break up like it has a rev limiter. Noticed a lot of vacuum when taking off the oil fill cap, and high short...	View
	2010 Audi Q7 TDI 3.0L Mil On VIN: WA1LMAFE3A Code p20b5 reductant metering unit heater control circuit/open. I searched on identifix with no result. I cant find what system the code refers to. The information for code diag. Is unclear. It says to remove the reduction agent tank module and gives a locatio...	View
	1994 BMW 540i 4.0L No Start VIN: WBAHE632XR I have no voltage at fuse 23(fuel pump). I have voltage at fuel pump relay. if i jump 12 volts to fuse, the fuel pump turns on but car still wont start.	View
	2007 BMW 530xi 3.0L Warning Lights VIN: WBANF73527 Gentleman, I have this Bimmer with codes D36B and D36B. I have a red brake warning light, abs light,dsc light and a message of AWD,DSC,ABS and EMERG EBV! on the display. Alldata has no information at all on diagnosing these codes. I have the Maxidas and Genisy...	View
	1997 Buick Riviera 3.8L Stall VIN: 1G4GD2216V Car came in originally for a crank no start. Found injector number 4 stuck wide open causing hard start and misfire. Replaced two injectors and put a set of spark plugs in it. Car started and ran great. After car would sit for 3 hours it would have a long cran... Trouble codes: P0171 (Lean bank 1), P0300 (Random misfire)	View
	2005 Chevrolet Malibu 2.2L upshifts VIN: 1G1ZS52F15 Had melted 1-2 solenoid. Internal wiring checked out, replaced solenoid. Has p0826, TAP shift circuit. Driver shift control will enable after code is cleared. After engine is started, driver shift control will not enable. Feels like 3rd gear start. Circuits A,...	View
	2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser 2.4L No Start, Cuts out, Stall VIN: 3C8FY4BB71 I had a 2001 Pt that came in running, the customer complaint was the odo says "no bus" and that the door locks are crazy. This car had a bad door latch switch a week ago that had the "Door" light on. At that time i offered to disable the circuit by removing th...	View
	2001 Chrysler Sebring LXi 2.7L Poor Idle Quality, Surge VIN: 1C3EL55UX1 This Sebring convertible 2.7 is having surge issues. At idle it just jumps from about 700 to 1300 RPMs. At cruise speeds and even on accel a little, you can feel the engine surging and not making smooth, even, power. Not like a misfire at all. Since it does it...	View
	2005 Chrysler Pacifica Touring 3.5L valve train VIN: 2C4GM68455 thanks in advance for any help.pulling hair on this one.van came in with no run replaced all plugs .cranked van man--what a racket valves rattling like crazy motor was replaced by other shop custemor drove for about two weeks .broke foot parked van for about t...	View
	2008 Chrysler Sebring LX 2.4L convertible top failure VIN: 1C3LC45K98 Hello guys, have a strange one here. About a month ago this Sebring came in with a conv't top intermittently working. It had a code in the ECU for the power top that indicated an internal failure, so I replaced the ECU. Everything worked fine for about a month...	View
	2001 Dodge Caravan SE 2.4L locks VIN: 1B4GP25B21 The customer wishes to disable his rolling door locks. The vehicle automatically locks at 18 mph. Alldata says it can be disabled either by a DRB, which I do not have, or else by the customer programming method. I do not have an owner's manual for this vehicle...	View
	2003 Dodge Ram 2500 5.7L Engine VIN: 3D7KU28D23 Im at a loss on this issue seen lots of posts on dodge forums saying people threw lots of parts at these for this same symptom without a fix after relearn its much better but i think there is another problem hiding either in pcm or a component. It acts like an...	View
	1994 Ford Taurus SHO 3.0L No Start VIN: 1FALP54Y5R Should my test light be lighting at pin 56(pip)at the ecm while trying to crank? If so, its not there. Isnt that where the signal generates from? ive replaced the crank sensor, icm and coil. Im getting power at all three. Ive also noticed a burnt pin at the bi...	View
	1997 Ford F-150 Lariat 4.6L Steering Control VIN: 1FTDF1866V This one I will describe as if you ever felt a heavy duty truck with a bad or missing steering damper, at about 40 mph+ when you hit a bump the wheel will begin to shake back and forth horribly making it almost impossible to control the vehicle. the shaking wi...	View
	1999 Ford F-150 XL 4.2L Hesitation, MIL Lamp on VIN: 1FTZX1725X Bank 2 upstream oxygen sensor never goes above 120mv bank 2 lean smoked intake and found intake gasket leak at rear of lower intake replaced gaskets and no change in oxygen sensor readings also short term fuel trim readings are positive 33on bank 2 and bank 1 ... Trouble codes: P1151, P1157	View
	2000 Ford E-350 Econoline 7.3L cam postion sensor VIN: 1FDSE35F3Y Well to start off, this thing is about to make me pull my hair out but here we go This vehicle is a ambulance used by our local volunteer fire dept. It was brought in for a stall/hard to restart problem at times. I test drove truck and sure enough a couple ...	View
	2003 Ford F-150 XL 4.2L Excessive Emissions, Poor Idle Quality, Hesitation, Surge, Cuts out, Stall, Misfire, Poor Fuel Economy, MIL Lamp on, Hard Start VIN: 1FTRF07263 Vehicle came in yesterday with misfires, rough idle and acceleration. Codes pulled were P0171, P0175, P0316, P0302, P0303, and P0305. Replaced plugs for those cylinders due to heavy oil fouling. Improvement, but still misfiring. Came back today running worse a... Trouble codes: P0171 (Lean Bank 1), P0175 (Rich Bank 2), P0316 (Misfire on startup), P0303 (cylinder 3 misfire), P0306 (cylinder 6 misfire)	View
	2004 Ford Freestar Limited 4.2L cruise control VIN: 2FMZA58224 vehicle will go into cruise but intermittantly will not maintain the speed set just slows down . the green cruise light stays on when this happens. what actually controls the servo on this. abs did not pass the key on test yesterday but i cleared the code and ...	View
	2004 Ford Taurus SEL 3.0L antenna VIN: 1FAHP59S64 This is a taurus wagon. The antenna will not go all the way up if you start car. only goes up about 6-8 inches.Turn radio off or key off goes all the way down. turn radio on only goes up 6-8 inches. wierd part is if you turn key to run but do not start car it ...	View
	2006 Ford F-450 Super Duty XLT 6.0L engine, transmission VIN: 1FDXF46P96 I want to say thanks in advance for any help given. I have this 6.0L that has a light bumping, rotating bubbling noise and light vibration on accel. coming from engine or maybe transmission. You can only hear it inside mostly on pass side floor area. i know it...	View
	1999 GMC K1500 Suburban SLE 5.7L No Start, Stall VIN: 1GKFK16R3X Truck was towed in,no start,next day we where able to start truck and drove around building until reached bay door and truck shut off and would not start. Upon checking for fuel and spark, fuel pressure only 30 psi,after 3 cranking cycles fuel pressure jumped ...	View
	2003 GMC Sierra 2500 HD SLE 6.6L shift pattrn VIN: 1GTHK23103 cleared codes truck performes great until codes pop back up.checked grounds, connectors,searched for damaged wires	View
	2007 GMC Acadia SLT 3.6L Breather System VIN: 1GKER337X7 Thanks for help in advance. This vehicle came back after 4,000 miles for an oil change and intake tube was full of sludge again. Re-cleaned and spent more time verifying breather flow. Added some ATF in with oil as a mild cleaner. Had customer back in 1,000 mi...	View
	1997 Honda Accord LX 2.2L steering rack VIN: CF21713226 Good morning I have a gray market 1997 honda accord station wagon that needs a steering rack. This is a right hand drive car.Anyone know where i can get parts? The honda dealers cant help The Vin is a PA state issued number. I can get it rebuildt but the custo...	View
	1995 Infiniti Q45 A 4.5L Surge, Cuts out VIN: JNKNG01D4S I would like to start by saying thanks ahead of time.one of the original complaints after completing repiars listed under repir history still remains. Vehicle cuts out above 2000 rpm as if it were a rev limiter. This doesnt happen immediatly upon cold start. W...	View
	2008 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 3.8L Mechanical VIN: 1J4GA54118 Hi, This jeep has been well maintened oil change every 10K km.After 25K km it started to burn some oil and it's progressive. We changed the valve seals at 37K but it still burns 500g oil per 1000km. Any ideas what could be wrong? BR Rasmus	View
	2009 Jeep Compass Sport 2.0L ride control VIN: 1J4FT47A49 customer states vehicle handles different from what they were used to before the accident. This was caused by another vehicle backing into it while it was parked. checked alignment and all within specs. Dealer recently replaced ball joint, control arm assembli...	View
	2004 Kia Sorento EX 3.5L oil pressure VIN: KNDJD73354 Thanks for taking the time to read and provide insight. Vehicle came in with complaint of engine noise and oil light flickering at idle when hot. Installed oil pressure gauge and confirmed oil pressure dropping to 0 when hot. Oil condition looked OK. Pulled pa...	View
	1993 Land Rover Range Rover County 3.9L No Start VIN: SALHV1241P This vehicle has lost fuel pressure and injector pulse. I believe the problem is in the coil wiring. Does anyone have a source for a good coil wiring or picture?	View
	2004 Mazda RX-8 1.3L Excessive Emissions, No Start VIN: JM1FE17324 Hello all. Hope there are some rotary folks out there that can give us a hand with this one. After driving the car til it's hot/warmed up when you stop the car and come back to it withing minutes the car has a cranking no start issue. After waiting about 15-...	View
	2004 Mazda 6 i 2.3L timing VIN: 1YVFP80CX4 Hello fellow techs. I would appriciate some help. We are working on a 2004 Mazda 6 with a 2.3 DOHC VVT that came in with a P0340 code. The customer changed the cam sensor wtih no fix. We lab scoped the sensor at the pcm, pattern was good. Knowing that these ju...	View
	2006 Mercedes-Benz S350 3.7L MIL Lamp on VIN: WDBNF67J06 Original issue of the P0410 system was identified and we found the 40 Amp Maxi Fuse blown and the secondary air pump literally with the brushes melted out of the plastic housing. New fuse, new air pump, cleared codes and all was well for about 4 days of me dri... Trouble codes: P0410 (Secondary Air System Malfunction)	View
	2000 Nissan Altima GLE 2.4L Mechanical VIN: 1N4DL01D1Y When you step on the gas pedal hard the car hesitates and dies, but when you step on the gas slowly it will pick up and no hesitation. It only happens when the gas is press hard like there's no power and when you press hard and keep it down the rpm jumps up an...	View
	2005 Nissan Maxima SE 3.5L Timing chains VIN: 1N4BA41E95 i have replaced this timing chain due to broken primary chain tensioner guide. causing a noise. 1 week after that it came back with noise again. i took it apart to see what was wrong. replaced all the o rings for the oil passages. noise was still there. warran...	View
	2006 Nissan Altima SL 3.5L secondary timing chain tensioners VIN: 1N4BL11EX6 I have a question about the secondary timing chain tensioners. There is a updated parts list as I am sure you all know about. This parts list also includes secondary tensioner plastic shoes. They are not changing the complete tensioner just the shoes. The pis...	View
	2007 Nissan Xterra X 4.0L Rear differential VIN: 5N1AN08W37 Okay got one for you Nissan guys out there. Customer's original complaint was that he had a vibration at 40 mph when going through turns and that it got worse after driving longer distances. The first time it was in our shop, we could not duplicate the symptom...	View
	2006 Volkswagen Golf GLS TDI 1.9L MIL Lamp on VIN: 9BWGR61J56 Thanks for your help in advance.I am trying to find test data for this code 18996 my mitchell does not list this code for this vehilcle. BEW engine .The car doesnt have any drive issues. code resets after drive.I belive the sensor is part of waste gate accuato... Trouble codes: 18996 (boost positon sensor circuit a low)	View
	2000 Volvo S80 2.9 2.9L No Start, Misfire, MIL Lamp on VIN: YV1TS94D4Y Customer did not operate vehicle for 3 months. Vehicle just gets started and let run for 30 minutes once a week to keep the battery going. Car was towed into our shop. Vehicle started but ran extremely rough and dies out. Vehicle would barely want to restart a...	View

Fixes & Summaries for All Makes and Models

	Fix/Summary	Answers
	2006 BMW X5 3.0i 3.0L Passenger seat sensor mat VIN: 5UXFA13586 Thanks to the members who offered help. The opinions were not consistent but did point me to a fix. When replacing the passenger seat OC3 sensor mat, you must ensure you remove all old hog rings, and not cause a preload condition when attaching the seat cover...	7
	2001 Cadillac DeVille 4.6L radio VIN: 1G6KD54Y01 WEll, I got some mixed reviews, some saying that a disconnected battery will not cause the radio to lock out: but the owners manual says that it does. My options are to take it to a GM dealer or buy a Tech 2 scanner. We are suddenly changing directions, as my ...	13
	1994 Chevrolet Lumina Euro 3.1L 1-2 shift VIN: 2G1WN54T5R im closing this request out i had reposted under my account . in summary found transmission internally failed . thanks to all who replied Rob [...]	5
	1998 Chevrolet K1500 Silverado 5.0L upper control arm bushing After measuring the old bushings we were able to find ones with the correct demensions except that the mounting sleeve was too short. We had a local machine shop make us 4 sleeves and put everything back together. The Energy Suspension part # is 9.9108 and we ...	3
	2009 Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ 5.3L larry1959 VIN: 1GNFK33059 the front axle controller was bad replace with part from gm dealer they had in stock. I forgot to put in my post that there where no codes.thank for the help	6
	2003 Ford Explorer Limited 4.6L drivetrain VIN: 1FMDU85W33 FIRST,THANKS TO ALL THAT REPLIED. THE PROBLEM WAS THE T-CASE.USED ONE WAS BAD JUST LIKE SUSPECTED. ALSO IF YOU EVER WANT TO CHECK TIRE DIAM. TO SEE IF THEY ARE THE SAME,BEND A PIECE OF METAL ROD IN THE SHAPE OF A "Z" YOU CAN MEASURE, ON FLAT SURFACE, FROM SUR...	25
	2003 Ford Excursion Limited 6.0L Suspension VIN: 1FMSU43P63 for starters, we have had issues with moog ball joints, as many of you guys have experienced. the last couple of years we have been useing napas cheap line, and not had any issues. but this truck had received the ones we didnt want to install. joints did seem ...	15
	2006 Ford Focus ZXW 2.0L tailgate latch VIN: 1FAFP36N86 Trouble is gone. I withdraw the complete harness from the tail door. There was other wires broken further the flex harness, inside the door. Repared those wires, now, it seems to be ok, but the switch already not working, but tests good. Probably GEM trouble, ...	5
	2004 Hyundai XG350 3.5L steering VIN: KMHFU45E74 Thanks for all the ideas- The fact is that we wanted to replace the R&P and customer had declined. Thought that it was coming back to bite me. Anyway, we removed the small bypass tubes and let the fluid gush out- Did not see anything but it appeared that de...	7
	2005 Jaguar XJ8 4.2L Air suspension VIN: SAJWA79C15 Thanks for all of the input. As almost all said the compressor was the problem. I did end up finding a post that mentioned current draw with a range of 17 to 21 amps. We saw 25 to 26. We replaced the compressor and relay and the vehicle is good now. Thank...	10
	2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor XLS 3.8L timing Replaced the heads. Valves bent. Water pump pulley froze, throwing vehicle out of time. I didnt help matters by not checking things thoroughly before trying to retime it. Not a very forgiving engine for sure.	15
	1997 Nissan Altima GLE 2.4L No Start, back fire VIN: 1N4BU31DXV Most likely the distributor is bad, but the customer was a student and did not have the money to pay us, so we did not replace the distributor to find out if we were correct. Many guys suggested the distributor, so that is a good place to start.	10
	2004 Saab 9-3 Linear 2.0L Starting VIN: YS3FB49S94 well, this car is fixed, installed a new ecm and all is good. thanks to all that helped me in this turd bucket.	7
	2008 Toyota Sienna CE 3.5L Both Doors VIN: 5TDZK23C28 THANKYOU ALL THAT REPLIED. WE DISCOVERED THE KILL SWITCH AND CORRECTED THE CUSTOMERS CONCERNS.	5
	1982 Volvo 244 GL 2.1L Starting VIN: YV1AX4940C Sorry this is late - could have sworn I already closed it. Never did find a ballast resistor in the area of the right inner fender. Nevertheless, it is fixed. Removed the starter to get better access to the 'hot' wire from the 'controller' to the starter and t...	12
	2000 Volvo V40 1.9L MIL Lamp on VIN: YV1VW2550Y Thanks to everyone who replied, I didn't get to read every one, we decided to replace the vvt unit and reinstall the t-belt. No codes have returned on a long test drive, even restarted in the middle to get 2 trips in. Going to driv it some more, but issues a...	13

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